HSBC RBWM Summer Intern Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my placement at HSBC, in particular because I was not just given 'busy work' but was able to, and actively encouraged, to add value where I could. This made me feel valued as member of my team and gave me a real feeling of responsibility during my 8 weeks.

I felt valued by my colleagues due to their desire for a fresh paid of eyes when looking at their work. Beyond this, they also created a workplace environment in which I felt my I could aways state my opinion and ask questions, furthering my feelings of being valued by the team.

I was given excellent support both professionally and technically. My managed was keen to offer his excellent insight and use resources available to ensure I developed personally. Additionally, I learnt new skills during my internship which would've been impossible with the support of my manager and the wider team too.

On a daily basis I would always have a number of meetings or conference calls. This was definitely a good thing, as working in a team was much more engaging than just working individually. On the whole, I was able to work normal working hours but some days were longer than others.

I was actively encouraged to try and add value wherever I deemed fit. This gave me a real sense of responsibility and challenged me to produce my best work. My main project had a tangible output at the end so it was impossible not to feel a sense of responsibility.

Learning new skills and ways of working will definitely be useful in my final year of university. For example, structuring my own day will be a useful skill when trying to manage the many different aspects of writing my dissertation. I also developed my critical analysis skills which will be relevant when reading and understanding material at university.

The atmosphere was always welcome and friendly. This made it much easier to engage openly with a variety of colleagues across my team and other business areas. There was a good balance between work but it was also encouraged to get to know your colleagues on a personal level too.

Organisation was great throughout. HSBC were one of the few companies who had a speedy application process. We were then given all information required before joining. During the internship there was great organisation between the intern team and my own team to ensure workloads were balanced and development events planned.

The opportunities for personal development were too many to count, from generating personality reports to building resilience to public speaking. I was pleasantly surprised to find how much went on. In particular, it was nice to bring all the interns together in the middle of the internship for a couple of days specifically for development.

Employment prospects are very appealing. Throughout the internship it was possible to engage with others in the business. Insight into

There were many opportunities to engage socially with other inters. There were specific "Social Secs" for each location so events were always accessible. There were also opportunities to socialise informally with grads within HSBC which was a nice way of expanding the social scene in a new place.

I was lucky enough to be able to stay in my university accommodation and commute in. However, the season pass was not too expensive which was great.

The nightlife was great. Being in a city definitely helped as there were many options from pubs and bars to full-blown nightclubs. It was nice to have some downtime away from work during the internship but also have places to easily socialise with other interns.

Outside of work there were many opportunities, from charity work to employee resource groups. This meant you could've been part of planning events for the wider community or writing articles for magazine publications. The culture of the bank definitely encouraged individuals to do more than just work with their time.