Summer Analyst Review

The internship was a really valuable experience in investment banking. It gives you hands-on experience into what a career in M&A would be like and the typical tasks that an analyst would carry out. Everyone was very helpful and welcoming even though due to the Covid-19 situation the internship was carried out remotely. Even though everyone was working from home, I was still staffed on various projects which enabled me to gain a very broad exposure to different workstreams.

All colleagues were very open and welcoming and it was easy to reach out to people to introduce myself, for a catch up call, to ask for advice or seek work. Even though the internship was remote, it wasn't intimidating at all and I was able to arrange calls with colleagues at all levels, ranging from analysts to managing directors. Everyone in my team was friendly and polite when giving instructions for work and always saying thank you whenever I completed a task for them. This may sound like a minor thing but it's always appreciated when you're working IB hours.

Colleagues that I worked closely with showed me how to carry out research tasks, use different services/software and were keen to get me involved in different projects. Working from home meant that office chats weren't possible, but everyone was a message or call away. I was given feedback on reviewed work which was helpful for development. My buddy and another analyst were always available for general advice and to provide guidance for the intern company profile. I also had a brilliant mentor in a different team that I spoke with on a regular basis, which was very helpful for career discussions.

The training week has a full timetable with activities arranged by HR. Once I hit the desk, I worked across different projects. I was kept pretty busy which was in line with what I expected from M&A. I'd recommend people to research the hours in IB so they have a good understanding of what to expect. Some days were busier than others, which is simply the nature of deal flow and client facing roles. I would sit in on client calls for projects as well as team calls. I also had the intern company profile to work on whilst doing project work, which I delivered to a member of my team.

I would say I was given a decent level of responsibility for an intern. I think if the internship had been able to be the full length (10 weeks) rather than the shortened 5 weeks, I would have had the opportunity to have more ownership of certain aspects of projects. Of course, that couldn't be helped this year with lockdown measures and the move to working from home. The responsibility I was given increased throughout the duration of the internship, as colleagues got to know me more and trust my work output.

All the work I did throughout the internship was pretty representative of what you'd be doing as an analyst. My skills in Excel and PowerPoint improved a lot, as I had not previously used PowerPoint that extensively before. Going forward, this is something that will be useful for my analyst years when tasked with putting together slide decks. I also learnt more about how to work under pressure, manage competing deadlines and managing expectations which are all key skills for an analyst.

Although I wasn't in the office due to it being a remote internship, we had regular team calls and I also had regular calls with my buddy and other colleagues I worked closely with. Everyone was nice and always up for a chat when they had time. It was also good to reach out to the PAs as they were great in helping me to settle in and make me feel like part of the team.

I think it was as well organised as it could have been given that the internship had a very different set up this year compared to previous years. Everyone was sent out laptops to enable working from home, which was good as I had friends at other places that struggled to work on old laptops. HR did a good job in communicating the changes to us. I also think it was a positive thing that given everything that was going on, we were able to have our final review and offers on the last day, rather than having to anxiously wait for a few weeks.

We had one week of training at the start of the internship, which was delivered by an external provider. This covered the basics of accounting, Excel and a very brief session on valuation. There was no assumed level of knowledge for this training, as everyone came from different degree backgrounds. From what I understand, the training for the graduate programme is an extension of this for roughly 2 months, so they do invest in training their new joiners.

Future prospects are quite appealing as I got a return offer. My team were great to work with and seem committed to developing junior colleagues, which is obviously something you'd want as a fresh grad. I'd say Rothschild & Co as a whole seems like a good place to start your career whether you'd want to be a career banker or move on to other things depending on what you want/life circumstances. There is also the opportunity to be involved in some very interesting deals and of course, being part of the Rothschild brand.

This was limited for the obvious reasons of Covid-19 and lockdown.

There wasn't much socialising for obvious reasons but I'd say that in general, the costs of living and socialising are in line with what you'd expect from any city in the UK. If you wanted to save money, I'd recommend the usual stuff such as house/flat sharing which could also work out better being a new grad, as it's more social than living alone. Getting a flat in the immediate area in the city centre would be more expensive than living a bit further out, but it depends on what you want.

There wasn't much nightlife with a remote internship but from prior experiences pre-covid I'd say the nightlife is good. There's a decent variety of options depending on what you're in to, from upscale cocktail bars to more hipster places, gigs, raves, clubs, food etc. I'd recommend venturing out the city centre as well, as there are some nice places not too far out that have decent nightlife and could be a more chill option if that's your thing.

Again, with Covid and lockdown there wasn't much opportunity for this.