Assistant Credit Analyst Review

I have really enjoyed my time in the Sustainable & Natural Resources team in Large Corporates Credit. This was my first proper work experience in a professional setting so I really enjoyed learning new things. Coming from an economic background, I enjoyed using a lot of economic knowledge in my work revolving Brexit.

I was given actual work to do, and I was not treated like a temporary worker, and so I felt like I was valued within my team. Everyone in the wider team was friendly and happy to offer advice and help whenever I needed. My team also organised a leaving lunch for me.

I had regular one to one meetings with my line manager to check in what I have done, and what I was doing. Whenever I needed help with a project I could always ask a member of the senior team, which I appreciated. Since I was working with several teams this was really useful.

My workflow varied day to day, with some days more busy than the rest. A lot of the time I had to wait for the relevant people to respond to my updates/queries before I could progress, however I have tried to keep myself busy by asking my team for more work.

I have contributed to a number of long term projects, some of which were delivered to senior executives. I was also responsible for several presentations in the whole Large Corporates Credit team meeting, including economic outlook in the oil sector, as well as the wider economy. I feel I was given a good amount of responsibility.

Since this was the first work experience I've had, I have gained a real insight of what it's like working in a professional setting. Since this was a 10 week internship I did not experience intense technical training, however for certain tasks I was given excellent mentorship, so I could achieve the tasks.

The general atmosphere in my office was collaborative and friendly, and there were a few events after work, where I got to know the team more. This made working within the team more enjoyable, as everyone were open to help me out or give advice whenever I needed, which I appreciated.

The induction event only occurred on the Friday of my 2nd week, which was a bit surprising. My first week was not very well set up as I had no work to do apart from completing the office training videos. The actual work and the transition from application to work was very well done.

My line manager was really good in the sense that he wanted me to get the most out of the internship. Instead of giving me too many admin tasks, he involved me in interesting work utilising credit skills, commercial awareness, as well as presentation skills. I strongly developed my presentation skills.

The referral process from interns to graduates was supposed to be announced by the 19th July, however it was only announced on the 21st August. Furthermore even after the 10 week internship and being referred by line managers we still have to do tests and attend an assessment centre, with the rationale that "too many interns get referred."

Since I was living in London already, I was not offered the free accommodation that other interns received, which was a bit disappointing as I couldn't socialise with other interns as much as I would have liked. I did work closely with the interns on my floor, and went for drinks/ lunch often.

My placement was in London, everything was expensive, not many work events were expensed.

Didn't go out too many times but London has a really good nightlife.

Again, it's London. There were a lot of opportunities, but as a student I was limited by financials.