Î÷¹ÏÊÓƵ

I enjoyed my internship a lot, because I got to learn a lot about markets, stock valuations, companies from different regions etc. The team and the firm were also great and I would recommend it to anyone. However, I also realised that I do not like the nature of the job, therefore the lower rating.

I really could not have asked for a better team. All seven of my direct colleagues were very supportive throughout my whole experience here, even after I had told them that I would not be taking an offer to start working with them. They have invited me to team events and lunches and made me feel very welcome from the start.

I have been supported by my direct manager and the head of the team throughout my internship. We have sat down multiple times to discuss my objectives, feedback and how I feel. I also always felt that I could go up to them and get an honest opinion, even when it was about discussing alternative career paths after I had decided that this job does not suit me.

Compared to what I am used from Switzerland, I had very long hours, however, I have heard from others that this is normal here in the UK in banking. In the mornings, I was always very busy from 5.45am until about 8.30 am, after that the day would quiet down and I would either work on projects from the internship programme or help my team with small tasks.

As I was obviously not allowed to have any client contact at any time, there was not really a way to get a whole lot of responsibility. I guess in equity sales the responsibility given is very small, because there is no pricing or anything involved. The amount of responsibility was small, however, I have not rated it low, because I cannot see where they could have given me more.

The skills that will relate directly to my degree studies are presentation skills (from pitching stocks to the team), different valuation methods and metrics for stock valuation and just a general understanding of the markets. The skills that will go beyond that are mostly people skills, I also admire my managers for the way they lead people, which I hope will also help me in developing my leadership skills further.

So in the morning, everyone would come in and work individually for the first about 2 hours. After that it was always a lot of fun. There was always bantering going on and the whole team gets along very well. They also included me in everything and I felt as if I really was a part of the team almost from the start.

I joined the programme two weeks later than everyone else, because I still had exams going on at my uni in Switzerland. Therefore I can't really rate the whole programme. From my perspective, I felt very overwhelmed at first because I basically did not get any introduction at all. The rest of the internship was well structured and also set up in a way that we would always be able to meet fellow interns either at social events, speaker series or other networking events.

Apart from the above mentioned start of my internship, where I did not get any introduction, I feel the company has invested in me through trainings such as AMT. On top of that, I feel my team and especially my line manager have really invested in me. They have always taken the time to sit down with me whenever I needed their help or even if I just wanted to know more about something.

I think they are very high. From what I understand the hiring rate for summer interns last summer was over 60%. They keep saying us that this year, Brexit will not impact that (even though many interns are worried). Unfortunately, I had to realise that I do not enjoy the nature of this job, which is why I obviously will not be taking a job here.

Yes, of course there is always someone who only looks out for himself, however, the firm has always told us that one of the most important values here is teamwork. They have therefore also told us to work together on occasions. Also, every Friday all the interns would meet after work for a drink, which was especially nice for us international interns who have not really had a lot of friends in London before coming to the internship.

Very expensive! And I say that even though I come from Switzerland, known to be one of the most expensive places in the world. Especially housing was incredibly expensive unless one decided to be ok with a 45min tube ride to and from work twice a day. There also was not very good support from the firm in terms of finding suitable housing in advance of the internship. From someone coming from abroad this was quite annoying.

I did my internship in Canary Wharf, therefore there are certain bars that everyone would go to, but other than that no nightlife that I am aware of. However, we usually either shared an Uber to the city or went by tube after drinks on Fridays so this was not really an issue.

We were able to participate in a corporate social responsibility day, which was great fun. They also let us participate in the corporate challenge for the intern teams. Other than that we could have joined the gym for our time here, but other than that I'm not aware of any other activities.