Penultimate Year Summer Intern Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my Internship with HSBC UK. From the very start I got stuck in with my placement team and was given lots of opportunities to experience different areas of the business and develop key skills. I was kept busy and had a variety of things to do, ranging from group projects to individual tasks.

I felt valued by my placement and internship team as well as my fellow interns. My team appreciated the work I was doing and felt I was adding value to the team despite only being there for 8 weeks. There was lots of opportunities to show appreciation and there was a positive atmosphere within the office.

There was a good support network in place and I always felt there was someone I could speak to if I had any problems. I had regular 1:1 meetings with my manager throughout my placement to receive feedback on my performance and was also paired with someone on the Graduate scheme.

There was always something to do; I was never sat in the office not knowing what I should be doing. Equally I was always able to find time to meet with people from other areas of the bank and work on my personal development. There was a lot of flexibility and I was able to manage my workload.

I felt trusted by my manager to work on my own development such as organising meetings with others in the bank to broaden my knowledge. I was able to talk to customers at networking events and took responsibility for my performance and what I wanted to achieve during my internship.

My internship has given me lots of skills I can take forwards into university and my career when I graduate. I had experience of working in a fast-paced office environment and within my projects I had to work with colleagues based at other locations building teamwork, communication and organisation skills. I had lots of opportunities and had to manage my time effectively to make the most of my internship. These will undoubtedly assist me in my degree studies and beyond.

There was always lots going on in the office, so the atmosphere was fast-paced but also positive and lively. All my fellow colleagues and manager were keen for me to make the most of my internship so I felt supported in the workplace. Towards the end it sometimes started to feel a bit quiet with my placement clashing with common holiday time.

I thought the placement was very well organised. I received communications with details well in advance and had the opportunity to get in touch with my manager before starting in the office. A few months before starting I was paired up with a Graduate who I could talk to about my Internship. All central events run my the internship team (such as induction and development days) were well organised, ran smoothly and were useful.

The company invested heavily in our personal training and development, which formed a large focus throughout the placement. They organised for everyone to get together mid internship to run a development day, and we could always access training materials to build our knowledge.

Future employment prospects within HSBC include rolling onto the Graduate scheme. This is very appealing and allows for a solid grounding to be established on which a successful career can be built as it includes rotations around various areas of the business.

There was a really good social scene for interns, at the start we had social leads assigned who organised a couple of social (table tennis and bowls) nearby to the offices. We also kept in regular contact and would go out for drinks after work. At the end the Internship team organised a gala dinner in the evening which was a great end to my time with the company.

I was based in central London so socialising was expensive however we were able to choose the locations of socials so they were not too expensive. The Internship team carefully assigned placement locations so for me I did not have to relocate and was able to live at home, which kept costs to a minimum.

Due to trains and transport options home at the end, I did not go out late in the evenings after work. Instead I would sometimes stay after work for drinks at a bar.

There were lots of activities I could get involved in such as evening networking events and events run by the graduate communities.