Summer Intern Review

Very enjoyable.

I was given crucial work to do for a project, even if it was a tad tedious at times. Everyone was very friendly and happy to help. It's a more pleasant environment for everyone if you feel comfortable and confident

Anything I wanted help with, people were on hand - that said I was given more challenging tasks and often had to think for myself, potentially finding sourcing information from people for myself.

Some days busier than others, dependent on projects but there was almost always the option to ask for more work.

The work I was doing was genuinely crucial to a larger project.

There were almost no occasions where I had to call upon things learnt at university but I have definitely learn a lot about the industry and the culture.

People got on well - there were a couple of birthday parties and hen dos which helped break the ice. It did help that the Olympics were on as that provided an easy topic to discuss.

The internship was very well organised, with events occurring more than once a week. The only problem, which many seemed to suffer from, was that getting access to the computers was slow and should have been better handled before the internship started.

There were educational sessions with senior figures around the bank. These managers were approachable and receptive to any questions that you may have had. We were also sent on a computer course to enhance our Excel skills.

It is said at the start that there is a place for everyone and it is a non-competitive internship. As time passed, it became clear that this may not actually be the case, although if you were impressive, there wasn't much in your way. The employment decision depends on headcount - current and required - and with the market being depressed it is questionable as to whether there will be that much slack in the required headcount for 200+ interns.

There was a good atmosphere amongst interns from my department, although after the first week there were almost no opportunities to meet those from other areas.

Central London

City pubs are nicely decorated and all very swanky but they are expensive. Nightclubs in London are very hit and miss.

This is an area which I thought could be improved. Networking events aside, there were almost no opportunities to let your hair down that were organised by the company. You can organise events yourself, but people only stick to the 10 or so interns that they know and are comfortable with. Social clubs do exist and there is a page advetising them on the intranet, but from my experience, they were all defunct maybe through lack of interest or lack of time to organise events.