Commercial Banking Summer Intern Review

I thoroughly enjoyed the entirety of placement; I had no idea what to expect before I began but I am extremely pleased I took my place on the programme. I was given a huge variety of work which was quite often time critical and very important (I was working on a live project). This meant that all my work would be used which drove me to work harder on it, and meant that I had genuine feedback on my performance.

My team were extremely important and very quickly I felt trusted by them. In the first week my manager set out my deliverables; by week 3 I had been given more work which was more important which I really felt showed they trusted me. I built a network of people within my team who I could approach when having difficulty, all of whom were always happy to give up their team.

My manager was extremely important and I couldn't have asked from more. Despite the fact that she was very busy, she scheduled up weekly hour long one-to-ones so that I could discuss my progress and any issues I faced throughout the week. Especially at the beginning of the placement, she also regularly scheduled sessions with me throughout the week to go over the work I was doing to ensure that I was on track and completely comfortable with my task.

I was very busy on a daily basis but this did fluctuate. Due to the fact that I was working on a project, this meant that on some days when deadlines or tasks changed, I had to work more quickly than on other occasions.

I was really happy with the level of responsibility that I was given during my placement. I was assigned my own tasks which I would feedback to the various teams on a weekly basis. I was also assisting a couple of teams and had quite a few pieces of work to do, all of which were important.

I learnt a huge amount on my placement which I plan to use everyday. I learnt of technical knowledge about the specific division that I was in but I will most utilise the people skills that I have learnt. My networking and communication skills have significantly improved across many levels of seniority.

On the whole my office was very friendly and more than happy to help me throughout my placement. As I was working on a project there were days when large groups of people were quiet or stressed, but no more than would be expected. In addition, annual leave also tended to stress people out but nothing detrimental.

There were lots of various tasks that we had to complete throughout the placement including a CSR challenge, a presentation and report on improving diversity, as well as attending various 'listening lunches'. Overall I did not have a significant number of problems and was more than satisfied with the level of organisation.

Personal training gave a lot of background into financial markets and the bank as a whole which was really useful. It would have been nice to haver some more in depth training into commercial banking specifically, but I did not feel disadvantaged that I had not had this.

We have not yet received our final offers but my internship has gone well and I am hopeful that I shall receive an offer!

Yes there was a good social scene as out office was located amongst quite a few bars! We also had a team sports day which was excellent fun!

Very expensive - we were based in Central London!

The nightlife is very good because the office is located in central london! However, people didn't seem to go out TOO frequently.

There were networking events within teams and for the interns/grads but nothing too frequent or exciting.