Summer Intern Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my work experience placement within BlackRock. Not only is it an incredible company to work for reputation wise, the people I met were welcoming, helpful and intelligent. Having heard some nightmare stories about investment banking and interns staying until 2am, it was nice to hear from BlackRock that "face-time" isn't always deemed a good thing. We were told that if we were staying until 10pm every night to get our work done that they would be concerned we were not managing our time, it wouldn't be impressive. It was encouraging to work for a company that value the work you do rather than the fact you stayed until 10pm unnecessarily every night to look keen.

The team I worked with at BlackRock were great. They were all very welcoming and were all keen to help us with any work we didn't understand, or to answer any questions we had. At first when we were a little bit shy to ask, they offered interesting work to us and if they had any big things going on they would message the interns asking if one of us wanted to join in. When we got to grips with the role, the team continued to be supportive.

At BlackRock we were trained thoroughly for our roles. As the position I was in was a more technical role, the first four weeks of the internship were based around training, getting used to the programmes and work shadowing, before being able to complete work on our own. The training was thorough and all of the team were willing to help whenever we had any problems or questions.

Initially our days were taken up by training sessions so it was a lot of learning, but it was really interesting. Once we completed the training some days were a little slow due to lack of jobs we would be able to complete, but for the most part we could shadow the recent graduates and we all had individual projects to complete. It was a mix, some days were busier than others but that was to be expected.

We were given a lot of training the first few weeks to enable us to efficiently and effectively use the software. After that, we were allowed to work on clients and deal with client requests. We were trusted to handle client requests ourselves but once we had completed tasks, everything had to be checked by our buddies or another member of the team, just to make sure. We were given responsibility, but they also kept an eye on us which was great.

I would say that the skills I developed would not particularly help out with my degree, other than time management practice from juggling project work and client work. Outside of my degree, I learnt a great deal about how to properly address clients in emails and learnt a lot more about effective networking.

The atmosphere was nice and calm on my floor. Everyone on the team knew their role and what was required of them. Everyone would say hello in the morning and there was a lot of communication throughout the day. Some of the more senior people on our floor would often pop by and chat to us as they were genuinely interested in how we were getting along with the internship. It was very inclusive and friendly and open.

Due to some reshuffling on our particular floor we had some problems with where the interns were to be based initially. That was the only thing I felt was not particularly well organised. The rest of the internship was well organised, we had projects set out for us, events to attend and get involved with and we were given clear targets for what we should have achieved by the end of the internship.

The company invested a lot in us, a lot more than I expected actually. The company gave us thorough training and introductions to our specific roles for development within our roles. For personal development purposes, we were given so many opportunities to get involved with the firm in other ways, such as charity projects, networking events and guest speakers from a range of departments. We were encouraged to network with all different departments from across the firm too to make sure we got the best experience possible.

BlackRock is an excellent company to work for. Through my research for my internship application I knew that this was the place that I wanted to work. It has grown incredibly in the 27 years it has been around, from a small firm started by 8 people to the largest asset management firm in the world. The prospects for me I would say are promising. If you work hard you can get where you want to go.

Initially we had three days where all the interns in the EMEA region were all together. We had drinks and food together every day and got to know each other quite well. Initially there was not much of a social scene outside the organised group drinks and events by HR, but after we had all settled in to our working days and knew what the job really entailed, the interns organised meet ups over the weekends and drinks after work a couple of times a week.

Living in London is never going to be cheap. As the work place is situated in zone 1, some interns were paying a lot of money to live close by, where as others had friends to stay with. I am fortunate enough to live in south east London so for me I did not have to pay any rent. Travel worked out at £6 a day, which was fine for me as some people were paying £50 a week or more.The firm had a number of social events at which food and drink was provided, so I did not spend money on those. Generally though, its london prices... it is expensive.

London nightlife is incredible. It is a city full of hidden gems and unexpected places to eat drink and dance. Soho and Chelsea seem to be the places to go if you are in the finance sector. Nightclubs are expensive. Guys pay £20 entry whilst girls get to go in for free in most places, however the better places tend to be cheaper and everybody pays. XOYO for instance, or Ministry. Much better and much cheaper. On a saturday night a double vodka mixer will set you back £10 so pre-drinking is a must if you are skint.

There were groups within the company to get involved with, as well as a lot of charity events. We as interns were split into teams and held our own charity events, but they were also on after work some evenings. The groups within the firm were welcoming and we were invited to everything that was going on in the building and beyond. The networks encouraged us to meet people from across the firm and get involved in things we were really interested in.