Insight Day Attendee Review

I really enjoyed the Women in the Bank Insight day as it was a great opportunity to hear more about the work practices at the Bank and what I can do to develop my application for an internship in 2020. I also gained more of an understanding of the values of that everyone working in the Bank holds.

As it was quite a small group of students, I felt very valued to be at this event. I also felt that during the day, we were given a lot of individual attention in terms of answering questions and learning more about each of us as individuals and what we need to personally develop

We were given a lot of guidance and support. First we were given a presentation which went through the process for each stage that you could be applying for such as internship or graduate programme or work placement, etc. Throughout the day we were then given all relevant information related to this

I developed key negotiating skills in a group trading exercise which was very beneficial for the assessment centre stages of the process as well as possible careers involving this. We were also told what to do regarding each other stage of the process which will assist us when building our application.

The insight was very structured. It began on time and we were straight away given a timetable for the day and what it would involve. Then throughout the day we had several workshops, presentations and exercises which were all very relevant and informative. It would have been even better if we were given this timetable beforehand to see what the day would entail

The atmosphere at first was quite daunting as we were in a prestigious building and it was quite a small group of students. However, the day started off with an icebreaker which instantly made me feel more at ease and throughout the day we had a few breaks to network and get to know each other

The presentation offered several insights into what qualities the Bank of England is looking for in applicants therefore this was helpful. The group trading exercise also offered an opportunity to develop key negotiating skills. Other than this, there was not a great deal of personal training and development but it was a great introduction

It was made very evident what it would be like to have a full time role within the Bank of England. This was explained during the presentation, developed in the panel discussion and again made focus whilst we networked with several senior professionals so now I would say I have a great understanding of the work practices at the Bank.

From speaking to the graduate recruitment and several employees in the firm, I developed a great understanding for the company culture and what particularly appealed to me was the relaxed atmosphere even in little things such as being able to wear more casual work attire. Overall, I think there was a great atmosphere in the Bank

I found the content of this day to be very helpful in deciding on my future career path. The Bank of England offers a different internship application scheme compared to most where instead of choosing what area you would like to be in, they choose based on what they think you would be most suited for which particularly appealed to me

I was reimbursed for travel expenses into London

Yes, at the beginning we were able to network with our fellow attendees which was nice to break the ice and become more comfortable with each other. There was a panel discussion with various employees which I found particularly interesting. We then had a break later on where we had the opportunity to network with more employees

I found the networking/social opportunities very informative and fun. The icebreaker allowed us to relax with our peers and the panel discussion / networking session allowed us to ask as many personal questions as we wanted and speak to a wide range of employees in all areas in the Bank