Spring into Finance - Virtual Review

It was a great experience, to be able to interact with seniors and juniors from the bank alike. I gained a deeper understanding of the bank's divisions and its people, from their day to day work to their culture. It was insightful to meet with these people and other driven students with a keen interest in finance, and it definitely solidified my growing interest in the field. I would rate the Spring into Finance programme to be highly enjoyable,

J.P. Morgan's Spring into Finance was originally an in-person programme, however, the Covid-19 pandemic has brought this programme to a virtual platform. I definitely feel valued as there were a lot of activities planned for us, from meeting with senior MDs to training days and even a post programme offering, which I personally found to be very helpful. It conveyed a message to me that the bank truly wants us to gain something beneficial and positive.

Prior to the virtual programme, we had frequent communications and updates from the bank, with reading materials for us to prepare. During the programme, everyone was highly supportive of questions or any doubts we had, the Fitch Learning sessions led by Neil Graham was also great.

Not only did the insight develop my technical understanding of the industry, there were also workshops and panel discussions that helped in my soft skills area (such as presentations and interviews, which definitely applies to any field of study or career). I study Economics, so naturally, these insights are beneficial and can merge well with materials I am currently learning. Although it was a short programme, the skills they touched upon were all vital to any path of career in my opinion.

The programme was very well thought out, it covered different aspects of the bank with a panel discussion from each division. Training days were also arranged which was great. It made for a very smooth and structured experience, which I personally found to be satisfying.

It was an atmosphere of genuine interest in the industry and firm, I felt like the other spring weekers were excited to help each other out, and it was exciting to meet people from a diverse set of universities. It was a great learning environment, Neil from Fitch Learning encouraged a lot of thought-provoking questions, which was great. People from the bank, seniors and juniors were all very keen to share their experiences which I found to be lovely.

As touched on in earlier answers, there were workshops and very supportive people to help us in our personal and professional development. I'd say the firm invests a great amount into the programme and its participants. Although I was not able to experience the full extent of what the firm has to offer, the people working there were all very positive about the training they received in the past, which makes me confident in the firm.

This was mostly covered in the post-programme offering when people from various divisions came together and had a panel discussion. Each panel gave unique insights into their line of business, but also how they came about to work in J.P. Morgan, how they got into finance, etc. They also detailed the projects / past memorable experiences they have had so it was great for me to gauge how working there would be like with the firm and its people.

Similarly to past answers, I'd say the range and diversity in its people and thought represented the culture very well. So it certainly helped my understanding of company culture beyond the website descriptions and I saw them come to life in a way.

I think the content solidified my already growing interest in finance, given I am an Economics student so this career path was a little more conventional. It gave me deeper insights and provided a personal touch with the stories and experiences from the people. I believe it would be particularly useful for people studying in non-finance fields because you would get to understand the industry in more detail and more importantly be able to make those connections.

The whole programme was centred around the entire bank, so it was great to be able to meet all sorts of divisions and its people. During the programme, we were encouraged to ask our questions via a Q&A platform, so this was great if we had any questions from what they had presented to us. The post programme allowed us to meet a wide range of employees. Thus, the opportunities were quite abundant in my view.

Yes, I would recommend this insight to anyone with an interest or curiosity in finance, regardless of their degree or current career path. Being able to have a personal insight into a global and industry-leading bank was certainly a highlight of my first year in university. Besides that, I've met amazing people. I thoroughly enjoyed the Spring into Finance programme by J.P. Morgan, and will be recommending this to friends coming into their first year of university.