Summer Insight Intern Review

Extremely enjoyable experience a Bank of America Merrill Lynch's London offices. The three days were packed full of informational sessions and gave a great insight into different divisions, with certain divisions even having a work shadowing time slot, and bankers were often found encouraging people to shadow them outside of the standard insight program hours.

The team at Bank of America Merrill Lynch made the interns feel extremely valued, dedicating a lot of resources and time to making our experience as all encompassing as possible, whilst also encouraging contact with senior positions at several networking events. These showed that the senior members of each division have a great interest in interns and enjoy seeing their development.

Great amount of guidance from both junior and senior members of the bank, with several first year analysts having previously completed insight weeks or internships coming to speak to us, and several events having been organised in order to speak to senior bankers about their thoughts and experiences within the sector and elsewhere.

Information about the different divisions such as Global Corporate & Investment Banking and Global Markets has been key in deciding which division best suits me, as well as what I should focus on at university. Meeting members of each division from different backgrounds and of different seniorities also gave a tangible image of the organization at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

The insight program was very well structured over 3 days, with a general presentation of the bank, icebreaker, Corporate Responsibily session and a networking skills session on the first day, a day worth of divisional preference specific activities including presentations, work shadowing, case studies and just time to sit, have a coffee and chat to people from different desks on the Sales & Trading floor.

There was a fantastic atmosphere both among all the interns and with staff of all levels (HR were particularly friendly and keen to help). Everyone came away feeling valued and having met a large number of senior bankers, heard their career progression and been inspired to make career decisions! The several networking event made sure that everybody gets a chance to speak to the people who could interest them most!

Over the three days the bank helped us make a more informed initial decision about which division best suited us, spending a great amount of time making sure we understood what each of preferences entailed and giving us the opportunity to meet several people from each division with very different levels of seniority and backgrounds.

The program gave a very good insight into what working at Bank of America Merrill Lynch would be like, both through the "learning on the go" experience of discovering a Bank office, as well as through meeting both junior (ex-interns themselves) and senior members of the bank. By having presentations from all the different divisions we began to see the fundamental links that make the bank work.

Without a doubt the most marking experience was meeting all the employees and hearing the same story being told everywhere: Bank of America Merrill Lynch is a fantastic environment whether it be for interns, analysts or senior members of staff. A culture of culture was very prominent, interns aren't expected to have 10 years of financial experience but to learn and grow as they spend time at the Bank and earn more responsibilities.

The three days struck the right balance between presentations to help us get to grips with the different roles entrusted to different divisions, activities to encourage rapport building with other interns as well as give us an idea of what division best suited us, and then networking sessions to let us meet real life bankers, traders etc..

I had no expenses however Bank of America Merrill Lynch very generously offered to cover the intern's travel costs to and from London as there was a vast array of different nationalities, backgrounds and education levels. As the program was only three days long it was not at all expected that interns should be paid, the experience was truly an oppurtunity to discover the company structure and mentality.

Every day had several opportunities to meet and network with employees, often at a very senior level such as Vice President or Managing Director. The first day was rounded off with a Networking Drinks at a bar, the second day had a networking dinner at a restaurant which was an opportunity to meet 3-4 senior bankers, and the third day was full of networking events.

The networking events were very well organized, with the first day being rounded off by Drinks at a bar in order to meet as many people from as many divisions as possible, the second day having a dinner in order to meet senior members of divisions which we had expressed an interest in and the third day having a breakfast and lunch with people from the Employee Networks and every division.

A session dedicated to Corporate responsibility as well as a breakfest with representatives of the Employee Networks gave a very clear view of all the activities and opportunities for Bank of America Merrill Lynch employees whether it be sports, charities, projects or travel. Overall a very informative week and great experience.

I would absolutely recommend the summer insight program to a friend as it was a fantastic experience and gave me a chance to discover how a bank worked as well as see the culture within Bank of America Merrill Lynch, meet senior members of the teams and get a good idea of career progression.