Intern Review

I really enjoyed my internship firstly because of the atmosphere, which was great. The people are very welcoming and the work is challenging, which encourages you to think. In addition, the resources at the Bank were great in facilitating my learning and providing me with a well rounded opinion on Bank matters, as well as international policy.

I had regular feedback meetings with my manager and supervisor, and I sat in during meetings and was offered the opportunity to input my opinion on specific topics. This to me felt like I was of great value, especially because the topics were focused on the future of UK policy and the approach to international standards.

My final project involved involved looking into a procedure that has not had much attention within the Bank, therefore it became quite challenging due to the limited resources available. However, my manager and supervisor were extremely useful in guiding along the right lines, providing regular feedback and presentation practice in preparation for the final project.

Initially, I was doing a lot of training and reading, which was very exciting because I was learning a lot in a short space of time. This kept me very busy due to the number of documents available and everyone on the team being available for an introductory discussion. Following this, I was very focused on my project, which involved a lot of wider work and reaching out to different people, in and around the bank.

During the internship, my project was focused on work the Bank would be focusing on if there was sufficient time, therefore creating a general framework for the Bank to use for the future for analysis. This meant that I was given an immense amount of responsibility, which was challenging, but a very good aspect as it meant that I was able to learn a huge amount and develop a wide range of skills.

With regard to my final project, the presentational skills I learned were invaluable. Little things such as formatting, making sentences more clear and succinct as well as projecting my voice and regularly summarising my key point can apply to my studies due to the number of group projects and presentations. In addition, my report writing skills have significantly improved which is helpful for essay based modules (in coursework and examinations).

The atmosphere in the office was definitely a great one, which made the joining process very good. In the first week, we had welcoming drinks and lunch with the whole team, which was a great opportunity to get to know everyone. Also, everyone is very easily accessible, and there are a lot of events which provide the opportunity to not have to focus on work all the time.

The internship was well organised as we began with an induction, which introduced us to the Bank and the relevant in-house systems. Also, there were useful online training modules which familiarised me with them more. Also, HR set up weekly drop-in sessions in order to make the joining process smoother, and to ask any questions or raise concerns we had.

The interns were very social, with after work drinks and different events usually going on weekly. Also, we regularly met in the restaurant area at lunch time to discuss our progress on our projects. Also, there were opportunities to go on nights out with the interns, which was great and really fun, and it was good to get to know everyone outside the work setting.

London can be expensive, but the pay is more than enough to cover for expenses.

Working in the centre of London, there were plenty of bars and social spaces for workers to go to after work. In addition, a lot of the interns stayed in hotels around the area. The nightlife was great as there were an array of different places to go to, no matter what sort of music or vibe you are interested in.