Summer Analyst Review

The work was interesting and challenging. The people that I was working with in my team were engaging and fun to work with. I enjoyed meeting the other interns on my internship as well (30 of us in the same location in the same division). What held it back a bit this year was everything being online. Obviously this was common to all firms. Not being able to meet people in person meant that it was more challenging to pick up info.

The training week at the start showed that the firm was clearly investing time and money into us. With the team, I was progressively given more and more responsibility over work. At first, it was more of an introduction to the work that the team was working on, almost 'shadowing' analysts to pick up what they were doing. By the second and third weeks, however, I was being given broader instructions and was trusted to interpret them in an appropriate way and produce work from them.

There was constant communication between the analysts and associates that I was working with and myself. This consisted of messages and calls on Teams. This was both when being given tasks, and then if any questions came up when I was doing the task, then people were always willing to give me advice or further guidance. We received good feedback on the work we were doing, so that we knew where to improve our output.

It varied significantly dependent on the demands of each project that I was working on, but there was rarely a totally clear moment. When we didn't have a specified task to be working on, we had other longer-term projects or review processes that we could work on. Work often went on into the night if there was a particularly busy project, but this is to be expected of all investment banking internships, and gives you an accurate idea of what the job is like.

Already covered in the 'valued' section

The skills that I learnt are very applicable to any job in the finance industry and within corporates. Our training week provided us with a very good baseline, and gave us transferable skills in everything from accountancy to delivering presentations over Zoom. When with the teams, we learnt more of the skills that you would use on a day-to-day basis, including Excel and Powerpoint skills, and the way to create the materials used in investment banking.

It was different this year to any other year, but simply because we were online. However, everyone in the team was accommodating and willing to have a chat or an introduction over Teams, making the most of the situation we were in. We even met up for drinks towards the end of the internship, to make sure that the entire summer wasn't over a screen. Everyone was willing to help us to make the most, and the was a common recognition that the situation was tough for all.

We were delivered all of the appropriate gear for working effectively from home, including work laptops, cords and cables, and an allowance for internet connections and other 'work from home' expenses. IT issues did arise over the first two weeks, but the IT department was quick to sort them once you'd got in contact. Our teams were immediately in contact with us during the training week, so that we slipped seamlessly from the training into our roles within the teams.

The training week was clear evidence of the firm investing in us. It included internally delivered presentations, as well as specific skills training given by external firms. With the team, the other members were clearly investing time and energy in us. They were always keen to explain something, to answer any questions, and to find us things to look through if there was no actual work to do. Given that we might have been joining their teams a year later, there was a clear incentive to do so.

There was a very clear process for converting the internship into a full-time analyst role, and this was outlined to us on day 1. It was clear that it was the intention of the HR department to allow us, if good enough, to achieve this. Future employment prospects within the organisation are very appealing, with a structured process for promotions and well-defined different tiers of seniority. People tend to stay for a long period of their careers at the organisation.

Those interns were located in London met up for drinks during the training week. After that, the socialising between interns was mainly limited to the groups working with the same teams, but this involved frequent zoom calls, chats over lunch, and other activities. There was constant communication between all interns over a WhatsApp group, but due to the national lockdown restrictions and everyone being online (and so some spread over different countries), social events amongst all fellow interns were hard to organise.

London...

Great were it to have happened not during the Covid-19 summer.

Yes with the team; no overall (but it was online & shortened)