Institutional Banking internship Review

I found the virtual experience incredibly exciting, as I found that it matched up to a typical day-in-the-life experience, much moreso than I thought it would. Given the assumed nature of a virtual experience, I believed that while it would be insightful there would also be elements to it that were not so typical of daily life as an institutional banker. I thought that it would be difficult to replicate it however I found that it was done very well hence it was very enjoyable.

I felt incredibly valued by the company Citi, mostly for the reasons that I mentioned above. I believe that the feedback I was given along the way and the extent of detail and difficulty of each task I had to complete, really helped me further my knowledge and thus made me feel valued as I knew that they were providing me with great knowledge even through a virtual experience! It was incredibly eye opening to see.

While I enjoyed the experience greatly and so honestly believe that it replicated the majority of how it would have been in real life, I do think that there was not much guidance or support along the way. Feedback was frequent however because it was virtual it would have only naturally been difficult to give personalised feedback. I think that if the virtual element had been extended to more personal feedback such as through zoom video then it would’ve been better.

The skills I developed on this virtual experience of institutional banking at Citi helped me immensely for my studies. I am currently doing an economics degree, and the analytical skills I had to use such as extensive analysis with Excel on large data sets, really helped me and I applied these to my statistics modules frequently. Not only this, but it gave me a clear view of what careers I want to go into which of course links to my degree.

The structure of the virtual experience with Citi was incredibly well structured. There would be an explanation video of the tasks laid out, followed by the tasks we had to do numbered and laid out well. Then after each task we would be given a sample answer to be able to compare our answers, while also having the option of submitting them for Citi to personally see, via the InsideSherpa database. It was definitely laid out well!

The general atmosphere was quite great, mostly because of how it was laid out but also how personal the videos provided felt, as well as InsideSherpa’s personal elements in terms of submission to the bank. However as i mentioned before it would have added a special touch in atmosphere if there was a chance to directly speak and discuss with members of Citi, as though it were a real experience. Nonetheless I did enjoy the atmosphere.

I do think that the company Citi did invest in me a lot with my development given that there were very detailed sample answers that we could compare our work to. The work that they set us was very difficult and required legitimate brain work, and there were also tasks that were very active such as data analysis and a task where we had to send a pretend email to a manager. It felt real and personal.

I rate this 9/10 and not 10/10, purely for the fact that it wasn’t actually based at the bank in real life. Otherwise, I feel that the experience helped me understand a full time role with the company immensely!!! They assured us and explained to us that the tasks we were doing were exactly the types of things one would do if they worked at the company. The difficulty level was even there! I found this very useful indeed.

There were not many elements that helped me understand the company culture, though I did my own research for this. I think this is mainly because it was virtual and these type of things are seen and experienced better when they are in person. I believe that they showed us their beliefs and culture as much as it was physically possibly virtually, so of course this could not have been shown that much but there were efforts made.

It was very valuable!!! As i mentioned before, because of how realistic and challenging each task was, I got a genuine understanding of what an institutional banker does in their day to day life. This is something I previously was not aware of at all, no matter how much I tried to research it. I think this is something that can only be experienced when done first hand. I now know that I am interested in a career in banking.

I was not paid for this virtual experience as it was open to everyone through the virtual internship website Inside Sherpa. I don’t think this made any or much impact on the quality of the work as I was aware that it gave everyone a fair chance at an internship experience, even if they had no prior knowledge or were not necessarily able to attend in person. The skills I learnt were much more valuable to me.

No there were no networking opportunities. Because this was virtual and not very personal i did not meet anybody else who attended the internship. I don’t mind this and did not expect it to happen anyway but of course it would be nice to expand networking abilities wherever possible. perhaps if there was a chat where people could share their linkedin or create a group to network then that would have helped make it more personal!

There were no networking or social media opportunities as i mentioned above. I also mentioned that this did not matter to me and I want to reiterate that. there are certain chances to networked virtually but of course in person it is a lot easier to do so and thus i would expect that if this internship happened in person then the networking opportunities would have grown even more. linkedin groups would be good to be made perhaps.

No and again i do think that this is probably because of it being virtual. It was mostly based on knowledge and content of the workplace rather than anything else. if it were in person then naturally you would know what employees do outside of the workplace and the activities that they do but when it is virtual there is no chance to engage with the outside of work environment like this- this is expected in my opinion.

Regardless of the above in terms of it not feeling that personal, i would HIGHLY highly recommend this to a friend. the knowledge i gained about both the content and the nature of working at Citi has helped me so much in my career decisions and also in my degree for analytical skills. I really do think the skills you learn can be applied to so many things and is vital for future employers to see!