Summer Associate - Technology and Change Review

Throughout the summer, i had a very enjoyable time at the FCA. i was exposed to a range of different opportunities and challenges which i enjoyed participating in. I had the change to be involved in a project that would affect my entire division and also had the chance to work with peers in a community project. This project allowed me to no only develop and demonstrate skills in communication, organisation, leadership and teamwork, but also allowed me to build and develop friendships that will last longer than the internship.

During the internship, i worked with a range of colleagues within my division and also outside it. those directly within my team were very supportive and offered a lot of support and assistance when i needed it. They valued me as a part of the team and this helped a lot when completing tasks alongside them. other colleagues from outside my team such as my community project team and senior staff i knew from before the internship were extremely supportive and assisted heavily in rounding my knowledge of the FCA.

i did experience a few problems with my technology access during the internship but even though this happened, my line manager and team were extremely supportive and reassuring when it came to resolving this problem. They were able to suggest alternative ways in which i could continue to complete the work i had to do. The guidance from the HR team regarding the community project was consistent and supportive throughout the seven weeks of the internship.

throughout the seven weeks, i had a morning catch up meeting every day so that the team would be able to talk with each other about what was being done during the day. i would also have one or two more meetings throughout the day with either someone on my team or my community project team. On top of this, we had a training session once a week that would be a few hours long. apart from meetings, during work hours, I was fairly busy doing work for the team i was on but did not normally have to work any time outside these hours.

As my team was more of an internally focussed team, there was not much responsibility in terms of sensitive information and work. however, as there was a lot of working from home between meetings, we were left to our own devices with the tasks that needed completing. This is a lot of responsibility as they are trusting you to independently complete the tasks required. i did enjoy this method as it allowed me to work at my own pace and complete the tasks to the best of my ability.

The most important concept that this internship has taught me is effort. I have been exposed to the philosophy of putting effort towards all tasks as talent is never truly enough. The internship allowed me to demonstrate skills in communication, leadership, teamwork, organisation and helped me develop core competency skills through experience and mentoring from senior members of the team.

the atmosphere of the office was strong even though we were not all in the same building. we were able to communicate well and work and learn from each other. The community project team i was in was made up from other interns. We all have developed a strong bond and friendship throughout this seven week internship programme and will look to keep in touch with each other beyond this internship and our respective university programmes.

The internship was fairly well set up an organised, i had to wait a few days for my laptop to arrive and it broke down in the last two weeks and was not replaceable in the timeframe remaining. apart from that, the internship was very organised as teams scheduled meetings in advance and liaised with interns on this. we knew where we needed to be and what we would be doing. information was provided clearly although a bit too close to the starting point of the relevant activity.

The Financial Conduct Authority invested a lot of time and resources into us to make sure this internship happened. They arranged for weekly training sessions that were designed to teach us different skills that were core to the FCA values. We also had multiple induction sessions that were designed to teach us how to use the relevant FCA technology. apart from training sessions, we had the opportunity to develop our skills through things such as community projects.

The FCA offers a graduate programme which is two and a half years. It can be in a specialist or non specialist department. You get the opportunity to move around the firm and try out different things over the time period. You also have the option to complete an external secondment at another firm and the FCA are resourceful in helping you find and make contact with that firm. The opportunities for future employments exist and are very appealing.

The social scene at the FCA was varied in it's availability. within our project teams, the scene was strong and was thoroughly enjoyable. I feel that many of us in the team bonded and became good colleagues and friends with one another. there was not much opportunity to meet people outside our teams or divisions but we were able to organise our own events and meet people who we wouldn't normally interact with through our own means.

There was no cost as the internship was a work from home internship. i was able to stay at home and work from there at no extra cost.

same as answer above. as we were working from home, there was no difference to the currently lifestyle. due to the current lockdown through the Coronavirus pandemic, opportunities to travel out at night are limited and advised against.

there were no opportunities to do this relating to work. there is potential for teams to meet up post internship however.