Women's Immersion Programme Intern Review

It was a really valuable and enjoyable experience! I came into the programme not expecting to enjoy myself or learn anywhere near as much as I did. There was a good mix of timetabled talks/activities, as well as enough free time to work within my team, or arrange work shadowing/networking opportunities.

Within my team, I was given the opportunity to work on a project that will actually be used/further developed by the company going forward. This allowed me to have a real sense of value/purpose when coming into work each day. All members of staff also seemed to really value our opinions/feedback after each talk/activity etc.

I felt that there was a good balance of support/guidance vs opportunities to work things out for ourselves. This gave me the opportunity to really learn and benefit from the programme, in a way that other insight programmes do not. At the end of the two weeks, we also all had an individual review with our manager and HR contact, where we reviewed our performance and progress and discussed plans and hopes for going forward to hopefully convert into an internship or placement in the future.

I felt that I not only developed skills useful for my degree, such as time management, and developing my python programing ability, but also skills that will be integral for my career and life in general. These skills included networking and public speaking, as well as the ability to come up with useful questions to ask, which is something that I feel is often overlooked. I additionally learnt so much about the finance industry, which I was basically clueless about before.

The programme was extremely well structured. Before coming, we were expected to complete a certain amount of training. This allowed us to get the full value out of each session. The first day was further training, in things like excel and financial markets. The rest of the time was then a perfect balance of: 1. useful talks by various members of staff, both junior and senior 2. hands on sessions, such as a public speaking/debating training 3. time where we were free to go to our desk and either work on a project given to us by our manager, or shadow literally anybody in the business whose role we wanted to find out more about

Everybody was extremely friendly. The average person often thinks of a bank as an extremely cut throat and threatening environment. However here at Nomura this is not the case. Everyone is so kind, friendly and welcoming! You could literally go up to anyone, whether they have a junior or senior role, and ask them for a moment of their time to ask for help, or to learn more about their role. The atmosphere was friendly and comfortable from day 1.

As mentioned in another question, we were expected to complete training before coming on the programme, as well as given further training once there. I felt that the company really cared about me learning and benefitting from the experience. As an engineer (i.e. from a non finance background), I learnt loads about: - Trading - Financial Markets - Investment Banking - Risk and Compliance - Roles within the Bank - Programming - Public Speaking and Debating and so much more.

As this was a two week programme, I really got the opportunity to be immersed in the team and department that I was placed. I felt I definitely got a feel about what day-to-day work here would be like, and everybody was very honest and open about how they felt about being employed by Nomura. Many people I spoke to had been working here for >10 years, which speaks volumes about how much people enjoy working here.

From speaking to various people in the firm, from first year grads, to senior members of staff, I felt that I really got a feel for the company culture. Not only the working culture, but also outside of work. The company has many extra curricular opportunities, and invests heavily in charity - each employee gets paid days off each year to work for a charity opportunity. Not only this, but the company cares about gender equality - which can clearly be seen by the existence of their women's immersion programme!

The content was extremely valuable. Initially I was like "oh no, I'll never work for a bank, how boring", whereas now I am a lot more educated about what it actually entails. There are so many different roles and opportunities - enough so to suit everyone. It also helped me ascertain that, as much as I like software and programming, it is something I want to do only part of the time in my day-to-day job, not all the time.

We were generously paid for our work during the two weeks. However, we were not reimbursed for our travel during the programme. As it was based in London, and as I am a student (hence, a large student loan and overdraft), it would have been beneficial to also offer travel reimbursement.

We were never short of networking opportunities! There were a few scheduled opportunities, such as the senior networking lunch, where we had a sit down lunch with senior members of the firm. We were also free to then network and shadow as we pleased - I met so many people within the company and picked their brains about the industry, the company, and their role.

The company has a terrace and every Thursday after work, there is a bar where people are free to network and socialise. I think this is such a nice touch. The other networking opportunities (as mentioned before) were also extremely enjoyable and not at all scary (as networking can often seem)

We were shown that Employees have so many opportunities to get involved outside of work: - sports - paid days off each year to do charity work - music - beehives on the roof - public speaking - women in nomura society - IT connect talent and so much more!

I would definitely recommend this insight to anybody. Whether you know loads about finance or nothing. Whether you know what you want to do as a career or not. Regardless, it truly is an extremely rewarding and valuable experience, where the skills you develop and the knowledge you learn is priceless. It will benefit you, whatever your plans for the future.