I found the virtual experience incredibly exciting, as I found that it matched up to a typical day-in-the-life experience, much moreso than I thought it would. Given the assumed nature of a virtual experience, I believed that while it would be insightful there would also be elements to it that were not so typical of daily life as an institutional banker. I thought that it would be difficult to replicate it however I found that it was done very well hence it was very enjoyable.
The Citi spring week was an incredibly valuable experience. This was my first prolonged work experience in the banking industry, and it allowed me to vastly broaden my network, learn more about the bank, the culture at Citi, how to have a good career progression at Citi and what it takes to be successful at the bank. It was also an enjoyable experience as it taught me how to behave in a professional office environment
I enjoyed very much the virtual experience because, notwithstanding the difficulties of the period, Citi was able to deliver a very interesting program. Main points were: Training for interns, involvement in activities and social virtual events, communication of the Culture of the firm
The internship was very insightful and provided me with a lot of knowledge about investment banking. The first week was a training week planned by HR, and in the second week, I received more training by the team that I chose to join. This was very helpful as I did not have any previous experience. Aside from this big help, everyone who I spoke to and got to work with at the firm was very nice and made me feel very welcome, which is what really matters when choosing what firm you want to work at.
HR, Graduate Committee and employees from all asset classes put together an amazing program. I was first disappointed not going to London but finally I think this summer internship made us discover even more of Citi and how it is organised internally. It helped us get the big picture before going on the Floor. We really learnt a lot everyday around kind and supportive people.
The program was really interesting, with some initial training to set the bases and then working on our assignments and tasks to help the team. There were good opportunities to get to know all the interns, as well as employees from other divisions and within the team. Under the current circumstances, putting a virtual internship of these characteristics together must have been a daunting task, but HR efforts really paid off. If the intention was to provide us with a first-class real-world experience, they certainly achieved the purpose.
I did not wholly enjoy my virtual experience. The remote aspect of this experience prevented me from getting a true idea of what it is like to work in Citi. We were simply taught about Citi from an external company and never entrusted to try Citi work. In saying that, I made some great connections within the company (ie with my junior and senior mentors) and had the opportunity to really think about my future in finance.
This virtual intership was very enriching ! The professionals were very interesting and I learnt a lot ! We did many different activities (attending virtual sessions, completing group projects, building our professional network, participating at trading games, ...). We covered all the asset classes (one per week) as well as all the jobs in financial markets (sales, trading, structuring, research, quant, ...). Besides, there was a very good atmosphere in the group during this virtual experience.