Summer Intern in Business Banking Review

My virtual internship exceeded all expectations. I was a bit unsure about how it was going to work without being able to go into an office to meet people in person, but it has been surprisingly easy to network and for relationships with my team members and fellow interns online. During my internship I was able to get a highly detailed overview of the business area I was working in, and even had the opportunity to talk to people outside on that area to gain more of an insight into the bank as a whole.

I felt valued as an individual during my time, although I didn't feel that I was always actively making valuable contributions or impact as there was so little time for me to learn the systems and processes, which is fair enough as I was only there for 5 weeks, meaning time was limited. However, the research and fundraising projects we carried out in groups of interns did make me feel like our input was valued.

The overall feel of the people at HSBC is so welcoming and friendly, everyone I spoke to was willing to help me by explaining things or showing me how things worked. There is a huge focus on the people, their wellbeing and self-development which is very attractive selling point. There was a strong level of contact with my line manager, as well as my grad coach and on-programme manager. They made me feel like I could reach out for help about anything at any point in the day.

This internship has massively helped me in developing my self-confidence, I now feel a lot more comfortable talking to new people and networking, which is all thanks to the opportunities I have had to meet a wide range of people working at HSBC. The amount of information I have received and the knowledge I have gained from the multiple learning resources provided to us has helped me to better shape my career prospects and to focus my ambition more directly.

The internship was well structured - there were two induction days to start off the experience, and at the end of the third week there was a Development Day focussed on personal sustainability, which I thought was a good time to do it as it gave us the opportunity to reflect on what we had done so far while still being able to apply what we'd learned in the last two weeks. I had one-to-one calls with my grad coach every week to discuss weekly milestones were also well structured, with a main focus on self-development - resilience, feedback, personal brand etc.

The atmosphere was friendly, welcoming, and overwhelmingly positive. I felt happy working there every day and never dreaded 'going back to work' after the weekends! There was always something to look forward to, and even though it was a virtual experience there was still a very social element to it - social video calls, quizzes, coffee catch-ups etc.. I got the impression the HSBC is an amazing place to work and the majority of employees I spoke to said they felt well looked after.

I feel like the company was hugely invested in our personal development - the grad coach milestone calls, development days and other opportunities to develop were very beneficial. We were given access to LinkedIn Learning and 'Fit for Banking' modules to enhance our learning further which was really helpful in developing strong foundations in banking knowledge. I felt really encouraged to take control of my own learning, and look for things that particularly interested me.

I think given that it was a virtual experience, it obviously wasn't going to be an entirely accurate representation of what it's like to work in an office. However, in terms of the actual work done and the running of the business area I was in, I think it was accurate and helped me to understand the ins and outs of the business, how it works, and the role of each member within the team. I had the opportunity to talk to lots of people about their roles - what they did, what they liked about it, what they found challenging etc., so I don't feel like I missed out in that sense.

Very much so, the values were very present and obvious throughout, and I could see how all of the employees worked by these. The culture came across both in team meetings and social calls, and was shown in a very positive light.

The content of this internship and the experience as a whole was incredibly valuable and enlightening in helping me decide on the next steps I would like to take in my career. At the start of the internship I had a few ideas in my mind of what career I wanted to pursue, but throughout my time on this virtual experience, I found that this industry is definitely one I would like to go into.

Although the internship was shortened from 8 weeks to 5 weeks, and turned into a virtual internship, HSBC honoured their previous offer and paid us as much as they had intended to initially even though it had been cut short.

Yes! There was so much opportunity to talk to anyone and everyone. There were virtual networking events held for all of the interns, some held by interns, and as well as this, it was very easy and acceptable to simply reach out via email to anyone you wanted to talk to. For areas that I was interested in finding out more about, I was able to ask my grad coach or line manager to put me In contact with the appropriate people which was incredibly helpful and supportive.

There were so many networking and social event opportunities available for us to attend. There was a huge range of different people in attendance so we were able to see a huge scope of the organisation represented. These virtual events were executed really well through the use of breakout rooms which meant that interns had the opportunity to talk in smaller groups and bond more effectively with each other. There was a really fun and informal vibe which made it a more comfortable environment.

There were two information sessions prior to the start of the internship where we were given a lot of information on the different groups (kind of like societies) you could interact with, and then as part of the induction there was a networking event where we had the opportunity to talk to lots of people from all of the different groups to find out how we could get involved. I felt very well-informed about this.

I would definitely recommend this to others (and have done already) as it was such a good experience and I learned a lot from it - a lot more than I was expecting. It was a well-rounded experience and I felt like I had a lot of valuable exposure to people in the company which enabled me to get a strong insight into what it's like to work in banking, and more specifically at HSBC.