Summer Intern Review

Really enjoyed getting to know more about the financial industry and how all the departments and desks in Fidelity fit together. It was great to spend so much time with the other interns through activities, training and lunch and learns. The lunch and learns were also a really good way of getting to understand all the departments in the company.

I got on really well with my team, and the fact that they trusted me with doing an actual project rather than a simulated one was really encouraging. They were both very accepting of the fact that my knowledge was limited and also open to answering any question, no matter stupid.

The project I was given was incredibly technical and very different to anything I had done before/my current skill set, there were definitely times when I felt that being given specific training would have been very beneficial. It was also an unfortunate coincidence my manager was away for a large part of my internship and there was nobody else that could support me with those specific skills.

Although it took a few days for me to get going on my project and understand what to do next, my project presented me with multiple opportunities of things to do/research and so there was always work and tasks for me to be getting on with to continue my project.

A real project meant there was an element of responsibility which I appreciated and was very much left to my own devices to pioneer it, which I think was a good indicator that they trusted me and what I was doing. However I would never be given anything with too much responsibility for obvious reasons.

The skills I have developed are mainly technical ones so will be unbelievably useful in any career I were to go into, but especially finance. It gave me a great opportunity to try new skills I might not have tried otherwise. The amount of understanding picked up from talking to people/spending time in the department will be invaluable.

Everyone, even busy senior members of the department, were beyond friendly and approachable, making an effort to talk to me, check I was getting on okay etc. despite the fact they know I'm only here for the summer. Was quiet enough to concentrate in but chatty enough that there was a friendly atmosphere.

Really well organised in terms of lunches, social events and training week etc. Everything ran smoothly and always had a clear idea of what was going on. Particular credit to the application process where Fidelity were persistently friendly and easy to contact, a stark contrast to some of their competitors.

Good week of training at the start gave a great foundation for general financial knowledge, although as I said before I think it would have been particularly useful to have some more technical knowledge for my role. Could have been less split by operations/investment at the outset, allowing everyone to get a real feel for both sides of the firm.

Varies between roles

Really good social scene with other interns, started in the training week and the first night drinks were a good way to met everyone properly on the first day, Stimulated by well organised lunches and social events throughout. Dragon boat racing was a particular highlight and a good way of getting to know others in a less corporate environment.

It's central London but accommodation provided was very helpful for this

Didn't go out a great deal but the streets were always busy after work with people spilling out from pubs/bars, especially on sunny days and central London means plenty of places to go. Went to some nice places for the evening socials with the other interns. Obviously though again, it is a very expensive area

Apart from the intern events I wasn't aware of many since I was only there for the summer, but I was aware of other members of my office getting involved in sports activities and I know that they meet up for drinks a lot to celebrate colleagues joining and leaving etc