Intern Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my time at SLA, thanks in large part to the large variety of projects I was able to involve myself in and enjoy. The internship was hard work however very rewarding and definitely pushed me with challenging but enjoyable tasks.

I felt highly valued by my team, as well as the wider firm, and felt I was given responsibility and able to come to meetings and respond to team-wide emails, even though I was only an intern. HR also made us feel valued with the development programme that we were enrolled in, which involved weekly training to further develop our skills.

I was given a lot of support by my manager and buddy, who both sat down with me on occasion throughout the internship as well as helped me day to day too. They were very helpful with any questions I had or anything I required further clarity with.

I was kept very busy which was really good, as I had a lot of projects with deliverable outcomes to get on with, meaning I constant had to work to achieve my goals rather than being left bored. At the same time the team were accommodating with deadlines as I was across two teams so they understood if I was overstretched.

I was given responsibility to deliver the projects I was tasked with however did not have too much responsibility that was overwhelming, and obviously for regulatory purposes I was not able to have responsibility in terms of investment decisions. However I still felt like a valued member of the team.

The skills I developed certainly assisted me with my career beyond as I was able to understand much more about the asset class, as well as the technical aspects and the programmes used such as Bloomberg and Data stream. They also helped me to understand more about how capital markets work, which is very valuable for my degree.

The team were very friendly and talkative so that was enjoyable however the office as a whole was quiet and professional, as to be expected. The Friday drinks trolley and other team activities such as drinks after work and the intern sustainability challenge helped with getting to know the team.

The internship was very well organised, with weekly development programme training sessions as well as good induction and excel training in week 1. The early careers team were always easy to contact and were very well informed. The presentations towards the end of the internship were very well organised with lots of supporting documents and a very well run session.

The company invested a lot in me in that weekly training sessions took place, and I was able to access Bloomberg and Data stream. They also invested the day of excel training and many colleagues took a lot of time out of busy schedules in order to explain things to me.

The idea of working for this organisation would be fantastic however I don't yet know whether I have obtained a job with them in the future. I know that many of the interns would be delighted to convert their internship to a graduate scheme.

There was a good social scene among colleagues as after work drinks were often organised, as well as activities with the other interns. Socialising was very encouraged and we were not restricted by work load that stopped us from being able to enjoy social events.

The area is very expensive however very desirable to live in. The accommodation provided by the firm helped to reduce living costs however day to day costs are very high still. This however comes with being in London and is worth the price.

The nightlife in the area I worked and the area I stayed were both very good, which meant there was lots to do on the weekend and midweek. Opportunities to socialise with loads of friends, because London is a very central point, was really enjoyable.

Yes, I was able to join the netball team which I thoroughly enjoyed and was a great way to do some exercise after work and also to meet like minded people in different teams. We also completed volunteering work as a group of interns, which was a great opportunity to engage with the wider community.