Insight Day Review

The Insight Day was an extremely valuable experience. I was particularly interested at looking at a trading floor outside of a major bank and how it differed, this insight day answered just that. There were no more than 20 students which was a great number as we were able to all get to know each other rather well and stay in contact afterwards.

I definitely felt valued during my time at BP, I would say that they gave me one of the best receptions I have had. The staff are extremely kind and very honest which is great when learning about the good and bad points of working within the industry. They also given away free gifts, including a hoodie, couldn’t have been much better!

The cohort received a lot of guidance and support throughout the whole day. From being guided around on a tour to simply telling us the structure of the day, it was very well planned out. Most importantly, it was easy to be able to approach someone from any area of the business and ask them questions.

The information I received and skills I developed will help me greatly. I personally hope to become a trader so the simulation trading game was very helpful for my chosen career route. However, one of the most valuable areas of the day was simply learning just how important company culture is – I was able to learn this at BP as their culture is very different to banks who also have trading floors.

The insight day was very structured which was really helpful, we knew exactly how long activities were planned to be and what was coming up next. It is key to note that the activities weren’t too long, nor too short either, which meant you were engaged throughout the whole day. We didn’t initially get to go to the trading floor as planned but fortunately HR were able to reschedule this for the end of the day which was amazing!

The general atmosphere of the day was quite lively with all the students introducing themselves to each other and staying in contact afterwards. The trading floor was obviously very different to most other parts where it seemed rather busy and fast-paced, it certainly was really good to be able to have a look around there.

As it was just an insight day, there wasn’t a huge amount of training and development. However, the presentations we watched were still very valuable and engaging so we were able to take a lot away from it. The trading simulation game was really fun and similar to personal training, that had to be one of the best parts of the day.

BP were especially good at answering this question – throughout the day we had several people from several departments talk to us and answer our questions about BP. These people didn’t only have a variety of backgrounds but also a variety of seniority which meant we could learn how BP has changed over time and got to where it has today. This gave us an invaluable insight to the company’s culture.

As explained partly above, the day enabled us to learn about the corporate culture hugely. By speaking to several employees and graduates of BP, I was able to learn about how the overall culture fits into different business areas. BP certainly have a very different culture to most of their competitors and this was highlighted clearly during the insight day.

The content of the day has helped me hugely in deciding my future career path. It really shown me just how important culture is within a role, rather than the working hours and salary which most people my age seem to care about. Learning about BP, the way they operate and what makes them different was key in helping me decide for where my future lies.

My expenses were reimbursed – they have a very reasonable expenses policy and they were extremely quick to be able to reimburse the expenses – faultless experience.

There were many opportunities to meet people and network throughout the BP Insight Day. Not only did we manage to meet many different employees from different business areas but we also had a networking lunch too. On top of this, all the students were extremely friendly and the small group meant we got to know each other well.

As seen throughout my other answers, the networking opportunities at BP were phenomenal. Whether it was meeting graduates, medium-term employees or senior managers, we got to learn from a vast array of people. We also gained a lot of time with HR and with each other which was equally valuable as we could learn about the application process and what BP specifically look for.

We didn’t find out of the activities which employees can get involved in outside of work; however, this is partly my fault too. Whilst employees didn’t necessarily discuss what they do outside of work, there were plenty of opportunities for me to ask several employees, if I didn’t think it was too forward at the time.

Absolutely – it was one of the best insight days which I have ever attended. The day was well structured with many different activities going on. The size of the group of students was perfect and it meant that we were able to learn a lot about each other as well as BP. I was able to learn a lot about BP and leave being truly inspired.