Summer Intern Junior Associate Review

I really enjoyed my internship and as I am part of a four year degree I am looking to come back potentially for a second internship in my penultimate summer and I would take the graduate role if I was offered it.

I've felt extremely valued by my colleagues who have expressed regret that I am leaving. It is nice to feel like you're making valuable contributions to the team as an intern rather than burdening them or getting in the way. As I have shown I'm a reliable worker I've been working across teams to help deliver work across the division which has been an interesting experience.

My supervisor was extremely enthusiastic about working with me as he enjoys the people side of his role and has had interns and graduates working with him before. We worked together and established that I like to be given a clear example and then I am happy to work thereafter independently. My supervisor, graduate buddy and graduate in my team all had fortnightly meetings with me to check up on my progress which made me feel supported.

To begin with I wasn't too busy and had a lot of time to fill out elearning modules that interested me which I found useful, though there were a few simple mundane tasks too. That is to be expected when you start working somewhere new though. As I settled in I gradually got more and more work (though I never had to work past 5) and this was nice as it gave me a sense of purpose and structure to my days. I always try to book a meeting or a catch up if I have nothing showing in my diary in order to use my time wisely.

I was given my own tasks to do so I had responsibility for set pieces of work. However, I wouldn't say the tasks I carried out were of particular importance they were more things that the team had meant to do but hadn't got round to it yet so a lot of 'discovery work' to see if the idea would work. Later on around week 7-9 I was given real responsibility as part of a project which was nice.

I'm really happy with how much financial knowledge I have gained and have also really developed my understanding of the insurance industry. I took it upon myself to shadow in a different department and catch up with different graduates in teams across the organisation so I have a wide industry knowledge now too. I will definitely take this with me throughout my studies.

The atmosphere was really really friendly. I've never experienced anywhere like it. When people say 'email me and we can catch up' they genuinely mean it. Over 7 weeks I personally met up with 9 new people to discuss their areas and they were really enthusiastic about it. Even two managers.

The internship induction week was really well thought out and you got to get to know the other interns really well. After this week you move immediately into your teams where there are no other interns so you become a proper member of the team. It then depends on your team's organisation as to what work they give you and when as this is not dictated by HR. I was lucky that I was able to work across teams i.e. sector. thematic, retail and reactive teams so I got a broad overview of the departments and different experiences such as 6 external client meetings with CEOs. The only thing is that summer internships take place over the holidays so at times there weren't many members of staff in.

There are many opportunities to develop your skills such as the FCA academy, elearning and speaking to colleagues independently. I took up all of these chances and found that 1-2-1s with different people really build your knowledge of the subject and your understanding of the FCA as a whole.

Employment prospects are great within the organisation although admittedly Brexit might throw a spanner in the works for the FCA depending on the number of firms that may move in or out of the UK so I don't know what will happen to the structure of the teams. I think the graduate programme is a great start to anybody's career and I definitely want to join it.

There were two elected social secs who organised events. The interns tended to naturally click into different groups so it depends on the intern group you're with as to whether they make the effort to go out. There are plenty of events organised such as drinks after work or mini gowl/bowling etc but the issue was a lot of people had their friends from home or uni friends to meet up with so many people clashed with dates too.

I commuted from home zone 6 to canary wharf every day so I paid £231 a month for a travel card. This is fine providing you have the money to do so before the internship starts. The drinks in London are okay as they usually have happy hours i.e. 2 drinks for £10 so its fine. The canteen is subsidised so food is relatively cheap £4.29 for a massive main meal and sides or £1.50 for a small pasta pot.

I didn't experience this myself but as expected - cheap during happy hours but London prices thereafter unless you go somewhere typically cheaper i.e. spoons.

Definitely team events like minigolf during lunch or sector away days having meetings in the Olympic aquatic centre etc. There's also a social clu which organises reduced ticket event costs such as climbing the O2 or cinema tickets or river thames cruises.