Intern Review

It was a good experience overall. I did get to do quite bit of real substantial work and learnt a lot - but there were also times where I had nothing to do for a few days continuously.

You're treated with the same respect as any other member of the team. They won't expect you to stay late and will take note of your workload before giving you tasks. Most people will take the time to talk to you about the task before and after completion.

I was quite lucky and my manager was incredible. She constantly checked in with me and made sure I had appropriate work load but also I was doing things I liked. She took a lot of interest in my development and wanted to make sure I could be involved in things I was interested in and also arranged 3 work shadows for me not to mention coffee chats with other people in the organisation. The only downside is that since it is summer, my manager was on leave quite a bit - but she would try to make sure I had work scheduled when she wasn't in.

Generally speaking I could meet my deadlines very comfortably, often ahead of them. It was common to only have 1 task at hand or even nothing to do at all. But when it does get busy I would be in the office 8am to 6.30pm and have lunch in front of my desk. I don't think I've ever had to take work home. Although this would differ from departments - I know wholesale and Policy interns were often busier.

My first task was to review evidence and create a bundle on an investigation case, although this was a small investigation only. The second GDPR request that I was asked to take on, I was given the whole responsibility of it. But when it is really busy, you would have to do more mundane tasks like bundling and document management etc.

I expressed my interest to embark on a legal career so the tasks my manager gave me were often those that an intern at a law firm would do e.g. drafting memos, legal research etc. To that extent, it was vey helpful in terms of developing legal skills. As you go to a lot of meetings (as an observer) you get to see how large scale meeting is run. Sometimes they also have business people come to run the meetings so its really efficient. Being in the workplace for 2 months also helps you to present yourself in a professional way. There were a lot of training sessions, online and real time, so as long as you're keen, you can learn as much as you want.

This greatly differs from each team. TCT is a bit more 'dull' with less chatter as the work is quite independent. But other teams I shadowed in are very chatty and more 'close knit' in a sense.

Sometimes it takes some time for HR to respond but they do put in the time and effort to organise the orientation. Unfortunately, when the internship starts, your experience is mostly determined by your manager e.g. what they have set up for you. I was very lucky and my manager made sure I had a wholesome experience and wasn't too bored/doing too many things I was disinterested in. But I think its up to you to seek out opportunities as well to an extent.

As mentioned, there was an abundance of training available and interns are encouraged to make use of them.

Previous interns have said most will get a grad offer from the internship. If you are on the grad program, a job offer is guaranteed.

Amongst interns, there's a social rep who organises drinks ever week or so. Sometimes grads would arrange things with us as well.

Canary Wharf isn't the cheapest and the cafeteria is a bit limited. But FCA recently moved to Stratford which is a major improvement.

I don't think there was any in Canary Wharf.

There was an intern CSR day and clubs you can join if you want just be aware of the dates.