Student Review

Met some great people in the 2019 cohort at the women's spring week and the staff were very friendly and welcoming. The graduates were equally kind and helpful in answering our questions about the different divisions as well as telling us more about the public body across the insight week.

It was quite independent in terms of the case study's we worked on, we were given some guidance but the aim was to use our inductive skills and use our suppositions and inferences to come up with our own solutions. The staff were welcoming enough that we could ask questions at any time if needs be.

I don't think my skills were developed during the insight week but I feel as if I did use my existing skills in the various exercises we were tasked with over the course of the week. I definitely have taken in the information I received but I have not had to use it yet.

The insight day was very well organised, very good speakers from both the associates and recent graduates as well as some of the senior staff. However, I do feel like there may have been too many talks and most of the discussions were not interactive so it became very tedious.

The atmosphere was good as my cohort were really eager to ask questions and learn more as the majority of them have already got a finance background having taken economics and or business at a level and similarly at degree level so some of the content was already familiar to them.

As it was an insight week with around 30-40 female students and with so much being squeezed in to four days, there was not much time for personal training and development as the majority of time was spent trying to get us to learn more about the company and what our role could be if we joined.

The insight week was not paid for however the Financial Conduct Authority did offer to reimburse travel for everyone up to an amount of £50 so months after I believe as well as accommodate those outside of London in a nearby hotel in Stratford free of charge which is very admirable.

There were many opportunities as a lot of the employees gave out their linked in and there were opportunities to network with recent graduates which was really good as it is better to speak to people that only recently went through the application process and were in our shoes only a few years ago.

We were given a tour of the widely used gym that is within the Financial Conduct Authority's building and which also includes many finesses classes which are very affordable and convenient compared to most gym spaces in London. Most of the other activities outside of work are by the FCA's committees.

I would recommend the insight to a friend as it is something that is worthwhile if your interested in regulation and working in the public sector as at the FCA there are a lot of opportunities to travel nationwide but not so much internationally, so its best for people who don't like to stay in one place.