Equities Sales & Trading Intern Review

The internship was a fantastic experience and one that I would highly recommend to anyone looking at potential careers in equities. The two rotations of 4 weeks are ideal in length and the internship structure allows you to test yourself and find out as much as possible about sales and trading. The people at UBS are extremely welcoming, value interns and were all keen to find out about us and stretch us so that we could make the most of our time there.

As an intern you aren't qualified to advise clients etc, but I still felt like I could help people and make a valuable contribution to their work.

You are definitely expected to show initiative and be curious, but when you are learning your two "buddies" are always there to help.

I valued the fact that you created your own work - if you were interested in a stock or idea you were encouraged to draw up your own practice stock pitches to present back to the team, for example. We got taken to multiple management meetings with company CEO's and I was never bored.

This does not reflect UBS in particular but rather banking internships on the trading floor in general - you are not qualified so can't expect to be phoning clients with ideas or advice. However, I was given client queries to tackle and the opportunity to present my ideas back to the whole sales team if they were interesting and well-researched.

There is no question that getting to work at 6.15am is tough, but I learnt new things every single day during the internship. The day races by and it is a great environment in which to test yourself and your ideas around people who are paid for their opinions on the stock market. If you can get through a week in sales and trading, there is no job that you can't do.

A constant hive of activity - even when the markets were quiet, there was still a sense of energy bubbling under as though you were at the centre of the economy and prepared to react to the live newsflow. The majority of UBS' trading floor staff were fun to be around, warm and welcoming, and everyone had an interesting story to tell/unique personal hobbies and traits!

Excellent - beyond our daily working responsibilities, we had an organised trading game in teams of interns, weekly skills teach-ins and lectures from people across UBS' business, and were integrated seamlessly into our rotations. There were also 3 or 4 very enjoyable social events.

I have a full-time job starting in 2014, which you are told about during your final couple of days! The internship left me convinced that I need not apply elsewhere and UBS has an outstanding track record in European equities so there couldn't really be a better place for me to join.

Obviously depends on the attitudes of fellow interns, but we had a good group and shared 3 or 4 good nights out together over the course of the summer. We also went for regular drinks after work together as we almost always finished between 6 and 7pm. Our colleagues were also very keen to take us for drinks on Thursday and Friday evenings and go for lunch together to find out more about us.

The City is not cheap for eating and drinking out, but if you stick to lunching from M&S and suchlike you are absolutely fine. East London rents are great value and you can get the Central Line/DLR/one of multiple early morning buses, so you are very well connected.

Shoreditch, Brick Lane etc just on the doorstep (<10 minute walk) and obviously great transport links to other London nightlife havens. The City itself has plenty of great bars for post-work fun.

The internship is demanding so you are tired after a good day's work, but in equities you know you are guaranteed an evening so you always have to time to relax, unwind, go to the gym or play sports after work, or go for drinks and still be asleep at a sensible time.