Financing Operations Summer Analyst Review

It was a fantastic placement with very varied and interesting work. Some of it was pretty challenging, which was thoroughly enjoyable, but some of it I didn't feel I was learning too much (which is to be expected when you're an intern!). I felt I was given good work to stretch my abilities, help me to learn and build on my skills, not fobbed off with work others didn't want to do, which was great. The best thing was the people I was working with: so friendly, welcoming and helpful and the hours weren't bad either.

The people are what made this internship so enjoyable. They were very welcoming and more than helpful which made me feel comfortabel. Thus I was able to ask lots of questions and learn quickly so that I could take on more challenging work. They were very sociable and fun too.

I was able to ask for help from anybody at any level on my team or the teams around me, as well as from my mentor who was on a different team, and of course from HR. My manager, and other more senior members of staff, frequently caught up with me to find out how things were going and what they could do to help.

It was difficult in the first week or so when I didn't have enough project work to take on any real bits of work but as soon as I had a solid grounding I was given big chunks of work to get stuck into, and because its project work you manage your own time and workload entirely by yourself.

I was able to own all of the work I was given and given my own projects to take on that were circulated to senior management and produced work that was sent out globally. The testing for some of my projects relied entirely on my input and I provided Holiday Coverage for some tasks for a member of staff during my time here.

Although this placement won't help me with my degree at all it has definitely helped me to develop personally. From learning to deal with difficult people to getting the best out of people and making sure that you are addding value to a team. Learning time management and how to prioritise your work to meet your deadlines was another major skill that I developed greatly during my time here as well as how to build relationships with colleagues of all levels within the organisation.

Whilst everyone did work very hard there was always noise and conversation and stopping to have a chat was always acceptable. There were team drinks and division drinks and quiz nights etc quite often and everyone was very friendly.

The induction training was impeccably organised and when I got to my team my manager was very organised ready with training materials and resources. There were lots of extra talks and some evening activities for the interns as well.

I feel that quite a lot of time and effort was spent helping me to develop personally, with lots of target setting/reviewing, and noting strengths and weaknesses, one-to-one chats with my manager and team meetings to go through acheivements and check you're managing your workload as well as self evaluation tools to help you realise some things for yourself. The training in terms of the product was also very good and made easily available.

I would most certainly come back and work for this company again: mainly because I love the culture here. It is one that fosters growth and development and helping others to achieve what you have already managed yourself.

Everybody was great fun, socialising almost every evening and even on weekends with lots of different things from bars to restaurants to the cinema to bowling to sports. I couldn't have asked for a better group in terms of personality and social ease with regards the other interns. Everybody was very likeminded, friendly and a lot of fun.

It was quite expensive but not extortionate. But, you must bear in mind the salary you're earning was more than enough to cover socialising and living quite extravagantly during your time here.

Lots and lots of bars all open and packed after work, and not too far on the tube into central London that is packed with any sort of nightlige you could ask for.

Plenty of opportunities and I'm sure more would have become apparent if I was here for longer.