Summer Intern Review

by Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)

Best Student Employer

Rating

4.6/5
  • Skills
    4.8
  • Responsibilities
    5.0
  • Support & Guidance
    5.0
  • Culture
    4.3
  • Your Impressions
    4.7

    Overview

  • 1. Please give an overview of your role and what this involves on a day-to-day basis.
  • Working in a small team of about five to six people within the supervision department. Tasks including taking notes at external meetings, drafting communications, and researching cases. I had responsibility for smaller tasks within larger projects such as collating information or completing spreadsheets and interacted closely with the team to complete this work. There was also a community project I worked on with other interns throughout the 10 weeks. There was also time set aside for training and networking.


    Skills

  • 2. Have you learnt any new skills, or developed your existing skills?
  • I have developed and built upon various skills including project management, interpreting data, presenting and answering questions, and drafting communications for a variety of purposes. I also completed industry specific training to upskill in knowledge of financial services and regulation as well as other personal development training including presentation skills and data skills. Through networking I have been able to learn about a wide variety of areas within financial services and financial regulation in a more informal setting.


  • How would you rate the training provided during your experience?
  • 4/5

  • How would you rate your development of industry-specific skills during the experience?
  • 5/5

  • How would you rate your development of personal / soft skills during the experience?
  • 5/5

  • Please rate how these skills have helped you in your career development
  • 5/5

    Responsibilities

  • 3. Were you given much responsibility during your placement / internship?
  • I was given a good level of responsibility to complete tasks independently, with support and feedback provided when needed. I was able to take ownership of some tasks although these were usually more minor tasks. I had the opportunity to draft external communications and to take notes in external meetings throughout the internship and having this level of responsibility gave me the opportunity to quickly learn many new skills. I was also encouraged to express interest in the types of work I would prefer to do, which my team did their best to accommodate and give me responsibility in these areas.


  • Please rate how meaningful the work you were doing was
  • 5/5

    Support & Guidance

  • 4. How much support and guidance did you receive during your placement / internship?
  • There was a high level of support and guidance received from people across the organisation. Everyone was very approachable and made an effort to ensure I had the support and feedback I needed. This included weekly meetings with my manager and meetings with current graduates who provided an insight into the company as well as support with day-to-day tasks. The HR staff who organised the internship were also very helpful and supportive when any questions arose.


  • How would you rate the support and guidance from your line manager?
  • 5/5

  • How would you rate the support and guidance from the wider team?
  • 5/5

    Culture

  • 5. What was the company culture and general atmosphere like?
  • The culture at the company was very welcoming. People went out of there way to support interns. There did appear to be dissatisfaction at recent changes at the company but despite this everyone was very supportive and friendly. The virtual nature of the internship did mean there were not many opportunities for social activities, however there were social activities organised virtually to meet other interns and other opportunities to get to know interns through working in community project teams.


  • How would you rate the inclusiveness of the culture?
  • 5/5

  • How would you rate the social opportunities?
  • 3/5

  • How would you rate the diversity initiatives?
  • 4/5

  • How would you rate the charity, sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives?
  • 5/5

    Your Impressions

  • 6. To what extent did you enjoy your placement / internship?
  • The culture at the firm made it a good place to work, with friendly people and a good work-life balance. The team I worked in were all incredibly supportive and the work was engaging and varied. I had enough freedom within the work to build on my skills and was given sufficient responsibility throughout. The internship met my expectations and provided a really enjoyable learning experience, and it is certainly a place I would consider returning to work at.


  • Please rate your level of enjoyment on your placement / internship
  • 4/5

  • Please rate how your experience met your expectations
  • 5/5

  • Please rate the future employment prospects at Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
  • 5/5

  • 7. Would you recommend Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to a friend?
  • Yes


  • 8. What advice would you give to others applying to Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
  • The application process involved an online application followed by a telephone interview and assessment centre where you were asked to demonstrate past experience and interest in the work the FCA does. Expressing a clear interest in specific initiatives the FCA is involved in helped me to show why I wanted the role. The internship and application process was entirely virtual which made it a different experience with some communication challenges throughout, especially during in the time between receiving an internship offer and starting the internship.


    Report this review

Details

Internship (1 Month+)

Government

London

August 2021


View More Reviews