IB COO Intern Review

I enjoyed the placement, learnt a lot and gained valuable insight into the industry and the company. The company has a great culture and encourages speaking up from all employees no matter the status. I was given responsibility from the get go which helped me learn a lot quicker and in more depth than had I just been shadowing within the bank.

Your colleagues treat you as a member of the team, they are willing to help you along the way. Within your team, your colleagues give you work and give you every opportunity to shadow and learn if you are willing to ask. The bank also promotes a culture of learning throughout the bank and presents opportunities to shadow different areas not only your division.

UBS encouraged you to ensure that you arranged time to receive feedback from your line manager, who was always more than happy to give it to you. throughout the 9 weeks you were required to complete 3 self-assessments as well as HR always gave you guidance on how to be successful.

This varied day to day, one of the good things about working here was no day was the same. However this does mean that some days you didn't have too much work, and often if you asked for more you were given mundane tasks as opposed to meaningful ones - although this is understandable as you are an intern who hasn't received the full training.

In short - a lot. Once your team believed you were up to speed they treated you as a member of the team and not just an intern, giving you your own worthwhile projects. There were also opportunities for you yourself to seek out responsibility and not just wait to be given it.

I think the excel training we received will be useful for life. The business specific training we received was very bank specific so if you don't want a career in finance it won't be that useful. The rest of the training on the internship focused on many soft skills, like presentation and working to a deadline which will be useful for any future career and degree.

The atmosphere in the office was both simultaneously very calm and very hectic. The office was busy as there were a lot of things going on but the people themselves were very clam and always ready to take a moment or speak to you if you need it. The business was something that was enjoyable about the experience.

Some parts of the internship were very well set up, the training and meeting certain people within the bank were all done very well. However, there were parts that seemed very last minute and not that well set up. This was a good learning experience to adapt your workload and organization.

Within the bank there is very much a take initiative on your own, so the bank provided you with all the tools needed for you to develop as much as you can but it was down to you to use those resources. There was some initial training and the excel training was very good.

The company would be an amazing place to work and they do hire a large number of interns on as graduates the following year. The exact amount changes year on year, but whether you receive an offer or not they leave the door open if you have made the right contacts.

Yes there was an amazing social scene. The interns were very up for going out for drinks or going for nights out. The bank helped by organizing socials early on so you could meet people, but the interns themselves being up for going out made the internship much more enjoyable.

The cost of living and socializing was very, very high. The drinks in the area were very pricey, accommodation was very expensive and the food was also costly - it is central London. UBS did help by recommending some accommodation which were student houses and so were cheaper than other places.

The nightlife was incredible. There are a load of bars and clubs in the area, as well as other type of nightlife like music bars or gigs. They tended to be quite expensive especially the drinks once in the club but the club themselves and the close proximity to work/accommodation was a huge bonus.

You are working and living in central London, there are almost infinite amount of activities you can get involved in, whether it be sports, music or food you can find a club relating to that pretty much anywhere in London. UBS also provided opportunities to get involved with activities through the organization.