Work Experience Programme Review

The Insight week provided a lot of real-time experience in the retail department at HSBC. I was given many opportunities to work-shadow each employee in the branch, giving me unique experiences that most people will not be given the opportunity (ie experiencing the operating system from inside the cash/checkout pod, refilling cash machines, and sitting in with real private-wealth deals). Although I believe the programme would do better by only being 1-2 days long, 5 days may be too long for same day-to-day exposure.

During the programme, I was expected to attend morning meetings (with all the branch employees) each day throughout the week. I feel this helped to make me feel more included into the fabric of the branch. Although I wasn't given much responsibility during the programme (legally), I was given many opportunities to shadow employees, to observe every aspect of the branches operations (through rotation).

Any questions I had were answered during the shadowing experiences, however there wasn't much 'direct' guidance/support given within the branch with regards to the programme/being an intern. Most employees within the branch weren't even aware that such a programme existed and there was no real 'structure' to the internship, which left me feeling quite alienated.

I learnt quite a lot about the Retail side of banking at HSBC, ie how to open a current account, taking up mortgages and private wealth investment - but I believe this information would be more beneficial to my day-to-day life, more so than academically. There was little to no information given at hand during the insight week as reference or teaching aid.

The programme had very little structure. Most employees were unaware that such a programme existed, leading my 'internship' to be solely work shadowing based, with whoever was free. There were no 'talks' or 'information slots' during my insight week to give me more background knowledge of HSBC retail. I was the only intern during the week. I believe the programme would benefit more from a group insight week (more than one intern) to give reason to more structure.

The general atmosphere at the branch was very pleasant. The employees at the branch were very friendly and approachable, and it was obvious that the employees knew each other well. It was also obvious that the employees were very loyal to the company. After working at the bank for a week, you also gauge when to expect high volumes of customers, and when the bank is less busy!

There was very little 'personal training' or 'development' given during the insight week. The is probably due to the lack of structure given to the programme. Most employees were happy to answer questions I had, but focusing by themselves otherwise on the rest of the day - there was no one directly responsible for my personal development at the bank.

The insight week gave me a very clear idea of what it would be like to work at a retail branch (of a bank such as HSBC), through rigorous work shadowing. During the week, I was given numerous opportunities to shadow simple bank transactions (with real customers), informing first-time buyers on mortgage options etc which is identical to what I would be responsible for, had I been working at the bank.

During the insight week, I had a good feel for the culture of that specific HSBC branch. Whether it reflected the culture across HSBC bank as a whole, I am not sure. The best way to describe the branch culture, would be describing it as a 'bubble', the employees are very friendly inside that branch, but you get very little information/knowledge about the operations outside of the branch - ie no bigger picture.

The content on each day gave me a very clear picture of the day-to-day operations of a retail bank. Through the work shadowing, I noticed retail banking is a very repetitive occupation, and if you enjoy stability/certainty in your job I would recommend it - else, probably not. I am glad for taking part in the work experience programme, since it gave me ground-up knowledge for working in an investment bank.

No, the opportunities included work-shadowing whoever was free, and talking to other employees during lunch break in the staff room.

There were no networking or social event opportunities during the insight week. The only time given for 'socialising' was during our lunch break in the staff room, depending on if there were other employees free to talk to.

Employees seemed to engage in their own pursuits during their free time, there was no 'push' for charity work or group activities outside of work.

If you are serious about the retail banking industry, then of course! (or similar occupations such as real estate), else I am not sure the work experience had enough structure to be worth the time and expense (ie missing a whole week of college since the programme works during term time).