Intern in Operations Review

It was a great experience. During 10 weeks, you are a full-time analyst, and you are just as much exposed to the industry. We work in small teams, and every intern is well welcomed and integrated in the team. I did not work by my own for 10 weeks, since there were so many problems I had the opportunity to take ownership of. I learned much more than what I thought I could learn.

I did not have an assigned "intern" status. My team trusted me from day one and did not hesitate to lend me tasks critical to the team and to leave me with just as much (if not more) responsibility than any analyst/associate. Another important point is my team always took time to help when they can. Even outside of the team, I could always phone anyone (even senior managers) and ask for help on a specific point. You really fell they treat everyone the same, from intern to MDs.

Personally I had a lot of support but few guidance. My manager and I discussed the objectives of my internship at the beginning, but then I free to take whatever initiative I thought would help. The idea is that they trust your judgment and the ideas you come up with, you just have to provide feedback often so managers know in which direction you are heading, and so that they can help you.

On average: very busy. But no to days are alike and many different things made up my agenda. You can spend a whole day doing only meeting or only BAU tasks, and spend the other day juggling between events organized for interns, work-shadowing sessions, catch-up meeting with manager, presentation of your work to the team.. The great thing is I managed my schedule as it pleased me. So I was able to make sure I was not bored or too busy on each day. And this taught me a lot about project management and time management in general.

A lot. I was in charge of reviewing and streamlining the processes my team works with. This project had a huge impact on the team, and meant to use a lot of different technical tools (ie not just Excel). It also implied to work with a lot of people outside the team, to see what changes I could make.

My degree is in science. So I developed almost only skills I did not use in the academic environment: time management, communication, leadership and listening skills. These skills are very useful going forward in the studies, all the more since I did not work on them previous to doing this internship. These skills are very useful namely to land a job offer after the internship, in any other company. As per the training, having learned so much about the industry not only is very fulfilling, but is also a big plus going forward in my career.

It is quite special: every one is very open and friendly, although the atmosphere is professional. The workplace is fast-paced in general, and you can really feel it stepping into the floor. This high-energy atmosphere is something special about finance. Other than this, people are often very busy, but almost always make time for you: as long as you respect their schedule, they will always take off their time to help you.

Very well organized: HR team in charge of the internship program made sure we had as much exposure as possible to the industry and to the company. We were 100+ interns in the office, and we spend a lot of time together, and learned a lot from one another. We also had many "side events" planned: volunteering day for the firm, panel discussions with analysts in the graduate program, networking events with senior managers across the firm..etc

The firm has a huge platform with lots of different resources to learn about several topics: may it be technical skills, or how to use a software, or soft skills, or even how to get around systemic issues you encounter as an intern. This was a very useful tool. As per development in general, the firm expects you to learn a lot and to have something to take back from the internship: either having worked on a specific software, or having learned about a specific market..

In the sector of the industry I did my internship in, the prospects are quite appealing: it offers good work/life balance, and the environment is just optimal to work in. In general though, the firm appears as very very appealing: there are so many diverse opportunities and challenges to overcome here, this kind of firm is a place you can build a whole career in. The firm's prestige and reputation also makes it one of the very best financial institutions to work in.

Yes. We - interns- did not work separately, but were always in contact. May it be for group projects, for networking and work shadowing sessions, for lunch breaks, or outside of office, we spent a lot of time together. Not only is this reassuring as an intern, but you learn a lot about what other teams do, about what other department work on, and just about how diverse my future opportunities in this place are. I must say the background of interns is very diverse, so it was a great experience to get to know people of my age from around the workd.

Quite low as compared to traditional financial hubs: Rent is relatively low (400£/month), and the city has a lot of bars in its city center. The city is not big, so joining other interns was really easy. With 200£/month spend on food and various, we had our salary minus 600£ to spend on socializing events between interns: discover the area, go to festivals, take a drink...

The city is small but the nightlife is vivid. Bournemouth is a fairly young city, with lots of students from all around the world. The nightlife was great (and fairly cheap). The only downside is there are things to do almost mainly in the city center, so you have to make sure you live close to it.

Yes, a lot. My office has activities organized regularly: language lessons during lunch break, but also JPM-only events such as a bike tour in the forest near-by, doing kart for a day... The location also has sport clubs, where you can play basically any sport with colleagues. Tournaments are often organized, especially during the summer! The firm strongly encourages volunteering, and sponsors events for JPM employees to attend: raise-funding races for cancer, volunteering for the community...