UBS Spring Insight Review

I enjoyed a lot of it, particularly the work shadowing (the person I was shadowing was very friendly and helpful in giving advice and answering questions - something which was common to everyone I met there). The workshops were good - some better than others, it has to be said. Some of the talks were a little bit dry, but there were not too many, whereas others were very engaging.

I felt valued in the sense that they did put a lot of effort into making it an enjoyable experience. It was, however, a one-week placement where we were not actually working for them, so the scope for this was limited.

A lot - both about which parts of investment banking require different skills etc., and about how to do well at the assessment centres on the Friday.

Degree studies - not so much, unless you do finance. Beyond - gained a lot of knowledge of investment banking and how investment banks work, and what sort of people are best suited to which areas of banking, which is useful when making decisions about the future. Also, preparing for the interviews meant that you had to hone e.g. public speaking skills and interview skills. However, it's not really designed to give you skills as such.

Very - it was always busy. If anything there perhaps could have been a few more/longer breaks - most of us came here from our holidays and adjusting to quite a long day of activities took a bit of time. However, there were a lot of activities to keep us occupied and the social event at the bowling alley on the first day was a lot of fun.

Good - very friendly and positive atmosphere. Everyone from UBS was very helpful in giving advice, and the atmosphere among people there wasn't particularly competitive (it certainly wasn't hostile or anything), so it was a good experience. Most of us made quite a few new friends.

In the brief time we spent there we were given a lot of time by quite a few different people that came to speak to us, so within the time constraints they gave us they did invest quite a bit in us, I thought.

The various speakers were very honest about what life is like in the various parts of the bank, and some went through their typical day, so from that perspective it did give us a good perspective on this. However, given that we only did an afternoon of work shadowing, we didn't actually do any work or see others actually go through a full day.

Quite a lot - they stressed the company's values a lot in the talks (honesty, etc.), and talking to employees meant that you got a good sense of how managers treat their employees, and how employees treat their co-workers (in both cases, well).

There was a lot of advice about which roles would be best suited to which type of person, so, yes, it did help me decide which parts of banking I might like to go into.

Only people living outside the M25 were reimbursed for expenses.

Yes, there were. There was a 'networking lunch', but really that was just when you met the person you would be shadowing - I, nor most of the people with me, spoke to any other UBS employees then. There was also a one-hour speed networking session, which was quite good, as well as the work shadowing (for example, the person I shadowed also introduced me to some of his co-workers around the Markets division).

There were a lot of breaks when you could talk to the other people on the programme, and the social event (bowling in Brick Lane) was fun. I got to know most of the people on the course.

Yes - there was a one-hour session on 'UBS in the community' which went over this in some detail (e.g. opportunities for taking volunteering leave, etc.).

Yes, I would - I got a lot of knowledge and "insight" into UBS and investment banking in general, and so did everyone else.