Spring Intern Review

It was an intense programme but there was so much packed into it that I really felt that I learned a lot over the course of those two weeks.

Everybody on the trading floor knew who we were and why we were there, and as such they made every effort to respond to our questions and meet with us when they were free. I felt they invested a lot of time in us, and we were trusted to interact with everyone from analyst level all the way up to partner.

We were all assigned a "buddy" (typically an analyst) with whom we could discuss anything we wanted and a mentor (usually a VP) to advise us on our projects. Otherwise we could always contact the recruitment team if we were unsure about something.

I feel the interview sessions were great practice for learning how to present ourselves, and the trade pitches certainly taught us how to present concisely in front of a critical audience.

It was well balanced between desk rotations (work shadowing) and "business spotlight" presentations on the various product areas and desks. It was smoothly run too with few delays - we never had to wait around for anything.

It was really friendly, particularly between the interns. The competition didn't spoil that. On the trading floor it varied from intense to rather quiet depending on market activity.

I felt as if the firm invested a tremendous amount. Even though we were spring insight interns, they really do see it as a feeder programme onto their summer internship programme and then full-time employment.

I believe I now know the distinguishing features of each role within the securities business and the skill set that is generally required for them.

A whole day was dedicated to the firm's culture.

We certainly learned enough to help us to decide if the Securities Division was for us, and if so perhaps which area within it we would like to go into.

I was reimbursed for expenses, accommodation was provided if needed, and I was paid a salary on top of this.

This was the highlight of the two weeks: while there was a lot planned during the day, we still had "down time" where we were expected to explore the various desks and introduce ourselves to employees. About 30% of our time there was dedicated to this.

It depended on us. We had plenty of time for networking and we had to be proactive to make something of it. There were some organised firm-wide social events but little within the Securities division programme. These were organised by the interns themselves.

From speaking to the employees there seemed to be a lot of opportunities but the focus of the programme was on finding out about the business.

Having attended another, similar insight programme, and from speaking to my peers on other schemes, I would say that this is the best division-specific programme available. A potential drawback, however, is that it's not ideal if you're torn between two or more divisions, as access to other divisions is limited.