spring intern Review

I really enjoyed the insight program – it was a great week full of a diverse range of activities where I learnt a lot. Prior to starting the week, I thought it would just be a week of work shadowing and group project work but it turned out to not only be that. Expectations were definitely exceeded.

Because it was only a week-long insight program, I didn’t really feel like it was a long term thing where I had the chance to evaluate whether I felt ‘valued’ or not. That being said though, the organisers were extremely welcoming and made the atmosphere into one where each and every person was valued.

Again, as it was a week long insight program, I didn’t really receive or feel the need to receive a great deal of guidance or support. However, the organisers were really great at making sure everyone knew exactly what was happening and were happy to answer any questions we had.

As this was only a short insight program, I don’t really feel like I necessarily obtained life skills. I did however, get the chance to practise my networking skills and see how important these were. In terms of information, I would definitely say this week was great at really giving an in-depth broad insight into the company and technology function – something you wouldn’t be able to find online.

The program was structured well – before coming I was afraid it was just going to be the same thing each day with few breaks or diversity. Fortunately, my expectations were unfounded. The week was well split up into insight talks, workshops, work shadowing opportunities, group project time and networking events.

The general atmosphere was very welcoming and open. The organisers played a large role in making sure everyone felt comfortable and valued. The speakers also played a role in making sure we knew it was okay to ask as many questions as we wanted. Because of the nature of the activities, we mingled a lot with each other and so by the end of the week, we definitely grew closer to everyone.

As it was only a week long insight program, the firm didn’t really invest in personal training and development, rather more focused on providing us with an in depth insight into the company and function. I would say though, that the diverse range of activities for example group presentation and networking events helped me to exercise my people skills.

The insight definitely helped me understand what it would be like although at the same time it also opened my eyes to the wide range of possible roles and diverse projects. As I said before, this insight program was really useful at providing information and insight I wouldn’t be able to find online.

The insight program was very useful in helping me to understand the company culture as we were exposed to many people across the company, from different background and in different positions of responsibility. It was particularly useful to have work shadowing opportunities with the graduates as they had been in our positions before and so were completely honest about how great it was to work at the company.

It was very useful in the sense that it provided me with so many options and opened my eyes to just how interesting banking world was, particularly with its use of technology. On the other hand though, it was unhelpful as it provided me with too many options and so even though it made me more interested in pursuing a career in banking, it made me more unsure as to what role spoke to me the most.