RBWM Penultimate Year Intern Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my time spent with HSBC, I was able to tailor my internship to my own interests. I was never stopped from pursuing something I thought would be beneficial to my personal development. The fact I was trusted from the offset to make my own decisions in what I wanted to pursue from my placements I think brought real tangible benefit to both myself and the teams I worked in.

Especially in my back office placement I felt like I was really valued and respected by all those who I worked with. My colleagues were more than happy to answer my questions and help me in any way they could. It was also a huge bonus that I was able to develop a high enough level of trust that my colleagues even gave me some real high profile work to be doing which helped toward their respective projects.

Both my line managers were fantastic. My branch manager was a graduate who had many similar interests and shared experiences with me. My back office manager was a completely different person to myself but we were able to develop a fantastic working relationship which came to benefit both of us immensely. I really think HSBC took great care in choosing people to manage me who wanted to help develop my career and skills set.

During my branch placement there were some periods where I had very little to do. But this was not a problem for me as this was where I actively looked to find extra work to help benefit the branch in whatever way I could. I even took on a project concerning interacting with local universities/colleges. During my back office placement I had two major projects to deliver which were a bit daunting at first. I was over time able to overcome this and deliver two quality projects which my manager was very happy with. As such during back office I was kept very busy ensuring I completed these projects to the best of my ability. I also proactively chased up development opportunities outside of my placements, these included various insight days with a number of other different departments.

During branch I did not have much responsibility, I mainly shadowed and learnt our various systems. However during my back office placement I was able to complete a number of different tasks which were very important to my team. This included analysing and using highly restricted data and reports. This exposure was a great experience.

I think this internship will make a tangible difference to my degree studies for my final year at university. I have always been a proactive and organised early riser but this internship has helped me further develop my skills in time management. I have also gained great confidence over the past couple of months and am now far more confident with my ability to speak publicly. As such presentations will not be worrying me as much as they did!

Both the teams I worked in were fantastic. There is a great culture at HSBC where everyone can help everyone no matter how senior or junior they are in relation to yourself. The teams I worked in helped develop a great atmosphere to work in which in turn meant I really sensed people were happy to come to work and assist their team mates in whatever way they could. The banter in branch was particularly fun to be part of there was a number of socials to attend.

At HSBC the internship programme is organised by second year graduates. The team that set up my programme did a great job and seemed to leave nothing to chance the whole programme's structure ran seamlessly. The one slight complication concerned HSBC's external on-boarding company who took too long processing my files which nearly resulted in my internship start date being pushed back. In terms of HSBC though they were fantastic!

I thought in terms of my personal development the firm were fantastic. They supported me in pursuing my interests. They facilitated me visiting other areas of the bank as well as answering any questions I had. You are not used as an extra head during your internship from my experience instead you are respected as an intern who is with the bank to help learn and develop into a potential graduate. The progression into the graduate programme is also very good.

I am awaiting to hear whether I have been offered a place on the RBWM Graduate programme and I really hope that I have been. In terms of developing you as a person I think HSBC is a first rate employer. The development and training programmes available are in place to help you not only have a great grad scheme but also secure a great job within the firm upon completion of your programme.

If you aren't in London I don't think there is much scope for a good social scheme. I was lucky enough to live at home during my first placement but did not experience socials in my second placement as it was outside of the city I was based in. My team were also generally a bit older than myself. The interns based in London said it was great and I did enjoy a number of socials in London whenever I visited the tower (which I tried to ensure I did at least weekly!)

Socialising? I wouldn't know I did not really have the opportunity in my second placement. I generally went home at the weekends. Back home was good but it is always good at home but this was not as a result of the internship programme. Generally as expected prices were more expensive in the South.

Again I would not really know I was based in the city centre in an apartment HSBC had paid for but I did not really experience the nightlife as there was not really other people to go out with. My home placement was of course great but that was because I went out with my friends from back home.

There were opportunities to get involved in various charity projects in both placements. There was however a bit of an absence of activities i.e sports clubs in the evenings. My second placement did have fitness classes during the day which many of the staff in my team attended. This was a nice opportunity to see people outside of the office.