Trading & Business Summer Intern Review
by bp
This review was submitted over 4 years ago, so some of the information it contains may no longer be relevant.
Rating
-
The Role
2.5
-
The Company
3.2
-
The Culture
3.8
- 1. To what extent did you enjoy your work placement or internship?
- 2. To what extent did you feel valued by your colleagues?
- 3. To what extent were you given support and guidance by management/your supervisor(s)?
- 4. How busy were you on a daily basis?
- 5. How much responsibility were you given during your placement?
- 6. To what extent did/will the skills you developed, and training you received, assist you in your degree studies and beyond?
- 7. What was the general atmosphere in your office?
- 8. How well organised was the overall work placement or internship set up?
- 9. In terms of personal training and development, to what extent did the company or firm invest in you?
- 10. What were the perks on your work placement?
- 11. How appealing are future employment prospects within the organisation?
- 12. Was there a good social scene amongst any fellow placement students/colleagues?
- 13. What was the cost of living and socialising in the area you worked in?
- 14. What was the Nightlife like in the area you worked?
- 15. Were there many opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work?
The Role
The structure of the Trading & Business Programme was highlighted by myself and many others as hugely problematic. Coming into the scheme most people will have a preference of one or the other, the grad schemes are separate, yet the internship is combined- this is compounded by the fact that despite this, you'll be on a desk for the full 11 weeks- often in an area you have no interest in. It was therefore hard to enjoy the internship as a whole. Furthermore, the work given was often of little value added. On the other hand, the interns and full time staff were more than friendly and helped to ameliorate the day to day work. Line management was poor in terms of feedback and the ending process was extremely opaque.
BP do a good job in making interns feel welcome and valued.
Very basic levels of Excel training at the start of the internship (75 mins), followed by 11 weeks of projects within excel. My line manager was friendly enough but did not communicate areas of improvement/feedback effectively whatsoever- taking until the final day to elaborate on what had previously been communicated to me as a one line throwaway comment.
Whilst I was often busy with work, it wasn't particularly challenging or difficult. Having spoken to friends at investment banks, their internships sounded far more demanding but also ultimately rewarding.
As mentioned above, some work added value to the business, though much simply did not and felt like filler simply to justify the desk having an intern. In general I felt the internship was too soft. No knowledge of trading was required whatsoever and there was little scope beyond the work (not particularly challenging) to demonstrate ability.
Confirmed a desire to pursue a career in the industry, but not at BP. Little relevance to degree studies.
The Company
Fairly standard trading floor atmosphere. I was on first floor oil which was far more lively and felt much more like a trading floor than the second floor gas desks.
Well organised, one of the successes from HR.
One hour and 15 minutes of Excel training. A brief mid-internship review. A few brief talks from senior leaders in the firm. ------------------------------------------------------------
Flexi Time
Sports and Social Club
Company Parties/Events
Above 25 days holiday
Many interns were happy at BP and happily accepted offers. However, I began to pursue other opportunities fairly quickly into the scheme.
The Culture
Very good, all interns got on well and grads made the effort to integrate us well.
High- Canary Wharf & London is not cheap. Relatively expensive given quite low salary relative to banks etc.
London
Details
Internship (1 Month+)
Data Science
London
September 2017
