Summer Intern Review

I am currently in the fourth week of my summer internship, so it may be a little too early to make a judgement, but so far I am enjoying it very much. I feel very challenged, especially since it is my first time working in the banking sector. UBS is a very large bank, and that means that there are plenty of things to learn, e.g. the different business functions of the bank, and how different functions interact with/support each other.

Generally, my colleagues treat me as a peer - making the effort to ensure that I am placed in a position where I can learn as much as I can. My line manager is aware of my background, and she tries to capitalize on my strengths by assigning me to relevant projects. At the same time, I also get work which I may not be as familiar with, but support is always available whenever needed.

To a large extent - my colleagues are very approachable. Whenever I had difficulties in completing my task, it is easy to get the necessary support from my team, mostly because everyone is usually accessible via Skype. There are also biweekly catch-up sessions with my line manager to discuss my progress and any other feedback.

I was given several tasks to do, but most of them were long-term projects involving many people from other teams, which sometimes meant that there was a lot of waiting in between, i.e. when waiting for information from the other team. Nevertheless, it is up to you to find work, and people in the office are generally very willing to have a chat with you and to let you work-shadow them.

Much more than I was expecting. Within the first week of joining the team, I was already on Skype calls with people and teams all over the business, as I was slowly getting more involved in the projects. I really enjoy the fact that there is such an open culture here - people are generally very approachable, even if they are directors, executive directors, etc.

To a certain extent. Most of the stuff I am learning/have learnt here while on my internship are very business-specific, which means that it may not be as relevant outside UBS - even if I were to work in another bank. However, things like knowing how to use Excel, Bloomberg, Reuters, are definitely skills which would be very transferable and highly valuable.

The atmosphere is generally quite light-hearted. People seem to know almost everyone who are working on the same floor as them. Nevertheless, it is still a big office, and being a summer intern who will only be here for 2 months, it sometimes can feel a little strange not knowing many people.

I thought that the first week of training was really useful, except for a few parts here and there which could have been streamlined. I really enjoy the speaker sessions that take place on a regular basis throughout the internship. The sessions so far have been really insightful in terms of providing me with knowledge of the industry and the business.

To a very large extent. I felt like I was being treated as a full-timer, rather than just as a summer intern, and this meant that I was given a lot more responsibility than I was expecting to receive. In addition, it is clear that a lot of thought was put into the activities organized for the summer interns.

Very appealing. The possibilities within the business are almost infinite. Given how large the organization is, there is plenty of room to move around internally, should you find that the business area that you started out in is not the one that you'd like to be in. Salary is pretty good as well.

There are about 130 summer interns/IPs in my batch, and this naturally means that there is a higher chance of there being people who are more proactive in terms of organizing social events. So yes, the social scene was pretty decent. I suppose this is one of the perks of working in a large organization.

The office is in the City, which isn't exactly the cheapest place to be working/living in. An average lunch here costs about £7 or £8, which is higher than most other places. A pint here would certainly cost more than elsewhere too. Nevertheless, there are a lot of bars and restaurants in the area too.

There are a lot of bars and clubs in the City area, and the office is very close to Old Street, which is where most of the nightlife happens. In short, you shouldn't worry about the nightlife too much because you're in London, and a good bar/club is always just a stone's throw away.

Yes. The bank partners with a charity organization which allows employees (including summer interns and IPs) to participate in their activities. There are also a bunch of societies and interest groups available, e.g. football team, wine appreciation, etc. Being such a large global bank, you would expect nothing less from it.