Business Management Intern Review

I really enjoyed by placement at Fidelity. It was such a great environment to learn and work in because everyone in the company was so friendly and were genuinely willing to give their time and to help me. From an early stage, I integrated into the team and was given a lot of responsibility which made my work more varied and enjoyable. I was also lucky enough to work with multiple internal and external stakeholders which meant I interacted with or met various people throughout the company.

I was quickly integrated into my team and it seemed that everyone had the time to answer my questions or sit down with me. Once I started producing pieces of work, I was made to feel like a valuable team member and one who was going to missed upon my departure. No-one was wary about giving me pieces of work, in fact it was almost the opposite and I had multiple pieces of work/ projects from different people across different teams!

My manager was always willing to help and answer any questions I had and he was particularly supportive of my work and my role both within the team and outside the team. One thing worth noting is that Fidelity is an environment where you have to be proactive - whether this is being proactive with your work, with meeting people or networking, with asking for further support or guidance, or with asking to attend certain meetings or experience different departments. My manager was always willing to help and support me but I did have to be proactive about everything in the first instance.

Right from the beginning, I never struggled to find things to do or run out of work to do. My average hours were 08:30 - 18:00 and I normally took a quick lunch break. There were a few weeks throughout my time where I was particularly busy and had to stick to deadlines or stay late but otherwise the balance was pretty good.

I was given quite a lot of responsibility throughout my placement. My manager, my team but also the extended investment directors and other people around me trusted me with various pieces of work, both for internal purposes and for external purposes such as for clients or magazine articles/ journalist questions.

You can take what you want from your placements. I have particularly gained specific and technical fund and financial knowledge which will hopefully help me with some of my modules. But I have also gained more personal skills and it has further helped me understand where my strengths and interests lie.

Fairly diligent atmosphere but everyone was very friendly and fun. However, it wasn't really an atmosphere where people went and grabbed food/ coffees together, but once I had met more people and established more relationships around the office, I started to do this off my own back.

Mine was fairly mixed. I was in a unique position in that I started off cycle and for a bespoke amount of time. This was difficult at first as I had a lack of inductions and training and it was hard to fully understand what I was there to do and how I fitted into the company. However I soon adapted and got involved and the flexibility enabled me to accept responsibility for pieces of work I identified and chose to do. On cycle internships are particularly structured with a great couple of weeks of inductions and there are always intern or graduate events too!

I was able to attend an excel training course and take my Investment Operations Certificate exam which were great things to do. It was something I had to be proactive about and particularly if I wanted to experience other parts of the company etc. it was my onus to organise.

I got offered and have accepted a job on their graduate scheme.

Because the firm has such a good work/ life balance, a lot of people would go home to their families in the evenings. However I was always included in any intern or graduate drinks/ events which were great to get involved in. From there I then met more people who I could join for drinks some weeks.

I lived and commuted from home and so it was fairly cheap for me! Living in the city is expensive and most people tend to live outside of zone 1 and commute in.

The city is always buzzing and is a great place to work in. There are so many cool restaurants, bars and parties that are definitely worth going to. Especially in the summer and on a Thursday or Friday evening after work, the city would be busy. It's also great as so many people work in the city and I had lots of friends working nearby.

The one thing I think Fidelity lack is external activities. As far as I am aware there are no sports or social clubs for women (excluding The Women's Network). I think the Surrey and Kent Offices are more to offer in this respect but the London Office didn't have many external activities on offer.