Summer Sales Analyst Review

It was a great job where you are given responsiblity from the start and help the team you are placed with function as efficiently as possible. As an intern, however, you are not FSA registered so a lot of this work is admin related- but still appreciated by the team.

I think this depends on the team you were placed with. In my case I got on really well with the team and they were friendly and always helpful. They were always willing to answer questions helping me to improve my understanding of the business and the way they provide services to clients.

Although the team were really helpfuly generally this came through people filling in as my manager was, on the vast majority of occasions, too busy to see me. I think this is understandable as you are only an intern and you have to make sure you have the right expectations when starting a placement like this. Do not expect to be nursed the whole way through, you need to show intiative and be proactive.

I always had something to do but I could also have handled more. As an intern, in my case, I began as an excess team member but once you show them what you have got your responsiblity rapidly increases and by the end of the internship my workload was significantly higher and I was doing more worthwhile tasks for the team.

As mentioned in previous comments you are given responsibility from the start and this gradually improves as you show your quality and what you can bring to the table. By the end of my internship I definitely felt like a valuable member of the team.

The work I have done here will help me so much in my return to university, given the module choices I have made, but what is more important is the experience it gives you to get onto graduate schemes or other placements and giving you an insight as to whether this is really the industry for you.

The trading floor that I was on had a great atmosphere, though this is obviously influenced by those members on your team and how they interact. My team worked really well together which allowed more time for general conversation which makes the day that little bit easier. Being able to visit other trading floors towards the end of the programme also allowed me to see that the atmosphere on different floors is very different, with FX being significantly louder and busier than equities. Overall a great environment to have my first placement in.

The internship was structured so that you always knew where you were and what you were supposed to be doing. The fact that you do not rotae really helps as you are able to impact a desk and really make a lasting impression before being given the opportunity to visit other desks for a brief insight. An improvement to the scheme would be to have these desk visits timetabled in so you are guaranteed a wider view of the business so that you are better informed for when/if you have to pick your graduate rotational desks.

The team invested a lot of time in me to help me improve my understanding and become more useful to them, so in terms of development I owe a lot to the team that I was placed with. The training week at the start of the placement was obviously fast paced and effective, though outside of this there was no real structure to train you in any additional skills.

I am led to believe they have a high conversion rate, but this does obviously depend on what you put into the scheme. I am not going as far as a 10 here as my final review where I find out if I have a job is a couple of days away... but given the 9 I am quietly confident!

Really good amongst fellow placement students with a lot of them organising events together and meeting up after work and at the weekend. In terms of colleagues it depends on your desk and the kind of people you are with and their other commitments.

Central London is really expensive! Rent is really high, though this has to be expected, even with HSBC providing accommodation assistance. Everything else is just as expensive but considering going back to uni it is far from 'cheap as chips'.

I can't really comment on this as I didn't go out with my team or other inters at night, just for grad events and the like. But I am led to believe that Canary Wharf has a good night life and if you want better then the rest of London is pretty close by.

The programme provide nothing of this sort, however, being in London and depending on what time you make for yourself there are plenty of opportunities for you to try new things or keep up with current hobbies.