Summer Analyst Review

Overall a very positive and enjoyable experience where I gained a lot in terms of both knowledge and experience. It was a very steep learning curve with a lot of new information made harder due to the long hours ( but that was to be expected and there wasn't any pressure to stay for excessive hours).

Nearly everyone was super friendly and made an effort to get to know me and spent a lot of time teaching me new concepts and ideas. Colleagues were appreciative of the fact that it was a brand new experience and allocated me work to try and make it as engaging as possible. Many made an effort to integrate you onto the desk with drinks and lunch runs etc.

All my supervisors were willing to give constructive and useful feedback when asked while they they all went to great lengths to introduce me to other employees across the floor who they thought I'd enjoy speaking to and would be worthwhile to have a conversation with. Any issues I had and raised were quickly dealt with.

Very mixed depending on the desk. Some line managers gave me large amounts of work that were very time consuming while others adopted a far more "laissez faire" approach where it was up to me to try and find things to do and people to speak to. Overall however I felt less busy than a typical week at university.

Obviously there is a limited amount you can do as an intern and when you're shadowing people you have no responsibility whatsoever. I think the lack of responsibility was an advantage however in the sense it gave you more freedom to do what you found interesting and ask questions and make mistakes when learning.

The training at the beginning was a very good introduction to capital markets. However the discussions and tips from employees themselves were far more useful and practical. Some managers set very detailed projects which they heavily supported me with and as a result greatly improved my excel skills and understanding of certain financial areas.

By and large really good, however it varied from desk to desk. Nearly all were very friendly and had fun with each other, and they made an effort to include interns. At times the atmosphere was a bit tense, but that was to be expected in times when the market was stressed.

Very well. It was clear from day one what was going to happen and what we were to expect while we were told frequently that things could change so that when they did change it was no surprise. Only negative was that some line managers had different ideas than others about hosting interns which meant the level of work on each desk varied greatly.

Throughout the internship we were frequently invited to different events ran by RBC from networking events to personal branding events designed to improve specific skills. The training at the beginning and talks from different heads felt like they wanted you to have a really solid understanding of the business and what they did.

I was offered a job a few days after the internship finished and I am already very excited to start. Speaking to previous interns who went onto the graduate programme it's a really enjoyable place to start your career and all were pleased that they'd decided to go to RBV.

Really good atmosphere with everyone helping each other out, whether with times for meetings or different functions on excel. Frequently went out for drinks in the evening and would often eat lunch with one another in the canteen. I am sure I'll keep in touch with many of them highlighting how much everyone hung out.

London is obviously a very expensive place and prices for food and drinks in the City very much reflected that, the average price for a pint was around £5.50. Similarly rent was also expensive but again to be expected and there is nothing that the bank could do about that.

Many of the employees invited you to charity events that RBC were running such as five a side football tournaments or the Race for kids later in the year. The trip to the Ronald McDonald house was also a really good experience to see the work RBC was doing in the local community.