Spring Intern Review

I really enjoyed the Spring insight programme at Citi. The programme gave a wide variety of interesting talks, as well as some very useful advice, and the programme left time for lots of questions to be answered. We also took part in an online trading game with Amplify trading which was a lot of fun.

Considering that the programme was virtual, I felt as valued as I could have given the circumstances. Citi included a "getting to know you" session, which helped us all feel even more involved than we already had through our participation in question and answers. Everyone who spoke to us was very friendly and genuine and made us fell valued.

We received all the guidance and support necessary for the online programme, as well as friendly email reminders when a session was scheduled to begin. The programme was well organised, and the schedule for each day was very clear to follow, and it was easy to connect into each session.

The Citi Spring programme definitely helped me develop employability skills, through their helpful interview and assessment centre workshop, as well as my trading skills in the Amplify trading sessions! The information received across the board was very useful and interesting, but greater emphasis could have been placed on the different career options at Citi.

The insight programme was very well structured, and the schedule for each day was clear to follow. Each session was a good length of time, and breaks were well placed so that I felt energised for each new session. I thought it was good that the Amplify trading session was on the final day of the insight, as this gave us a chance to get to know Citi better first.

This insight programme was so fun. Everyone who spoke to us were so friendly, particularly the main organisers of the programme who really helped to make the programme interactive and fun for everyone involved. Question asking was strongly encouraged, and it was emphasised that no question was a stupid question.

Citi definitely helped us develop as individuals throughout the Spring insight programme, though I would not say that this was the main focus of the programme. Due to the online nature of the programme, I think Citi did well to make the programme interactive and to have us involved in doing problems and answering questions instead of just sitting back and listening.

The Citi Spring insight programme gave a great insight into key themes that are important to business at Citi, which was very interesting. However this programme did not thoroughly explain the different roles available at Citi, and there was limited focus on different sectors of the company, but far more focus on topics that were relevant for the company as a whole.

The programme did not put much emphasis on discussing the company culture, but when speakers were asked using the question and answers tool, everyone was keen to express how much they enjoyed their life at Citi, and how great the company culture was in every department and sector at Citi.

This Spring insight programme less so helped me decide on my future career path (as we had to preselect the division we wanted to be part of prior to the start of the programme), but more so helped me decide whether Citi as a company is somewhere that I would like to work in the future.

I was not paid or reimbursed expenses for this programme, as due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this Spring insight programme was moved online to a virtual platform. However it was made clear in the initial programme offer that any travel and accommodation expenses would be reimbursed had the programme taken place in the London offices.

As this programme was made virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there were definite restrictions to networking opportunities. However a group chat was set up on the programme, and we were strongly encouraged to get to know each other better and connect on Linkedin with Citi professionals if we had any further questions on topics they had discussed.

The main social/networking opportunities throughout the programme were through the group chat on the ON24 platform, and through the "getting to know you" session on day 2 of the programme. A whatsapp group was also set up by the programme participants which was really fun to participate in and discuss the programme.

This aspect of a working life was not really emphasised throughout the Citi spring programme, however in previous phone conversations when applying for the programme, members of the Citi team have been keen to talk about other activities at Citi outside of work, such as charity work, and minority group clubs.

I would definitely recommend the Citi Spring insight programme to a friend. This programme gave a lot of useful information about the firm as well as important macro and technology themes. The Amplify trading game was also very fun and a great introduction to trading. And everyone who spoke to us was very friendly and genuine!