Global Finance & Business Management Summer Intern Review

I hugely enjoyed the internship programme offered. It was by far the most engaging and subsequently enjoyable working experience I've had. All expectations of a digital internship were surpassed. My calendar was constantly full with interesting events and webinars. The culture of the company had evidently reached all the way through to intern level where I genuinely felt a part of the team. Along with this, I had the opportunity to network with some amazing people doing the job I aspire to do.

Our intern cohort was split into smaller groups to complete project work. This gave me the opportunity to build a strong rapport with my colleagues in the group. Subsequently I knew that any feedback received would be genuine, meaning that any praise received gave a sense of value. Additionally, regular feedback was received from my managers and project lead. This was always delivered very professionally giving areas to improve on alongside what was done well, giving a sense of value.

My managers ensured that morning meetings were hosted everyday. This gave a space for team members and myself to raise any queries / ensure we were on track. These meetings were highly consistent and relatively informal. This allowed the team and managers to really gel. As such there was never hesitated before raising anything with them, even though a majority of points were minor. My project supervisor also provided great guidance throughout the internship when it came to producing my final product.

This was my main point of concern coming into a digital internship. However I was pleasantly surprised when my calendar started to fill up with a range of events and webinars hosted by various J.P. Morgan employees. These events filled 1/3 of my time. Another 1/3 was devoted to working with my team on our respective projects. I filed my final 1/3 by networking with full time employees. If any gaps did appear in this schedule, there was a range of training programmes offered which could be completed at any time. This meant that for the entirety of the internship I was never left with nothing to do.

It was evident that J.P. Morgan placed significant importance on the internship programme, giving us high degrees of responsibility. Whilst one project I worked on was purely hypothetical, I often met with employees to see how such a project would actually be executed. Everyone I met with was more than happy to give up some time to help. Additionally, another project involved working with an external client. Whilst we could seek guidance from our managers / other analyst teams, the face of J.P. Morgan was entirely interns to the client, indicating a high level of trust.

This varied dependent upon the situation. Our entire internship cohort was often gathered in the same zoom room to be briefed by relevant full time members of staff / attended webinars. - Here the atmosphere was very professional respectful (i.e staying on mute / raising hands to ask questions). This gave a great environment for learning as questions were often asked, allowing for the entire group to hear the answers. When it came to splitting into smaller groups, the atmosphere became a little less formal whilst still remaining professional. This allowed us to get to know each other very well, improving how we worked as a team.

The team responsible for organising the internship did an incredible job given circumstances. As mentioned previously, 1/3 of my time was purely dedicated to the events and webinars put on by the recruitment team. These daily sessions improved my understanding of the company's culture and what it would be like to eventually work full time at the company. This was evident right from the start of the internship, as a comprehensive orientation session was given.

A major part of the internship was learning about the fundamentals of finance. This was offered through a comprehensive learning platform where I could work through pre-recorded courses at my own pace. Additionally I could choose the courses I wanted to attend to best suit my interests and needs. One bit of critique here is that whilst some of the sessions were offered live, many were prerecorded. This meant that interaction levels were quite low and it was more difficult to engage.

The opportunities for full time employment were frequently emphasised to the intern cohort. This gave us the opportunity to speak to full time employees who had recently completed the internship. Here we could understand the recruitment process fully and gain a better understanding of what the early stages of a career with the company would look like (Challenges, benefits, etc.) At times this made the internship almost feel like an interview in itself, however that gave a great sense of purpose and served to highlight the strong employment perspectives given the current environment.

There was an analyst team who volunteered to host weekly events for the intern cohort. The team did very well to produce engaging content despite being restricted to a digital platform. Their relaxed nature and Friday afternoon timing genuinely gave me something to look forward after a working week. Events were also occasionally co-ordinated with other intern groups, giving a great opportunity to meet new people. These events ranged from pub quizzes to the office olympics.