Academy Trainee - Know Your Client, Global Client Data Services Review

On most days, I enjoyed the work I was doing and kept me busy. I met some great colleagues, networked with a lot of great people and did some great stuff like a Public Speaking Workshop. Of course, some days I'd feel like I didn't have must work to do i.e. during my first and last week, and some days, I felt like I had a lot of work to do. However, overall, I enjoyed my time on the internship.

Definitely. Unlike other internships, I had real work to do and not special projects which did not really contribute to the company. I felt like I was part of the team with desk members giving me clients to work on and I understood how my work contributed to the company. I was also praised often (but not too often) where I could understand my work was good and where I could improve.. Overall, I felt very valued by my colleagues.

Personally, I feel guilty when asking for help or when I find I've made errors in my work. However, my manager and the rest of my desk really helped me in improving my work and understanding the process of what I was doing. I felt part of the team and wasn't treated as an inferior because I was an intern.

On a daily basis, I had a number of project to get on with which was really helpful as it kept me busy and on my toes. Some days, I would get a lot of work and I would have to stay late, however, it developed my time management skills and helped me learn to multi-task. My first week was quite slow in terms of work load but that was because I was trying to get used to the systems and my manager did not want me to be thrown in the deep end, which is understandable. In the last week, I did not have a lot of work as it was a winding down period. Overall, I was busy and I was not sitting alood or idle during any period.

A lot of responsibility (for me at least). I dealt with real work and real clients. If I did not meet deadlines or maintained the quality of my work, the company can face a lot of scrutiny. Though I had a lot of responsibility, I felt that it was good to see what real-like responsibilities are like and understand what the consequences of your actions can be if you do not do your work well in a financial environment.

I learnt, overall, to come out of my shell and socialise a lot more with people I've never met. Though I may not ever use the skills I gained specifically from the desk I was on, it is still good to know and can help if should I wish to go into that area after my graduation. The only negative is that what I study did not help me or could not be applied to the work I did, and visa versa. I wish to use the knowledge I have from knowledge in my job and/ or use the knowledge I gain from work to apply to my university.

Depends on where in the office you work. My side of the obvious has times where it can be very lively and exciting, and other times where it can be quiet. However, overall, it was an alright atmosphere. Nothing like the trading floor but still a comfortable atmosphere.

Very organised. The person in charge of the RBC Academy was very organised, even though it was her first year organising it. Very smooth and no hiccups. Can't wait for her to put in her own little twist into the programme to make it more interesting and different next year.

Career-wise? Not much. The Academy does not allow for interns to be fast tracked onto the Summer Analyst programme or Graduate Programme, which is a shame.. but it's all about fairness in applications I guess. Monetarily? A lot. We get a bursary and income from the internships, which really helps for things like books at university, travel costs and so on.

Not very appealing. I'm not really sure if I want to get into investment banking, and it is a very competitive field, with or without experience. However, this is not to say the internship was not good. It has allowed me to understand what opportunities there are in banking.

This year? No. We didn't get to do a lot of things as the younger interns weren't as social and didn't really want to go out with us. However, that isn't a bad thing per ce. Everybody is different. Some are introverts and some are extroverts. We still got to go out to restaurants often.

VERY EXPENSIVE. City of London can be very pricey and students on internships within the area have to watch their budgets when going out. Food can be pricey and bars/ clubbing can also be pricey.

We went to a bar once called the Forge. Not great. Drinks were very expensive and the music was very bad (but it might be your cup of tea?). City of London is not really for dancing but more for drinks and talking. I personally prefer the former than the latter, so I am a bit biased.

Sometimes. You had the opportunity to take part in events like mentoring, sports and charity work. Some did not really appeal to me as I am not a fan of football and I could not mentor as I was not a full-time employee. However, generally speaking, RBC is very good at getting people involved in activities outside of work.