JP Morgan Spring Intern Review

The JP Morgan Spring into Finance spring week was a very enjoyable experience, despite the challenges of COVID 19 making the event virtual. I particularly liked the way in which there were post-event panel sessions with employees from different industry and product groups. However, the level of interaction of employees felt limited at times as it was not possible to directly speak to workers. But given the virtual nature of the event, this was understandable.

I did feel valued during the virtual spring week to a degree. I felt if there were any issues or problems that I would be able to speak to a member of the human resources team in an open manner. However, the lack of interactivity and the element of human connection made it hard for me to feel valued. For instance, it felt as if in between sessions it was just that rather than an opportunity to go into breakout rooms and network with other participants or employees.

As I mentioned previously, I felt if there were any issues or problems that I would be able to speak to a member of the human resources team in an open manner. The instructions for accessing the zoom link and other virtual aspects of the spring week were clear and intuitive. In terms of guidance, I felt that after the spring week I had a better idea of how to continue my journey thanks to the guidance and advice given.

The skills and knowledge that I picked up from the spring week have helped my degree studies. For instance, one recurring theme is the ability to manage your workload and prioritize and this has really helped me manage an ever-increasing academic and extracurricular schedule. The knowledge has enabled me to plan my career path and know what further skills and knowledge I need to get. As such, I now know how best to do so.

I feel the structure of the event was very clear, with a good flow. Initially, talks were about the company as a whole, with the insights of key employees. Although I understand the challenges, it would have been to structure these talks with more interactivity whether that be breakout rooms or by other means. The teaching by fitch learning felt more interactive and where structured in a great way. However, at this point it felt like a fitch learning university rather than a JP Morgan spring week. Finally, the panel events post offering was great in terms of timing as questions that may have come up due to the event could be answered, but again interactivty was low.

The general atmosphere of the insight event was not a highlight of the event. Due to the inability to interact not only with employees but also with fellow delegates, it was hard to create an atmosphere. Being virtual also made this very difficult especially with lag and internet issues. That being said, at no point was the atmosphere off-putting or bad. I still wanted to be there and be an active participant. However, the atmosphere could definitely be improved with more interactivity.

With regard to personal training and development, it is clear that JP Morgan invested a lot in its spring week delegates. The fitch learning experience given to us over the course of 4 days really gave me a crash course into the world of financial services and key financial and accounting information I should know. This was great for the development of my knowledge. The panel events also helped with my personal development of my soft skills and character as I understood what it takes to be successful in this field.

The insight definitely gave me a strong insight as to how having a full-time role with JP Morgan would be. Having employees give up their time willingly and talk to the delegates to us particularly in the panel post-event offerings was key to this. Hearing first hand the experiences of employees with regards to work schedule, type of work, nature of the company etc as well as asking the questions we wanted to be answered helped with this,

Hearing firsthand the experiences of employees with regards to work schedule, type of work, nature of the company etc as well as asking the questions we wanted to be answered was very useful in understanding the company culture. This is because it came directly from employees rather than just a PowerPoint created with values and morals which may or may not be enacted on. So while the culture talk was given really gave me an insight into the company's desired culture and morals, hearing the employee really convinced me.

The content of the event was very useful in helping me to decide on my future career path. The mixture of more technical training by fitch learning about different product and industry groups as well as the panel post offering event also with different product and industry groups really showed me the different career paths on offer. As such, I could see from a technical standing which area interested me most while hearing employees' experiences and insights helped me decide if I truly wanted to pursue the path.

I did not expect to be paid so this was not an issue. This was more a learning experience for me rather than a job to be paid for. I also had no expenses thanks to it being virtual, so no reimbursements were needed.

There was plenty of opportunities to meet employees of JP Morgan. Throughout the event and post-event offerings, it was clear that employees were at the forefront of the experience as they are the best way to promote the company. As a result, I had virtually met many employees. However, there was no opportunity to network with them unless you tried to do so on LinkedIn. This was fairly disappointing as it denied us the ability to truly connect and communicate, rather than just be spoken to with our question being selected by a moderator.

There were no networking or social event opportunities, both with delegates and employees. While I understand the challenges of Covid and taking the event virtually, more could have been done to keep these opportunities. For example, utilising breakout rooms for delegates to chat and network. Perhaps some icebreakers or a games night could also have been done as a social event. This may not be possible for employees due to time commitment but definitely for delegates.

I can not remember any activities that employees can get involved in outside of work. Perhaps more could have been done on it, cos if time was spent on it, it was not particularly memorable.

I would definitely recommend this insight to a friend. While the levels of interactivity made the atmosphere slightly sterile and difficult to network effectively, the insights, skills, and knowledge I have gained from it have been amazing for me. The mix of technical knowledge from fitch learning given as well as the opportunity to hear the experiences of others with talks from the events and the panel post offering events has allowed me to formulate my career path and how to get there.