Research Assistant Review

I've thoroughly enjoyed it, I've had the opportunity to work on some fascinating projects with some brilliant researchers over the year. The atmosphere is more relaxed than elsewhere in the City, so although you're expected to work hard and work well, there isn't the same manic pressure that you find elsewhere. There's some slightly dull work but that's the same with pretty much any job in the world, and certainly every placement. Overall definitely very enjoyable.

This varies quite a bit when meeting new colleagues. My team was very friendly and welcoming when I arrived which was very helpful for settling in. Managers and researchers seem to have a reasonably low bar for their expectations of what the placement students are capable of and that meant that to begin with I felt slightly talked down to and excluded from the thought process behind decision making. However, they have all been very happy to be proved wrong and I've found that if you ask questions about the project and show enthusiasm and economic understanding, they're very willing to treat you as a valued member of the team who can contribute, rather than just an intern that collects data.

I work on a range of projects so I normally spend more time liaising with project managers than my line manager. Obviously it varies between different people, but on the whole it's been clear what the end goal for my task is. It's generally left to you to be pretty independent about how you get there which can be helpful in that you can use whatever process/software that you're comfortable with, but it does mean you need to pluck up the courage to ask questions about how to do it if you don't know. They're always happy to explain, they don't expect you to arrive knowing everything, but if you don't ask questions they'll assume you understand.

I worked on the research side of things so my experience won't be representative of those in operational or policy areas, but normally I was busy enough to be engaged and interested, without being under too much pressure to get things finished. The deadlines tended to be longer-term, so as long as I managed my time well I wasn't rushing to finish anything, although occasionally things do come up last minute that need dealing with. There's always extra things that you can do if you're bored, either asking around for projects that need an extra pair of hands, or doing some independent investigation yourself (something I really enjoyed).

Again this was something that wasn't given to me, but if you put yourself forward then in most cases colleagues are very happy to support you. Although a lot of the work as a placement student (research assistant) is smaller tasks as part of a bigger project, if you show interest in the project as a whole and show initiative by thinking about the key issues that are trying to be solved rather than just carrying out the tasks assigned to you mindlessly, then I've found researchers are very happy to let you contribute to the project with your own ideas. Over the course of the year I organised discussion sessions with the other placement students and the new graduates, presented to the other placement students on independent investigation I'd done into digital currencies, wrote an article for the staff blog (Bank Underground), edited an edition of a staff newsletter and even co-authored a paper. It's very much been a case of the more you put into it the more you get out.

It's certainly given me the motivation to go back to university for my final year and make the most of it, but I'm not sure how much of the skills specifically will help me, apart from perhaps a stronger work ethic. However, that's much more a criticism of the failings of the Economics undergraduate course (not just at my university but across the country) to prepare students for the real world, I think the skills I've learnt here will be very helpful when I do a research Masters course after graduating, and when I (hopefully) come back to the Bank in a couple of years.

Friendly and welcoming when I first arrived, but on the whole it mostly seems to be that although you have friends across the Bank, teams tend not to do that much together. This does vary a lot though depending on the area, I was on the research side of things where colleagues tend to be more independent in their work and in their personalities. We still go for lunch every couple of weeks and do something social after work every month or so.

Very well organised. The placement starts with 2 days (might be 3 days going forwards) of induction where you meet all the other placement students, learn about how the Bank of England works, where all the important places are in the building, things like that. There's then a month of overlap with the previous placement student in your area, when they show you what your job involves, how your area works, what activities and projects you can get involved in, and more generally settling you in. The assessment halfway through and at the end is also well run and organised, with what you need to do made clear to you well in advance.

They were pretty good on that front. Again it's something you have to ask for not something you're given, but if there's something that would help you in your role such as learning how to use new software then they're always very happy to provide training for it. When it comes to more general learning and development there are seminars on economics and finance run almost every day by colleagues at the Bank and by external presenters (normally visiting professors) which are very beneficial for economic understanding. Beyond that is less common, but if there's something you're really interested in then they're happy to let you do specific training now and then (for example I did a day on presentation skills).

I've loved my year at the Bank of England and I'm going back to do a Post Graduate Internship next summer (between graduating and starting my Masters course). I'm planning on coming back again after doing that Masters course because it's a fantastic place to do research. There's lots of support for top-quality research with brilliant resources and a culture of collaborating with others (internally and externally), and your work can feed directly into the decision making of one of the most influential organisations in the world.

There wasn't anything organised for us as placement students, but we organised lots ourselves, both at lunchtime and in the evenings/weekends. Most areas do team socials every month or so of some kind or another.

Very expensive, but that's central London for you. Personally I was lucky enough to be able to live at home and commute in

Pretty good. The flip-side of being in central London

Some, but not loads to be honest. A few external conferences and they have a gym, but not much apart from that