FRC intern Review

I think interning anywhere for your whole summer is a big commitment and there are times when it is easier and harder throughout the summer. On the whole I have enjoyed my summer at UBS and it has given me a good insight into banking and I have enjoyed it more and more as time has gone on.

I think at first on the internship it is very difficult to feel valued by your colleague as your knowledge is limited, however as you ask for more responsibility and learn more you are able to contribute more and more to the team and therefore feel more valued by your team. By the end I was given daily jobs to do which helped the desk on a daily basis.

Throughout my internship I was given lots of guidance by management and my supervisor. Whenever my manager was away or busy someone else was given to me as my line manager so I always had someone I could report too. On top of this I had a buddy and mentor in other parts of the floor which meant there was always someone I could go and ask my questions too.

UBS has lots of intern wide and division specific tasks which have a slight weighting to the first half of the internship. This is really good as it means when you are learning you have lots of oppurtunities to ask questions and expand your knowledge during the early stages. Then as you are able to contribute more to your team you have less sessions go to and more to do on your desk so the balance works nicely.

At the start pf my internship I was not given much responsibility and much of the first few weeks was spent brushing up and learning lots of technical information. However once I gained technical knowledge I was able to start doing small tasks for my team which helped to contribute to information which was sent around.

I think the most valuable skills I learnt on the internship were not the techical skills (although these will be useful pursuing a finance career) but the personal skills you learn interacting wiht people everyday. Learning when to and when not to approach certain people and also how to build functioning relationships with other colleagues.

I think within investment banking its important to remember that during the summer months it does tend to quieten down a bit. However I found the office to be a really busy and lively place with lots of oppurtunites to discuss what is going on both at the desk and within the wider markets which also helps to boost how much you learn.

The internship was very well organised and this helped me to get as much out of the internship as I could. The combination of events we had on to do with personal development, wider market knowledge and meeting people in different parts of the firm really helped me to gain the most out of the internship.

Before you go on the desk for a whole week you have a training course where you have the chance to learn about the firm, about the markets in general and you also learn a basic level of excel and Thomson Reuters which is very helpful for further along in the internship. On top of this you have weekly development events where you can learn more about the markets and within IB take part in a trading game.

I think the summer internship provides a great chance to learn about what area of finance is right for you and if indeed finance is the right career choice for you. I think UBS would be a great place to come and work and all the divisions are really friendly. What's great about UBS is even if you don't like the area you are working in but are a good candidate they will move you around to find you the right place within the business.

There was a good social scene on some of the desks and amongst lots of the grads there was.

The cost of living in the area can be quite expensive but UBS reccomended some student accomodation to the interns which cost from £150 a week, but there are more expensive locations to live in too.

The nightlife around the work place was really good and just outside the office there were lots of places to go out for dinner or get a drink with friends. You are right next to the city in terms of location and shoreditch which means there are also plenty of nightclubs around which you can visit.

During the internship the days were quite busy and sometimes there were evening events but lots of the teams and amongst the interns there was the oppurtunity to participate in things outside of work.