Summer Analyst Review

Culture at RBC is what makes is different from other banks on the street and there is a real emphasis on this. A good environment in which to learn where you're expected to be curious, work hard and are rewarded for it. Colleagues appreciate your efforts. As an intern, the type of jobs you will be tasked with are comparable to other investment banking internships. However, there is a week-long structured training period at the beginning of the summer and regular events organised by the campus team, such as a spending a morning with acting coaches at the Old Vic, that make the experience really worthwhile.

Interns are expected to take responsibility for absorbing the large amount of new information that will be thrown at them in the first few days/weeks and learn quickly. However, the rewards of showing you can do this is great in terms of plenty of responsibility and opportunity to work on live deals. The more you put in the more you'll get out of the internship at RBC and colleagues, especially seniors are great at recognising your hard work and getting you involved where possible.

Facetime with senior management is rare in most cases unless you seek it out or yourself. But the fact that directors can be approached by interns for a coffee/chat is great - obviously being mindful of their time. Staffers and VP/Directors are more hands on and will respond well if you ask for feedback and show curiosity and willingness to take on more responsibility.

There are often times where you won't be prompted to work on a specific task but you'll have to figure out how to be productive when this happens and learn to approach people for work. This takes some getting used to but is a big part of being an intern - communicating your availability and managing long term deadlines. However, the majority of the time you will be staffed on multiple projects so work can arrive at short notice.

I had the opportunity to produce large sections of client presentations with the supervision of Associates. In addition I was given the responsibility of updating data that drove the content in the presentations. At the end of the internship I presented a 30 min brief on a fast growing industry to my whole team to kick-off discussions on our positioning in the sector. An invaluable experience for an intern!

I studied a Masters prior to my internship, which prepared me well for the more technical aspects of the job. But technical knowledge can be picked up quickly and is a small part of the story. The skills that an internship at RBC develops are those that you can only learn through coping with the pressure of the job and the support you receive from colleagues to navigate the 8 weeks is priceless.

The atmosphere is demanding but supportive with lots of motivated individuals all pulling in the same direction and wanting to contribute to the bank's growth. The team is diverse and people are generally very approachable. Getting to know seniors and networking with people in other teams is encouraged and can be very rewarding.

The summer was well organised with a good blend of structured and on-the-job training. There were plenty of opportunities to network with other interns in the team. The campus team were very helpful throughout the summer if there were any issues. Being placed in a particular sector team helped with learning as you could get to know an area in more depth than in a rotational programme.

There was one and half weeks of training at the start of the internship before we were let loose on the floor. The instructor delivering the training was excellent and brought us all up to speed on some of the basic modelling and technical skills that we would be using during the summer. Dedicating over a week to training out of a 9 week internship felt like a real commitment to our development.

RBC treats interns as potential full time hires and part of the reason for this is that its presence is growing rapidly after a very successful last few years. If you are able to demonstrate that you can do the job of an Analyst then employment prospects are very good. Analyst will be joining at an exciting time with the team due to move into a new office.

Meeting the other interns was one of the highlights of the summer. RBC's emphasis on hiring people who fit within the bank culture meant that everyone doing the internship was super motivated and supportive of one another. There was no feeling people trying to outdo or undermine each other, which helped create a strong bond between us.

Office is right in the City not far from Cannon St. so usual central London food options and prices apply. However being reimbursed for meals if you stay late is a significant perk. One of the offices has a bar downstairs with average prices. In addition to meal expenses, the company offers the option of a taxi home to those working late.