Summer Analyst Review

I really enjoyed my virtual internship at Morgan Stanley! Even virtually I found that I was part of the team and was really warmly welcomed, because of this I feel I still got to be immersed into the culture of Morgan Stanley as well. The only slightly negative aspect was because it was not virtually I did not get to do everything that I would have if I internship had gone ahead the usual way.

I felt really valued at Morgan Stanley during my short internship. Everybody wanted to talk to you and help you out anyway possible, which was not only really helpful but also made me feel included especially working from home. Also when I say everybody wanted to talk to you it didn't matter how high up in the hierarchy they were they would still take time to either call you or answer any question you might have.

I have to say I was given a lot of guidance and support during my virtual internship. Right from the start with the uncertainty of COVID we were kept informed about any developments to the programme and there was even pre-programme events to allow you to get to know the other interns and more about what was to come during the internship. During the internship there was a lot of people that supported you such as your manager, your buddy, your team and even HR were there if you had any issues as well.

One of the skills I really developed was my confidence, which definitely will help me in all aspects of my life such as speaking out during teamwork or even doing a presentation in front of peers. Also I learnt much more about financial services and how what I have studied at university feeds into that. I feel this is valuable as I feel universities sometimes focus more on certain traditional aspects of the industry, like audit, and ignore other areas that you could go into.

I would say every element of my virtual internship was well structured. With the pre-programme you knew well in advance when all the events were and what the video calls details were. The programme during the internship I thought was organised amazingly well and also was very flexible so if a area wide intern event clashed with a training the organisers would move the training to make sure you made it to everything. Also the events that were organised were all really informative from trainings about aspects of finance that you need to know to a Q&A session with the CEO.

I would say the generally atmosphere was normally quite positive, happy and enjoyable environment. Of course there were parts when you could feel a bit of stressed in the atmosphere but that was normally when we were coming up to big events in the internship such as peer presentation or interviews. However, even in those stressful times there was still a sense of community and collaboration and everyone wants to ease your stress as much as possible.

I would say that Morgan Stanley fully invests from you from the minute you start. You are told at the start that everyone wants you to succeed and that is absolutely true! You would have reviews throughout your time where your strengths and weaknesses were identified, which is good because then you would know which areas that you need to work on. Also, if there was a weakness identified there was always solutions given to you to help you develop it into a strength.

I felt my virtual internship gave me a quite a good understanding into what a full time role would be like at Morgan Stanley. This was mainly through talking to other co-workers and a day in their life looked like. Also, we also had a session with some of the graduates and they were able to describe the transition from the internship to a full time role was like. The only drawback was that because it was online there was certain restrictions to what we could do so we never actually got to do some of the work that you can expect you will do in the full time position.

The internship really did help you understand the culture at Morgan Stanley. Even leading up to the internship I felt I got an insight through the application process of how good the culture was. It was stated from the start how important culture is at Morgan Stanley and something that every employee believes in. It was also identified by a number of people I talked to that it was probably the biggest differentiator compared to its competitors and I would fully agree with it. The culture was probably one of my favourite aspects of Morgan Stanley.

I found that the contents of the internship was extremely valuable to help in my future career path. For example, it helped me to know that I wanted to go into financial services rather than another area such as audit. This was not just down to the training provided but also just talking to officers and hearing about their experiences and giving you knowledge that they wished they had had when they started their careers.

I was definitely paid adequately for my virtual internship. Especially as Morgan Stanley paid me for the original length of the internship even though it was cut down by a number of weeks. As a student that was still paying for accommodation that they were not using at the time this was very appreciated.Also, as the internship became remote they also offered to help with any expenses that you may have had due to this, such as headsets and monitors.

Yes there was definitely opportunities to network with other employees. There is networks you can get involved in , such as the young professionals network, which helped to put you in contact with other interns in other departments. You not only got to meet other people, but also got to learn about other areas within Morgan Stanley. Also, probably a benefit of it being remotely was you were able to interact with other interns globally, for example I was able to network with interns in New York.

I thought overall the networking/social opportunities were really good. I would probably say the social ones were my favourite because it was a bit more of a relaxed environment and you actually got to talk and get to know the other people in your group. The networking ones I sometimes felt were a bit forced and you had to follow a set layout. This made them sometimes quite stilted and you always seemed to run out of time so not everyone got to talk.

As it was a more virtual workplace we may didn't get access to all the activities you could actually get involved in. However, there was a lot highlighted and there was still opportunities you could involved with during your internship. For example, one of Morgan Stanley's core values is giving back and they actually do a month dedicated to volunteering. Also, there was a special event organised for the interns to get involved in volunteering through Morgan Stanley and I really enjoyed it!

I would definitely recommend my virtual internship at Morgan Stanley to a friend. I feel that if you can really understand the culture of a company virtually the demonstrates one how strong their culture is intertwined into the firm and in the case of Morgan Stanley how good their culture is. I also felt I learnt a lot during my time not just about my department, financial services and Morgan Stanley, but also about myself and what I am liked in a work environment.