This review was submitted over 4 years ago, so some of the information it contains may no longer be relevant.
Rating
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The Role
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The Company
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The Culture
- 1. To what extent did you enjoy your work placement or internship?
- 2. To what extent did you feel valued by your colleagues?
- 3. To what extent were you given support and guidance by management/your supervisor(s)?
- 4. How busy were you on a daily basis?
- 5. How much responsibility were you given during your placement?
- 6. To what extent did/will the skills you developed, and training you received, assist you in your degree studies and beyond?
- 7. What was the general atmosphere in your office?
- 8. How well organised was the overall work placement or internship set up?
- 9. In terms of personal training and development, to what extent did the company or firm invest in you?
- 10. What were the perks on your work placement?
- 11. How appealing are future employment prospects within the organisation?
- 12. Was there a good social scene amongst any fellow placement students/colleagues?
- 13. What was the cost of living and socialising in the area you worked in?
- 14. What was the Nightlife like in the area you worked?
- 15. Were there many opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work?
The Role
Depends heavily on the team and on the desk, as well as yourself! One of my rotations wasn't as enjoyable as the other, but overall learnt a lot and had fun along the way.
It really depended on the work load. When there was time to sit down and learn off someone, it felt like we could really get on. When there was a lot of work going on, it's very hard for analysts etc to make the time to make you feel valued really.
Again, depended on the desk, and the time of day and work load. Oftentimes there wasn't enough time to sit down and discuss work and the job with management.
Once again, depends. Sometimes there was plenty to do and late nights and early mornings had to be done, but at other times there was nothing at all to do, and I had to keep myself busy otherwise.
Usually not a huge amount; had some end of day wraps to send out to a big distribution list, and had to write and modify some models at some points. Also prepared some client materials.
Not very helpful for degree studies at all for me, but the soft skills are definitely very relevant going forward.
The Company
Bankers don't like to be at the office most of the time. Traders, on a good day, might roll out the banter!
Mixed really, but on the whole good. The program was well structured from a high level, but there was little structure in the more day-to-day experience. Some better guidelines for the desk managers may well have helped this.
Expensive training sessions, and online training materials were in ample supply. Had access to Bloomberg and Reuters systems too.
Subsidised/Company Gym
Company Parties/Events
Staff Sales/Staff Shop
Times are very, very hard in the industry, and even more so with the company in Europe.
The Culture
Had a lot of fun while meeting many like-minded people. Definite plus-point of the internship!
The time cost was huge in that sleep was already in scarce supply...London being London, even chips were expensive.
Some good bars and clubs which the inters regularly enjoyed.
Very good charity fundraising day was organised, and this was helpful in both meeting people and donating time and money to a very worthy cause.
Details
Internship (1 Month+)
London
September 2012