Research Assistant Review

I really enjoyed it. I like taking initiative and people at the Bank encourage and support that! The placement was very relevant to my course- Economics. I could even do some work to start working on my final yr dissertation there.

To a very large extent. I haven't even finished a degree and people at work (with PhDs) treat you like your opinion really matters!

You are alotted a line manager and you both have weekly and then bi-weekly meetings. Support and guidance is there but that doesn't mean you can get whatever you want. The line manager is not very high up either but usually he/she can raise your concerns with senior managers, if needed!

Depends on how much you take on. I know people who went on very long lunches and people who didn't ever take a lunch break. I was quite busy all the time because I took extra on. If you just did what you're asked to then you probably won't be able to fill your entire day!

A lot. Way beyond I think I deserved and I am really grateful.

Large extent! I started my dissertation there. I know what Masters course I want to choose. But it probably helps you more if you're an economist as opposed to someone who is doing Business or some other course.

Intellectual and fun! Loads of banter and a lot of intellectually stimulating conversations. I expected everyone to be quite old there but it was quite the opposite! Loads of young and vibrant talent.

This placement is what you make of it. There is a broad structure but your time isn't organized completely. It depends on division to division. In my division, after the first 6 months I found my tasks easier and took up a lot more than was expected. They welcomed it. On the flip-side, there was no structure to give me more intellectually stimulating work even though they know we get more efficient at our jobs by then!

All year round, I was able to go for really expensive IT related training sessions. I also attended business and economics seminars. The manager would usually also try and suggest courses that would help. Apart from formal training, everyone really invested their time to help me understand the best career progression route etc.

It depends on whether you like them and they like you. At the end of the day a permanent job requires much more than this temp placement. So, (i) You are, under any circumstances, not offered a grad job in the end. (ii) But you're screened to the tests and assessment centers for a grad job later. We have been told that at the assessments- interviewers will be expecting higher quality answers because we have worked there before, which can be a downside.

Yes. We were 24 of us from loads of Universities and we went out every Thursday! We even played football for the Bank.

£450 rent. Everything else is expensive bc you're in London.

Awesome. Abacus is a bar next to the Bank that many young people go to. Then around there you have other pubs like weatherspoons. Kanaloa is a cool club around Liverpool Street. So you can try out different ones all year round.

Yes- sports for Governor's day. That's a Bank sports day and anyone can make a team and play most sports.