UKIM Consulting Intern Review

Upon beginning any Internship you expect to work hard and at FactSet you certainly are given a big workload. However this workload contains a variety of tasks for clients along with project work and practice training sessions in relation to the FactSet Data Management System that is ultimately for your own self-development. Consequently the variety of the work and the benefit to yourself to doing the work, ensure you will enjoy the internship.

A key selling point of FactSet is the responsibility you are given early on. I did not expect to truly feel this as an Intern. Evidence of this was my trip to Scotland, to visit clients based in Edinburgh and even take a training session for a client on an Introduction to the FactSet Data Management system. Ultimately, this made me feel valued by my colleagues.

On the internship you have an Intern Manager, a mentor and are placed in a team separate to both. This therefore gives you a range of different avenues for advice and support. There is a very friendly culture at FactSet and this further allowed for support and guidance to be reached easily. Moreover the Campus Recruiting Manager who works in the London Office takes extra care to ensure you have everything you need.

After your initial 2 week training you are placed in your team. From here you pick up work either on a project or ad-hoc queries. Therefore how busy you are will depend on which team you are in and what tasks your team set you. However I was in a very busy team and therefore throughout the internship I was never Bored or too Busy. You are also expected to complete e-learnings and multiple project work outside of your team.

As an Intern you are given more responsibility than most other Internships. Once integrated into your team you are trusted to communicate with clients when completing tasks for them. You are also taken on client visits of which you have the scope to interact with clients and I was even trusted to train a client.

You learn several transferable skills on the Internship. Firstly you have to deliver a training or a presentation once a week to your Manager hence increasing presenting skills. Moreover you work closely within a team so communication and teamwork improve significantly. Lastly, you learn how to conduct yourself in a professional manner due to the nature of the role being client-facing.

FactSet is known to have a relatively young office. This contributed to a fun and positive atmosphere within the office. However the culture in general seemed to be very positive where employees were always willing to help each other out. Not just within teams, but also the whole UKIM consulting floor seemed to get on really well.

It appeared a lot of time and effort went into planning the internship. This consequently transpired into a well organised Internship. There was a clear structure set out from the beginning, with clear goals and objectives for the interns. Throughout the internship you have weekly catch ups with your manager which ensure the structure is maintained.

It was clear that the internship was planned with the aim to increase personal training and development and not just for the interns to add value for FactSet. I felt this as a lot of time and effort went into organising and giving feedback on project work outside of doing actual client work.

There always seemed to be something going on at the end of the week for FactSet which ensured a good social scene. For instance the company held a company wide quiz, took the UKIM consulting floor to a cricket game at the Oval along with other events. All the events organised were well attended and there were also specific events just for Interns, such as on-boarding drinks and a welcome lunch.