Analyst Review

I did not enjoy the internship as much as I was hoping to. This was due to the nature of work, rather than my experience in the company as a whole. The specific project I was assigned was quite different to the type of project I expected and was simply not the best fit for me. I had been hoping for a project more related to the skillset I presented with on the assessment day and this was not the case. It is possible that I was given that project to challenge me, but I did initially feel it was due to lack of due diligence being done when matching interns to projects and I can't say that my view has changed. In spite of my disappointing project assignment, I did find the internship enjoyable due to my colleagues and leadership. The environment created by my leader was incredibly friendly and accessible. I felt able to initiative constructive debate with colleagues and leadership and was also given exceptional exposure to senior leadership.

All my colleagues made me feel incredibly welcome from day 1. My leader made her whole team aware and excited for the arrival of an intern and I think this made a huge difference to my experience, as the team was expecting me. I was amazed at how happy to collaborate with interns AMEX employees are, I really feel there is a culture there which fosters helping each other and places emphasis on the interns and grad scheme employees. I was told from the start how valuable the project would be to the area. In summary, I could not have asked to have felt more valued- this is definitely one of AMEX's strong points!

My direct and indirect leadership within my area gave me unlimited support and guidance, making time even when they had a busy schedule. This really made me feel valued and grow in confidence as I could validate my project regularly with senior leadership. The intern programme manager also always made time for me. When I had a problem at one point in my internship, I met with her that day to discuss the issue and she reassured me and dealt with the issue immediately. I liked this set up as it meant that I had two routes to raise concerns- via the intern programme manager or my leadership within my area. My only comment would be that 121s should be scheduled more regularly at the beginning of the internship when we were settling in as I did not feel comfortable early on asking for time to have 121s. That is, however, a very minor comment which could be easily solved. Generally, I felt very supported and feel I really formed bonds with management as they had a genuine interest and stake in my sucess.

I was VERY busy. It was not uncommon for me to work overtime over the summer which is actually quite unusual in the AMEX culture and was not representative of the other interns experiences as it is so project specific. Since AMEX promote the work-life balance with such vigour, I do feel that someone in my team/ management should have intervened to ease the workload. It is true that many management members did make comments about the hours I was working but then did not actually delve deep into why I was working those hours and what could be done (in terms of altering my project goal etc) to ensure I didn't need to be staying so late. There also seemed to be a bad balance across the other interns- I have had many complain to me that they had days or weeks with nothing to do which is the complete opposite of my experience.

I was given a lot of responsibility. I had complete control of my whole project. I chose to validate with leadership frequently to ensure there would be no surprises in my final presentation/ deliverable.

I learnt many skills in the internship. One of my favourite things we did was a training day on the 5th day of the internship- a morning session on excel and an afternoon session on presentation skills.I found both of these sessions hugely helpful. It also made me feel that the company were investing in me and my development which engaged me further in the internship. Both of these skills will hugely help me in my degree and future career. Other skills I've learnt have been project planning, production of executive reports, how to collaborate successfully and how to communicate effectively with employees across the globe who I have worked with in this project via video calls etc.I believe all of these skills will be utilised in my future career. They are less relevant to my degree but I did not expect to gain many skills which were relevant to my degree.

Amazing! Loved the atmosphere in the office. This was achieved completely through my VP and her attitude to her employees. She made me feel welcome immediately and keeps office morale high. I also felt that people wanted to help each other and were genuinely interested to get to know me. I participated in many team building activities also which, again, helped the office atmosphere. I really could not have asked for a better atmosphere.

The internship felt disorganised at times. Days for all interns always seems to commence late or overrun and this was a little unprofessional. At other times e.g.. telepresence calls for all interns to attend, there were technology issues or decks had not been sent beforehand.

I feel the company really invested in me. An entire day of training (excel and presentation skills) was really helpful, but more than that was the leadership exposure and guidance I received. As an intern I felt able to email any employee and set up time to discuss my personal development, career plans and hear about their journey to and within AMEX. To get a 10 rating though, they would have to add in an additional training day later in the internship.

Very appealing. Lateral movement within the company is observed all the time which is really appealing as it means that you can switch between jobs easily. I find the Grad scheme appealing as it is on a rotational basis and so allows you to experience different areas and then should allow you to jump into a band 35 level role- quite significant career progression in 2 years.

Not really. There were only 2 events organised for the interns by the company. I know in previous years more is organised and AMEX are making budget cuts this year. However, I was disapointed not to spend more time with fellow interns. Since interns are places in 3 different locations depending on the type of intern (eg. tech, ops and finance/ marketing are in different locations) it also means it is hard to get to know interns outside of your area unless it is organised by the company. Even within my area I found the other interns were not hugely keen to socialise outside of work but this could just be put down to their individual personalities rather than a reflection of AMEX. I did not socialise with colleagues outside of work but I felt this was appropriate.

The cost of living and socialising is high. Not quite London prices but going out for dinner/ drinks is expensive and accommodation in Brighton is very expensive, especially for what it is. For the cost of living in this area, I think the salary of the internship should have been higher. London interns received more (supposedly due to their location) but I think the margin between the intern salaries should be narrower.

Great! Brighton nightlife always means there's loads going on. I really enjoyed exploring pubs/ bars/ clubs. You really cannot beat the Brighton clubbing scene.

There were 2 great events organised for us- Thames boat party and london eye trip. However, I felt in a 10 week internship this was not enough, I would expect at least one more event to be organised as it did not really feel that AMEX were trying to woo us into the company.