Spring Intern (Corporate Banking) Review

I enjoyed the insight very much, as I got to network a lot both with my peers and with senior and junior representatives from all divisions. I also learned a lot about the structure of the bank and more specifically about corporate banking.

The team that I was placed in (GCM and TEG in corporate banking) really took the time to meet me, to answers all my qustions, to give me tasks and a general overview of corporate banking. They were interested in me and we even had a lunch together to which people from all levels (from analyst to MD) came. I greatly appreciated their devotion.

Everyone answered all of my questions and gave me insight about banking and Citi.

I understood better what corporate banking is and confirmed that it is the right choice for me.

I really liked the cross divisional networking but I mostly enjoyed the work with the team I was allocated to.

I liked the general atmosphere because I felt everyone tried their best to make us enjoy our experience.

The insight was just a week, but for the duration of the week we had skills training presentations (e.g. how to network, how to use properly body language, how to present). Also, the team I was allocated in gave me different presentations about their specific roles and about the structure of the bank and the roles of different divisions. Moreover, I attended a team training session and I was also given different tasks by my team throughout the week and then after completing them I received constructive feedback.

The insight was really helpful because firstly I saw how the environment in the company looks and feels like, I saw it is fast-paced but interesting. It was extremely helpful to be placed in a specific team within the division of choice because then I could see what the different employees' everyday tasks were, how they interacted with each other, etc. Moreover, I could even experience some work myself, as I was given some tasks of an analyst.

The insight helped me a lot in understanding Citi's culture because it had a big focus on networking events and communicating with representatives of different divisions. I could speak to many people and ask them questions about their background and experience, what they like about their job and about Citi. It was interesting to hear it from both lower level (e.g. analyst, associate) and higher level (e.g. VP or managing director) employees. I could speak with both recently hired people and ones that have been with Citi for more than ten years. What I found out is that most people value the not-so-hierarchical structure of Citi, the fact that seniors are very approachable and open to questions and the globality of the firm which both brings the international environment and allows rotations to different countries.

The spring week was helpful because it allowed me to see how a bank works from the inside, but mostly due to the fact that it allowed me to see all other divisions, not the one I had chosen. Thus, it included enough information and interaction with people so that I could assess if my division of choice was what I expected and wanted. I know of many people choosing a division for their summer internship or even career without knowing in depth what their role is going to be, how does this division differ from the other ones, etc.

Since I came to the London office from Italy, my flights were covered and my stay at a hotel. Moreover, Citi provided breakfast and lunch and most of the dinners, while for the dinners that were not organized we were given a specific sum we could spend on a meal of our choice at a location of our choice.

Yes! Other than being with the team of allocation every day and interacting with all levels of employees within this team, there were also several organized networking sessions with employees from other teams and divisions. First, we had dinner and drinks with senior representatives of all divisions (e.g. VPs and managing directors), then we had networking over lunch with junior representatives again from all divisions and then we had dinner with bowling with junior representatives.

The networking opportunities were extremely useful because I could both ask all of my questions and find out more about other divisions, and make useful contacts for the future. The only tricky part was that they were always combined with either dinner or lunch, but it felt uncomfortable to eat while for example a senior representative is talking to you, so you either had to eat really fast and then go network or choose whether to eat properly or network properly. I understand that the organizers of the week wanted to compress many things in little time, but this might be an area to improve.

Yes, there was even a presentation on corporate responsibility. The weeks before the spring week we were send bulletins with news about Citi and about different activities and groups/societies.

I would definitely recommend the work experience week at Citi to all of my friends because it is firstly useful in terms of orientation (e.g. to see if a career in a bank is for you and to determine which is the right division and specific role for you), but also useful for an early career start. If you do very well throughout the week, you get fast tracked to an assessment center, which is the last step before a summer internship. So if you want higher chances for getting a summer internship, combined with a week full of lots of learning, meeting new people and understanding Citi's structure, this is definitely for you!