Summer Analyst Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my internship at Citi. The culture at Citi is very team oriented and there is a lot of collaboration across groups which means it is very easy to gain insight into the work of other teams. I also found that the other junior members of the teams you join are willing to help and give you good work to get on with. Ultimately, I learnt a lot about the business and was able to expand my skills in areas I was previously unfamiliar with. This was invaluable to me and was my main takeaway from the internship.

I became a trusted a member of the two teams I rotated in. I started by getting a small level of responsibility which I then built on to take on bigger tasks. I was able to work closely with more senior members of the team which showed how the work would be carried out if you were to join full time. Also, when certain team members were away of holiday I was able to carry out the tasks and the team was very good about teaching you how certain tasks are done while then leaving you to complete them independently.

Citi organises some high level teach-ins with senior management from across the business as well as some lecturers across the entire firm. These are really helpful and interesting. They give you insight enough to then allow you to approach different teams with pertinent questions. On a day to day basis, I feel that all the work is very team oriented so there is always a more junior member of the team which you can ask for help to. In this way you can lead your learning at your own pace because it is ultimately up to you how much you push yourself.

The teams I worked with were very good about getting me involved with the work of the desk so on a day to day basis I was very busy. I would say you can expect to have the same level of responsibility as the other full-time Analysts. I was busy working on presentations for the more senior members of the team and updating particular slides for them. There is also a lot to learn and the learning curve can be very steep at the beginning therefore at the start it can feel like you are very busy because you are still getting to grips with the workload.

During my placement I was definitely left to complete tasks on my own and I was generally given work that would require that I effectively prioritise between tasks. So that means you are ultimately made responsible for the work to be completed on time. Especially during the quieter weeks when some team members would go on holiday, I was left to pick up their work which would be tasks that I had seen them complete in the weeks prior and I was now given the responsibility to complete on my own.

I feel that everyday you get to learn something new and you are given the chance to revisit the things you learnt which means you consolidate your learning throughout the internship. The work is very varied however there are particular tasks that require you to improve certain skills. For example, Excel is very important and you get to improve your proficiency throughout the placement. There are also life skills such as prioritising effectively and communicating succinctly that will prove useful beyond the internship.

The team as a whole is very dedicated to the work that they do so it is by definition a very stimulating environment to work in. You get to help out people who are busy and therefore keen to get you involved. Moreover, the nature of the business is that other Analysts and yourself as an intern can be exposed to the same work for the first time so you definitely feel like your views and comments are valued. I believe that once you make the effort to understand and adopt some of the technical vocabulary you are able to get a lot more out the experience and be more engaged in the atmosphere.

The HR representative and the wider programme sponsor were really effective in putting together the placement. There was a great balance between events you had with fellow interns and those reserved for our division specifically. It was fantastic I have to say because the floor organised informal teach ins with the interns and one or two members of particular teams. This was a great way to have a more open discussion and really get to the details of what work they do. Then there were also lectures that were more structured and intended to give an overview of the desk and typically involved more senior members of the business. The work we had to hand in such as our self-reflections and our final presentation were also well communicated in advance which was very helpful and the HR representative was on hand to answer any questions we had.

You get to learn a lot on this internship but the technical skills such as the applications we used were always accompanied by one-to-one tutorials. Platforms such as Dealogic were taught to us by trainers from the company. Moreover, the Graphics Department was also on hand to answer any queries we had. I think if you leverage these resources effectively you find that you are investing in your personal training and you get a lot out of it. Moreover, the firm organises a very well structured training session at the beginning of the placement. It could have been more technical however it was just enough to give us a sense of the work we would be doing. Once you do get on the desk, the teams are very good about going through particular task with you so that way you get plenty of different opportunities to check your understanding.

Through the placement there is an opportunity to get a job with the firm. The other Analysts are very open about what you can expect if you were to join onto the Graduate scheme, Moreover, the work that you do as an Intern is exactly the same as that of the other Analysts so the more senior members get a good chance to check your ability. That means there are plenty of opportunities to shine and show what you are capable of. You also get the chance to add your originality as some of the tasks were bespoke presentations. The formal feedback sessions you have are also a good opportunity where you can gauge your performance. Then the apogee is the final presentation where you get to present a project you worked on during your internship to a hiring committee of 15 members who ultimately give you the job offer.

The fellow intern class was very friendly and there are plenty of opportunities to socialise which are organised by the HR team. Outside of this the division itself had several social events which allowed you to get to know the wider Analyst class of juniors within the division. My team also had a dinner which was great. I think that there was definitely an effort made to give the interns a chance to get to interact with the business in a more informal and social setting which I think everyone appreciated. It was not just a nice event at the start and the end of the placement, these were nicely staggered throughout the month of July and it got more serious towards the end of the placement before the final internship celebration.

I lived at home during my placement so I did not have to adapt to the cost of living in the area that I worked in. I would say that generally if you went out with your team for an organised team event, the team would usually subside the outing. I went to lunch and dinner once with my team which was great fun. The wider social events the firm organised for the interns and the ones the business organised for the division were also free.

During the sporting events there were places where you could watch some of the football matches and my team had organised an outing there once which was great fun. Outside of this I would say that the other Analysts and interns were willing to share tips of where the best places were. Therefore I think that there is definitely scope for any intern to feel like they can have a great social life outside of work by leveraging from the contact you have made within the firm. So ultimately, I think you could have a great summer.

Yes, the informational lectures were great fun and useful to learn things outside of your day to day work. The firm also organised a half day event where Interns could spend the day play different sporting events while raising money for charity. You would be put in teams with interns from other divisions so that would be a great opportunity to make new friends. This was in the middle of the internship so it was a nice change of pace.