HSBC CMB Penultimate Year Summer Internship Review

The internship had its ups and downs but overall I definitely enjoyed it. Being able to go to important client meetings and gain a greater insight into what businesses require from a bank was quite enlightening. I had no idea going in to the internship what commercial banking was actually like so from that perspective the internship has been really good as I have a much greater understanding now.

I felt valued by certain people in the office but not everyone. There were 3 other interns in my office and we all got along pretty well having gotten to know each other better at the different internship events. My manager and a couple of the team members who saw the work I put into my project were also quite appreciative. However I would say most the office, while nice enough people were still quite distant.

My managers were often out of office but they were always in contact and available for me to ask anything. In my first 4 weeks of the internship I spent most my time asking a specific team member for help and guidance and she was incredibly helpful. During the last 4 weeks I had less guidance but this also allowed me to work more individually.

It varied a lot over the course of the 8 weeks. For my first project I would often reach points where I was waiting on information and so had to ask other team members for pretty much anything to do to pass the time. My second project kept me very busy though and the days passed far quicker than in my old part time job. I wouldn't say I've ever felt over burdened at any point though.

In my first project I was writing quite an important report which would result in the renewal of a company's lending facilities so it was definitely a lot of responsibility. I was also placed on a confidential insiders list and given access to highly restricted information so the bank definitely isn't afraid to give high importance work to the interns.

The internship's taught me a lot of personal skills through speaking to important clients and colleagues around the world when seeking new information and I think this will help me a lot as I finish the final year of my degree and in general life. It's also given me a better understanding of financial information and the financial requirements of businesses which could be of help later in life.

The office is quite quiet. A lot of the time people are out of office on meetings and so it can be kind of empty sometimes. Most of the people in the office are busy with their work so you'll just hear people on phone calls or chatting about work. There is some friendly banter from time to time and you can always take a few minutes to have a friendly chat with someone but overall it's a little dull.

The internship was reasonably organised. We had an induction day which was pretty much seamless and there were only a couple of IT problems once I got to the main office. My manager being on holiday for the first week was not ideal though. Along with this I felt like they were grasping at anything to give as a projects to us interns. The overall programme though is quite structured which is good.

If you perform well enough on the internship and receive a good recommendation from your managers then you may receive an offer to the graduate programme once you finish university. Once on the graduate programme the opportunities are pretty much endless. There's an international manager programme people can apply for and there's a ton of different roles within the bank.

Glasgow is a pretty awesome place to be for nightlife, there's a lot of different bars and clubs to go to in the city centre. It's also only a 45 minute train journey from Edinburgh so during the fringe there are loads of different shows and events to go to at night which has been pretty great. There's lots of concerts during the summer in Glasgow too.