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
It has been a very valuable and constructive experience which enabled me to familiarize myself with the investment banking world whilst working with bright minds. I've managed to improve many competency aspects of myself and my knowledge in programming and work experience.
Due to the way the structure was set up I only had constant communication with one member of the Prime Brokerage team which meant that my relationship with the rest of team was limited to some extent.
All the members of team were always willing to help me settle in but also in any difficulties I faced either during my internship or with any issues I had when carrying out my daily tasks.
The first 2-3 weeks of my internship did not allow me to do anything productive as I was still settling in and no project was assigned to me. After that though I was happy to see that I was kept busy throughout the rest of the duration of my placement. The workload was rarely too busy and luckily I was always had something to work on.
I believe I was given a lot of responsibility in developing new features of the application but also in supporting it. There were times where my colleague was on leave, which meant I was the only I.T. related contact point for the application. This had been a great experience which enabled me to carry out duties of a full time employee.
Simply the fact that I worked in such a global scale organisation helped me build a solid foundation for a successful career. Knowledge wise I was exposed to many new technologies which will definitely prove of great help in my studies and in the future.
The Company
The open plan design of the office meant the atmosphere was always 'buzzy' and there were quite a few laughs from time to time.
The internship was very carefully set up which allowed both the company to effectively assess us but also it enabled us to learn through training sessions and get productive feedback on our performance during the placement.
I believe the company did a very good job in supporting us, making sure we would get the most out of the internship by organizing speaker series events, networking events, training sessions and competency workshops.
Subsidised Canteen
Speaking with some of the senior members of the organisation it has become clear to me that through hard work, key contacts and a bit of luck you can get very far and succeed in this company.
The Culture
The events organized by HR, especially in the beginning of the internship, had been a great help in allowing us to socialize and get to meet our fellow placement students and colleagues.
Working in the City meant that restaurant/bar prices were higher than the rest of London.
Most bars/restaurants were empty after 8-9 clock in the evening where most City employees left.
There were a few flyers advertising some events that were planned but most of them fell out of my interests.
Details
Placement (10 Months+)
Information Technology
London
November 2009