Investment Intern Review

The internship was very enjoyable and passed by extremely fast. I was given an interesting project to work on that contributed to the on going work of the department, which made it more enjoyable. All my colleagues were very friendly which obviously helps as well. In addition the hours were not excessive either.

Most of the work I did was on my solo project, so I was not receiving immediate feedback on my work. However as mentioned my department set me a project that actually contributed to what they do, so I felt valued as a result of this. Additionally I attended meetings in other parts of the business and was asked to report back on these so that also gave me a feeling of being valued.

My manager was really friendly, and set aside time to meet me at the beginning, middle and end of my internship, which was really helpful. In addition to this I worked directly with a grad who answered any of the questions I had while doing the project. As a result I was never completely lost on what to do, and settled into a good routine throughout the duration of the internship.

This varied- when I was doing my project I could work as hard as I wanted- there weren't any set deadlines. In addition during the first half there were plenty of other outside meetings going on that I could attend, which allowed me to take on other work. However in the second half (mid august) it got a bit quieter on the meetings front due to summer holidays, and when I got towards the end of the project I was far less busy.

As mentioned before, I was briefed on what to do, given the necessary programs to do it, and then it was left to me to complete the project - so was given a large amount of responsibility in deciding which direction the project went towards. Additionally I was able to reach out to any other people in the office and get involved in what they were doing, so I was really given a choice on what I wanted to do.

The primary skill I learnt was using excel to a fairly advanced level, which is definitely very useful for my degree and onwards. Aside from that I gained a much better understanding of how the fund management industry operates, which is obviously very useful if trying to pursue a career within it. In addition my (limited) financial knowledge also improved, though not by a huge amount, because I was not doing any particularly technical work.

It is a very quiet and focused office- which can be both good and bad. It lets you get on with your work but then at the same time there is not a huge amount of interaction with your colleagues. Having said that, everyone was very friendly when I spoke to them, so it by no means intimidating.

The internship was very well organised, with HR putting on some very enjoyable social events throughout. In addition there were two 'lunch and learns' every week, which were both interesting and allowed some time with the other interns- as well as free food! Within my division, it was also fairly well organised, they outlined the plan for the internship at the beginning which was useful.

The first week of the internship was dedicated to training, so fidelity do obviously care about trying to help you with your training and development. For the grad program this becomes a month of training. The training itself was of varying use, I probably could have done the internship without the training, as I didn't use any of it directly, however it was still nice to gain a broader view on some topics. Additionally this time allowed you to get to know the other interns better. There was also the lunch and learns as mentioned above.

Will find out next week if I have a job offer for next year. The conversion rate is pretty high so if you make it onto the intern program you are likely to get a job. It is clear that the firm very much want to take on the interns, which is always nice to know.

As said there were numerous evening events organised by the firm. In addition to this many of the interns socialised together so this was pretty good. Many people went to lunch together so there was always opportunities to catch up with others. Therefore it really depended on what you made of it.

Central London...

You get what you pay for- although it's very expensive you can essentially do anything you fancy in London, so I can't fault it really.

There was one charity day, which was good fun as you were allowed a day off work to earn as much as possible in teams. Otherwise there were just the various social events organised by HR. Aside from this there wasn't anything else, but I'm not sure what else you would want to do.