Equity Sales Summer Intern Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my 9 weeks spent at UBS as an intern in Equity Sales & Trading - the programme was very well organised, and provided a fantastic range of activities/events throughout the programme. The first week started off with an introduction, with an introduction to financial markets, speaker events, community work and help building your own personal brand! The second week comprised 15 mini rotations of a flying tour of the desks around the trading floor, both in cash, derivatives and GFS, which helped us to develop an understanding of the desks which we are most interested in before doing two main rotations. We had a weekly trading game, market wraps and stock pitches, which were a great way to discuss and make use of our knowledge of what is going on in markets.

Culture is definitely what stood out most for me during my time at UBS, I was made to feel extremely welcome not only by my teams, but also by other members on the floor who I spent time with. I felt that everyone took time out of their day to spend time with me and talk about what they do, whether being a graduate or an MD.

On each rotation, we had a line manger who was our main point of contact on the desk, but before the internship started, we were paired with a buddy, who was a graduate who we could go to throughout the internship. I was also paired with a female mentor as another point of contact, and by having these different points of contact, provided us with significant exposure to different parts of the floor.

I definitely think it depends on your rotation as to how much work you are given by your desk, however, it is up to you to generate work and optimise your time spent at UBS. My first rotation was on cash sales trading, which is not generally classed as a desk to work on long term projects, however, I spent a lot of time networking on and around my desk, as well as, pulling together the smaller projects which I worked on, to explain what I have learnt during my few weeks there. My second rotation was on cash sales, which involved a lot more research into individual companies and I was given a lot more work by my desk, such as, surprise stock pitches and writing up conference calls. Both my rotations were complementary as being on sales, allowed me to develop a greater knowledge of the stocks traded by sales traders and how different industries are influenced by different market events.

I was given quite a bit of responsibility as some of the projects which I worked on were sent out to clients, but it definitely depends on the type of work you are set and on the desk which you are on. There are limits as we are not allowed to talk to clients and could not listen in to calls, but I did not think this affected the overall experience as it was possible to discuss contents of a call afterwards

I definitely improved my understanding of financial markets, and the products traded - which then led me to know how different micro/macro factors cause share price movements. I also developed my presentation skills by doing weekly stock pitches and also learnt how to pick out the most relevant points to talk about and summarise them to make a compelling argument, backed up with valuation metrics.

The atmosphere was very friendly and inclusive, it was easy to settle in and feel like part of a team - it was easy to make contacts on other floors and also spend time there, as everyone understood that we wanted to broaden our learning experience and make the most of the programme.

It was a very well organised programme, with an induction week, followed by a week of mini rotations before starting properly on the desks. Throughout the internship, we had a weekly trading game, market wraps and group stock pitches, alongside, speaker sessions and social events.

UBS provided us with training in our first week of the internship, as we had a session on an introduction to financial markets along with a session on building your personal brand and how you need to put yourself put there and be the best you can be. We also had the opportunity to partake in community work, which is a huge part of the UBS culture.

I would love to have the opportunity to work at UBS as the culture makes it stand out, in terms of friendliness and the lack of hierarchical structure. It is extremely inclusive and provides employees with so many fantastic opportunities to help maximise their experience working at the bank, such as flexible working and women's networking events.

I would say that I had an very sociable intern class, the ICS teams spent a lot of time together, and one thing which has made my experience so great this summer is the people I have met along the way! I also spent time socialising with my teams, as I think it is important to see how you will get on with colleagues outside of a strict work environment.

I am actually studying at UCL, so I lived in my student house over summer which was £200 per week, but I know that for short term lets it is a bit more expensive. In terms of socialising in the area, I would say that it is standard London prices and typical for what you should expect in central London.

It was a lively atmosphere in the area I worked, there is a lot of socialising in an evening around the office.

Liverpool Street is a great part of London to be in, there are many great places to visit such as Spitalfields market, Broadgate Circle and St Paul's - it is a very accessible place, and only minutes from the West End and other tourist attractions.