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The company atmosphere and environment was enjoyable and fellow employees were friendly and encouraging but the actual work itself was fairly boring and not challenging. It was generally very basic work, mostly admin and review. I would like to have gotten more involved with technical and more challenging work, but my level of experience and knowledge may have made that difficult.

Everyone was friendly and keen to help/know how I was getting on. Most were willing to offer their time to have a chat or help with a task. On a few occasions some people were too busy to do so, but this is to be expected. Networking opportunities were available and encouraged and it was well within my reach to contact a member of staff fo a chat, some advice or a shadowing session.

My manager always tried to be involved in my day to day and keen to know how I was doing. He was a friendly character and asked me throughout if there was anything he could do/get me involved in. We had weekly reviews scheduled and was always available at other times for a chat/advice.

Some days were really slow and I didn't have much to do. Though I think this was more to do with the nature of my work, as I know that some of the other interns were constantly busy. Sometimes, a great deal of waiting was required before I could continue with my tasks. I tried to occupy my free time with more training/product knowledge and work shadowing sessions.

I was given full responsibility of my own tasks, which meant a lot of self management and reaching out to others. I got involved with some of my manager's work, however, this was mostly auditing of meetings and phonecalls, familiarising with products/processes.

In terms of self and time management, these skills will definitely serve me well in the forthcoming year. Integrating into the work environment was another useful thing which I think will serve me well should I ever be in a similar environment.

I was situated on the trading floors during my internship and so the atmosphere was generally noisy and bustling. It was nice working environment and not intimidating as I had imagined. There were often colleagues chatting and laughing with one another, which I thought was a nice touch. Everyone I came across was friendly and welcoming. The office itself was nicely designed and comfortable.

I thought HR organised the internship really well. Throughout the time we had, we were constantly provided with information and resources which we could tap into. Speaker sessions and other events were organised, as well as check points to track progress. In addition, we had a couple of company organised social events which were both enjoyable and well put together.

I spent my first 2 weeks doing online training about the bank, the products we support and the functions we carry out. This training was a bit passive and as a result I feel i didnt take everything in. I would have enjoyed a more interactive learning experience, for example classes or group sessions. My manager and HR tracked my personal development and I was encouraged to relay this back to my manager in our weekly meetings.

Whilst I enjoyed the people and the environment, I wouldn't say I enjoyed the role I was given. Therefore, I would happily return for full employment if I had the opportunity to select a preferable role. A hiring decision regarding a grad offer will be communicated to us in a few days, so if successful, my decision will be based on role and my other prospective opportunities.

There was a large, international group of us and everyone was friendly and sociable. We enjoyed socialising regularly and a good bunch of us would be up for a good friday night, starting at the bars in Canary Wharf. On the weekends, some of us would do other things like go to the theatre, to local markets and to sports events. We all quickly became good friends and the camaraderie was definitely felt. It will be a shame to leave everyone :(

Canary wharf is expensive in general, but we always managed to find something which didn't break the bank. Happy hour in the nearby bars were always a great help, as well as the generous wage we received. London is expensive in general, however, I go to uni in London and so didn't have to locate expensive accomodation, so it wasn't so bad for me.

The bars were always buzzing on a friday night, as everyone from other banks/companies came out to start the weekend with a drink. Canary wharf was fairly quiet on a weekday, but bars were always open if anyone fancied it. Places around were generally classy and more on the pricey side, but definitely worth a visit.

Definitely, there were multiple charity events/networking events to participate in. Clubs, societies and sports were there for those who sought them and wanted to get involved. I participated in the interbank charity marathon and a treasure hunt around Canary Wharf, which were good fun and a great opprtunity to network. We also all went on a social responsibility day where we visited a local park to carry out volunteer work. This was a really enjoyable day in the sun and well organised.