IT Analyst Review

The job provided new challenges on a weekly basis, in that objectives were set for the duration of the internship, but each week I found new opportunities through networking with different personnel from various departments, which kept the job interesting and exciting.

Such interesting work was made more enjoyable by the professional attitude of the staff who were more than willing to take time out of their busy schedules to provide me with explanations and assistance on any occasion. From my daily interactions with all levels of staff, from analysts to regional heads, Citi’s employees displayed a culture that was open, with respect for one another and a genuine enthusiasm and professionalism for their work.

The Intern Program focused on learning and we were encouraged to ask questions, regardless of how basic they seemed. If we could not understand something, our buddies and mentors were there to help us. I also had the opportunity to attend conferences, morning meetings and manager presentations. My manager was particularly helpful in introducing me to the panel of graduate recruiters and also in shadowing her to understand what activities she undertook in a normal day.

In a typical day, I would work from 8am to 6pm and an hour for lunch, which was spent networking with my peers. Throughout the day I concentrated on reaching the milestones to meet the objectives set, but my schedule became busier over time as new opportunities arose to help my colleagues.

Exposure to new challenges such as managing stakeholders, team collaboration and client interaction gave me genuine insight into the workplace environment - a truly valuable experience for any university student planning to embark on a career in banking. I was given responsibility to launch a detailed investigation into SharePoint a collaboration platform, which would be integrated into the various different systems.

I would say overall, the key skills may be team working as I often worked with different groups of individuals from all walks of life. However, it is more the other way round in that the internship has helped prepare me for my final year dissertation and conditioned me to be able to endure many hours of endless work, which is a necessity in the final year.

The people were always approachable and eager to share their knowledge. Participating in weekly meetings and chatting with other people on the floor helped sharpen my own skills whilst gaining an understanding of the other parts of the business.

Intensely well organised especially with over 200 summer interns to cater for. There was a buddy assigned to help bring you into the new organisational culture and the management were keen to set clear objectives, so there were no ambiguity.

A lot of effort went into training the interns and every week there were morning or evening presentations delivered by the Managing Director of a particular department! This was invaluable in learning how the different functions were aligned and taught some basic financial knowledge as the basis for further development.

Well unfortunately the US Sub Prime market has affected Citi resulting in the loss of the previous CEO and redundancy of many employees. However, there are now stronger procedures in place to strengthen Citi's position and I have been offered a graduate role after I finish University and so I look forward to the future!

Plenty of social activities, such as clubs and sports of which I joined the volleyball team. There are many informal socials to clubs and even more ogranised community events, such as redecorating the town hostels. Also, there was a dragon boat race for all 200 interns, which was an amazing experience.

Expensive to drink in many of the central clubs plus accommodation was quite expensive. The only way to travel from where I lived was by tube, which was another significant cost factor.

Brilliant as many socials with peers were to random clubs and major events involved hiring out a floor for the interns. This was often organised informally by the interns with some assistance from the grads.

There were organised away days to help in the community, whether it be picking up rubbish or repainting the local community centre. There are also opportunities to visit schools and assist teachers by providing basic reading and writing help to young children.