Intern Review

Enjoyable placement with supportive teams and good group of people. However, it is hard work with a number of tasks to be completed on a weekly basis, including trade ideas, stock pitches, trading games etc. You are guided throughout but at times it can be difficult.

The scheme provides a vast number of contact points throughout the internship so whenever you are struggling or finding something difficult, people are very approachable. There is a buddy system in which you are paired with someone again to provide you with another point of contact that you can be comfortable with asking questions to.

Every day varies, but generally as the internship goes on you do become more and more busy. Diary management is key throughout the placement otherwise tasks can tend to build up and be difficult to tackle towards the end of the internship. I have felt very busy during internship meaning I often needed to stay at work after hours.

Having the exposure to an investment bank and training in the departments will be helpful when studying my fnance modules. I study Business Management so there is not much economical aspects of the course. Other skills such as sales ability and networking will definitely help going forward.

The trading floor is extremely different to any previous job I have been used to before, It is noisy and intense, yet more fun and exciting. There are pros and cons of the atmosphere in the office but generally I have enjoyed being in a challenging environment that is extremely fast paced.

The internship was well organised with a range of networking events.

At the beginning of the placement you are given training in order to ensure that everyone can start with the basic fundamentals needed to start the job. Throughout the internship you have learning every Friday which helps further develop understanding. You can also attend trade presentations in order to gain broader understanding across different departments.

As there are networking drinks towards the beginning of the placement, you have good opportunities to build relationships with the other interns, This was shown during our placement as we met up every Friday night after work and often went out together. I have also attended 'Team Drinks'.

Canary Wharf is expensive, however, interns did manage to find suitable deals depending on their budgets etc. There is a wide range of places to get food at lunch time, and drinks after work so there are a wide range of prices. This made it possible for us to find cost of living fairly small.

As many of the interns move close to the office, we all regularly went out. Nightlife in Canary Wharf is reasonable to begin the night, we often ended up staying in Canary Wharf for quite some time. Due to Canary Wharf being fairly central, it is also easy to get a quick tube to an alternative venue.

There are many sports teams and a significant amount of the interns do get involved. I have been asked to be involved with the netball team, and some of my friends have joined the running club and football club. This provides a good opportunity for interns to meet people across the bank.