COMMERCIAL BANKING PENULTIMATE YEAR INTERNSHIP PRO, CMB MT PROGRAMME Review

I enjoyed my time at HSBC. Everyone was very friendly the whole time and I was able to work on lots of different tasks throughout. I would probably preferred to have more of a set 'to do' list than having to constantly ask for work from other people; this did help with my confidence though. However everyone was more than happy to provide me with things to do.

Everyone was very friendly towards myself and the other interns and included us in everything. People seemed grateful when we offered help and assisted on tasks and overall I felt valued. Managers however were busy so didn't have much time for interns but any time they did have, you were made to feel valued.

I had fortnightly meetings with my on-program manager, bi-weekly calls with my grad coach and two calls with my placement manager. I felt that support was always there if I needed it but I was in charge of my own development and to ask for help when I needed it.

Towards the beginning of the internship, I sometimes lacked things to do. However, as my confidence grew, I was more able to ask people for work or sit in on meetings etc. As I became more trusted in the team, I was given extra responsibilities so this added to my workload. So at the end of the internship I had a good level of work. I would have maybe liked a more structured approach to tasks instead of having to ask around for work. This would have helped at the beginning when I had nothing much to do.

Obviously at the beginning I wasn't given that much responsibility but when the old grad left, I was handed over all of his tasks and in charge of emailing management reviews on a weekly basis. I wasn't exactly running the show but I was given a decent level of responsibility.

In terms of skills for my maths degree, the internship probably didn't help that much - it didn't have any maths. However, in terms of life skills, it was invaluable. There are many skills that you can learn in an office environment that you can't teach in a classroom. For example, my social skills and ability to talk to new people has increased immensely. I'm also more confidence and able to adapt more quickly to new situations. My 'soft skills' much as writing emails and delivering presentations have also improved due to the internship. I believe all of these things will help me enormously later in my life.

The general atmosphere was friendly and relaxed. You always felt that you could ask anyone for help and approach everyone. People always asked how your weekend was and genuinely seemed to care. Friday afternoons were always very chill and everyone was more than happy to participate in our table tennis tournament.

The internship team were very organised. Every event was clearly communicated to us in plenty of time and the emails very detailed etc. The placement in the office was less so. Sometimes they didn't quite know what to do with the interns and didn't have that much of a set plan.

I left very valued, even as the intern. We had lots of development days and sessions. We were also given the opportunity to drive our own development and if I asked to do different things, people rarely said no. They obviously invested a lot of time and money into the internship scheme.

HSBC has excellent future employment prospect. As the company is such a large international company, there are lots of opportunities for different roles and to travel and work in different countries. The whole atmosphere of the company, also encourages this. HSBC has an excellent working environment from what I can tell and most of its employees have great respect for their employer.

All the interns were very inclusive and friendly. We frequently ate lunch together and I was constantly invited out to the pub after work. The actual socials organised were fun and frequent. Overall the scene was great, especially when we all go to stay over in hotels after events because we didn't have to worry about getting home.

London is the most expensive place to live in and socialise in in the UK. I was able to live at home during the placement but would have struggled to find somewhere to live that was in budget if I didn't live at home. As I lived at home, it meant that I had to travel quite far each day so missed out on some socials. We were supposed to be given 'territorial allowance' because of the location but I'm not sure what happened with this.

Everyone was very happy to do out to the pub after work. The pubs were always packed in this area and everyone was very social. I didn't go out that much because I lived relatively far away and had other commitments after work.

There were some opportunities to get involved in outside of work. I talked to a graduate committee and was able to help out with this. I heard of some opportunities to get involved with sport in the company. However, as we were only here for a short period of time, I wasn't able to join in as much as I might have wanted to.