Summer Internship Review

The summer internship at Nomura consists on 2 rotations of 4 weeks. For each rotation, I worked on a project and present it at the end of the 4 weeks. Therefore, on a day-to-day basis, I allowed some time for my project, but also some time to speak to my team but also other teams so that I have a good overview of my team's business and of others' too. Work shadowing and helping on some small tasks were also part of my daily routine.

For my first rotation, I did not know anything about the business my team was in. Therefore, I learnt a lot from scratch about the products they are offering to client and more specifically the project they have done in the past but also the current one. For my second rotation, I knew more about the business as I had a similar previous experience at the time. However, I developed my coding skills by building a tool for them.

For my first rotation, my project was about contributing to some desk slides that had to be presented to Nomura's Committee as part of a project. My team completely trusted me on this and therefore gave me responsibility. For my second internship, I was not given responsibility at all as I could not be authorized to trade. Therefore, I focused more on my project that on helping the team trading or booking trades for instance.

It is always difficult to determine the level of support and guidance you receive when you do an internship in financial markets. People are extremely busy and are not always available to answer your questions. Being autonomous is key. In terms of guidance, I received initial instructions and then worked on my own. However, I received a lot of support from the members of the teams I did a rotation in. People really listen to you even if you are an intern.

The culture at Nomura is fantastic. It is a great place to work and people are great asset to the firm. From what I perceived, it is an employee caring company with a good work-life balance. Nomura is a very entrepreneurial and smart company where its seems you can have responsibility very soon. The doors are always open and the team culture is very strong. You are always encourage to propose new ideas and people listen your ideas.

I enjoyed my internship as I was able and encouraged to meet as many people as possible. Understanding each people I meet business helped me to define what I want to do in the future. Moreover, I like the fact that I was given responsibility and that I was able to propose ideas, implement it and my teams cared about my contributions. The way the internship is organized (2 rotations) is also well thought for young people.

Yes

I would advice them to reach out to some employees before any interview (via Linkedin for instance) to have more insights about Nomura's culture. Reaching out to Nomura's employees is the best thing to do, I guess, if you want to maximize your chance of getting hired. Reading the news regarding Nomura's activities is also a good thing to do just like going through Nomura's website (learn about Nomura's activities , history, culture).