Global Investment Banking Summer Analyst Review

On the desk, I was very hands on mostly with two live transactions at different stages, working directly with colleagues of all ranks. I produced various marketing materials, took notes on client calls, managed client communication logs, produced sector research materials, participated in team meetings and spent time learning Excel and financial modelling skills from my colleagues before applying these to a final case study assignment.

Summer Analysts received extensive training in workplace etiquette, compliance, wellbeing and accounting, valuation and financial modelling basics. Through my work on the desk, I feel I developed my technical skills further, particularly in Excel and PowerPoint, and through the coffee culture at RBC, I feel I have vastly improved my networking abilities. The investment banking simulation showed me how to collaborate effectively under time pressure and these skills were further reinforced on the desk.

Having spoken to interns at other firms as a reference point, I felt RBC gave me a lot of enriching exposure to the business. I felt I was involved in most elements of the M&A deals I was staffed on, including producing marketing materials that were sent to clients and sitting in on client meetings. Juniors even went to great length to explain financial models - an area where I couldn't really help out.

I was in contact with my assigned buddy regularly from six months prior to my internship, which helped me choose my team preferences and better understand the business. My staffers met with me regularly to discuss my progress and give feedback and all three Managing Directors on my team made an effort to engage with me. HR was very accessible through instant messaging and there was a strong teaching culture among all the juniors.

We were introduced to the Employee Resource Groups in the first week, had talks from a few of them throughout the internship and I personally was able to engage with the head of the LGBT+ network, who was very supportive of my endeavours. Team socials were regular, we participated in a charity 'hackathon' that was incredibly rewarding and the atmosphere in the office was one of hard work but also support throughout the programme.

I really enjoyed my internship - RBC made a huge effort to get us into the office in a year when most programmes remained online and this made a big difference for me. I found the work to be stimulating, the team to be quite intense in terms of workload but incredibly supportive, even up to Managing Director level, and the company culture to be very uplifting. I would definitely go back to RBC.

Yes

Be yourself - this is a firm that really does believe in letting it's employees bring their full authentic selves to work so be sure to mention your interests and hobbies, your engagement with any kind of university societies and your identity in your application and your interview. For the interviews, brush up on your commercial awareness and for the assessment centre, make sure your presentation PowerPoint is formatted to perfection.