Summer Analyst Review

It was a great experience and I learned a huge amount about the financial industry beyond the projects I was working on. Regular speeches from bankers outside my team helped me gain a wider perspective of the firm and greatly enhanced the experience

I was surprised by the enthusiasm of colleagues to put time aside to teach me and help me learn more about the work I was doing. This helped me gain a huge amount more knowledge and meant that I could contribute a greater amount to the firm and complete work to a higher standard. Everyone that I came across was friendly and willing to help me learn.

The buddy system meant that I always had someone to turn to for guidance on both formal and informal issues. Having a buddy in both rotations meant that I always had a buddy who could relate to the situation that I was in and answer specific questions. I didn't have as much contact with my mentors, and perhaps this role could be improved as neither I nor my mentor really knew the exact job role of a mentor in comparison to a buddy,

I found myself very busy during my first rotation, and during my second rotation had both busy and idle periods. I found that colleagues were able to be flexible in the work that they gave me in order for me not to be too weighed down with work, and were also able to give me more work when I didn't have enough to do.

I enjoyed the level of responsibility that I was given during the internship - I was responsible for creating certain pages for client books and this meant that I was able to contribute something to the team as well as learning about the relevant techniques of the job. There was always a colleague to review my work before it was eg sent to a client which was good to make sure that it was okay and to gain useful feedback.

The skills I developed will not really help me in my studies - I study Economics with no financial content. However becoming more aware of current affairs and markets will be useful for macroeconomics. In terms of a career beyond my studies, what I learnt on the internship will definitely be useful for a job at Goldman or another bank. I learned the basics of what the teams do and was able to apply that in my work so I have learned a lot of new skills which I could apply in a similar environement

The atmosphere in the office was great – all my colleagues were very friendly and willing to put time aside to teach me, answer questions and show me how to improve on the work I was doing. I enjoyed events held by my teams such as team drinks – this was a great way to meet colleagues outside of the office environment.

The internship was very well organized. I was not expecting training sessions and networking events to be held throughout the course of the internship but these helped me to keep learning about the wider firm and meet more people. The review process was also very well organized, with a follow up meeting from HCM after each review to reflect on feedback – this was very useful.

I feel that in terms of personal training and development the company invested in me a lot. I feel that I was included in the work that they were doing and trained as if they were considering me as a potential addition to the team. This level of training meant that I was able to contribute a lot to the team.

I very much enjoyed my time with the firm and future employment prospects are appealing. The teams I worked for were very welcoming and treated me like a potential new addition to the team, allowing me to get very involved with certain projects. This gave me a broader insight and encouraged me further to pursue a career with the firm.

There was a great social scene amongst fellow placement students. Having frequent training events following the training week meant that I was able to stay in touch and build greater networks amongst the intern class. Team events held by my colleagues also meant that I was able to build greater bonds with my teams outside of the office.

I lived with family therefore encountered minimal costs of living. I opted not to live in the accommodation suggested by the firm because it was quite expensive. A key issue was the fact that rent would have had to have been paid before we received our first payslip – this is something that I feel could be improved on for future years.

I did not experience the nightlife in the area in which I worked, however the nightlife in surrounding areas of London was good. Going out was a great way to meet other interns and build relationships, so I feel was an important part of the internship. Hours were long so unfortunately we could not experience any night life during the week.

Team drinks was a great way to get involved with things outside the office. It helped to get to know the team and to meet people that I was not on projects with. The very long hours meant that it was hard to be involved with outside work activities. One thing that could be improved is giving more notice if we had to come in on weekends.