Associate Review

I was placed in a team that were a lot of fun, doing work that interested me and suited my academic background, . There were opportunities to shadow others in the organisation too to get an overview of other areas that might interest you.

My team were extremely welcoming and made me feel that I was a very valuable contribution to the work we were doing.

There were weekly meetings with my line manager to get feedback on the week's work, as well as 2 more formal review sessions. In general as the atmosphere at the FSA in quite friendly it is very easy to get feedback from other team members no matter what their position was and then support would always be provided when necessary.

I guess this depends on the team that you were in. My team would go through very busy periods, and others when there wasn't a huge amount for me to do for various reasons. At the same time there was never a time when I had so little to do that I was bored. There was a few longer days but in general it was very much 9-5.

I was given lots of responsibility during my placement. My team would set me an important task for a certain project and then would leave me to complete it to an appropriate standard within the deadline.

I think that my time at the FSA has developed many skills for the future. Not only did I learn a lot specifically related to the team that I am in, but there were sessions provided on efficient networking and presentations etc.

This probably depends on the team you are in but there was a great atmosphere within my team. In general the atmosphere at the FSA is very friendly and open.

I had no problems with the organisation, everything went very well.

Even on the internship, I had the opportunity to do several courses, and within reason could do whatever I wanted - one of which was a 2 day external course. When it comes to the graduate scheme there is a big effort made to invest as much as possible in training and development for grads.

We find out a month or so after finishing, from speaking to interns from previous years I am under the impression a large proportion of interns are offered a graduate position.

There regularly was a group of either work colleagues or placement students going out after work for a few drinks. As all the interns are spread throughout the organisation the first few weeks was quite hard to get regular events going, but this picked up throughout the internship.

In general London is very expensive, although it is possible to find cheap nights too. Although Canary Wharf can be very expensive, a lot of bars have happy hours and there are cheaper pubs there too.

There are lots of pubs and bars in canary wharf, although for a proper night out more central London would be a better idea.

There were a few opportunities organised by the social and sports club such as a bowling night etc. other than this there weren't too many other than those organised by the interns.