Summer Analyst Review

I left with a positive impression of both the role and the company. I found the work I was assigned interesting. Client meetings and presentations of company results showed me that being an equity research analyst was more varied than I anticipated.

My colleagues were very friendly and generous in recognising my effort and contribution.

My manager was very supportive, although it was also important to be proactive in asking questions and organising some activities such as shadowing other employees of the bank.

I was assigned tasks by my team, and other analysts. We had group projects organised by HR. I also attended analyst presentations and the occasional client meetings. As a result I was usually busy with these activities, but when not, I could shadow other employees of RBC. This meant I was rarely bored.

Given it was a summer internship, I was pleasantly surprised by how much responsibility I was given. I was assigned three projects to work on in my own time. Some of this work was to be used in materials produced for clients. In addition there was the occasional ad hoc task which was more routine. I was taken to two client meetings.

Some of the knowledge may not be immediately relevant to my studies, although I'm sure some skills developed will prove useful. You can pick up good habits working more than 50 hours a week for 8 weeks! Both the skills and knowledge are likely to be useful in my career.

More fast paced on the trading floor, and quiet in the research department. People were generally friendly.

It was well organised. We were given a timetable of HR organised activities and events at the start. At other times we would be helping our desks.

We had two days training on financial markets at the start. There was some Bloomberg training and on the job learning.

Good, in that it is one of the few banks planning on expanding in Europe. As with all investment banks the application process is very selective. Around half of the interns in capital markets secured jobs the following year.

We often went for drinks after work on a Thursday or Friday. I would usually go out for lunch with colleagues or other interns.

I was working in the City of London so it was not cheap! We were given a relocation allowance in our first pay cheque in recognition of this.

In London as a whole, excellent. Obviously the atmosphere in the City of London is slightly corporate, although better than Canary Wharf! The City is borders Islington, Shoreditch and Spitafields so the nightlife is whatever you make it.

Interns arranged after work drinks and one football match. A few met up on the weekends. All the capital markets interns were included on the email for most of these activities so people could get involved with as much as they wanted.