Spring Intern Review

I spent four days at Citi for the spring week. The first two days focused on panels and introductions, which gave a good overview of the firm and its different divisions.
The last two days were more hands on. We were assigned to teams and spent time shadowing them, seeing their day to day work and asking questions about their roles and experiences. The employees were very open and easy to talk to, which made the experience feel genuine and was a highlight for me.
Each day also included breakfast and lunch with the cohort, which made it easy to get to know others in a more relaxed setting. Overall, it was a good balance between structured insight and real exposure to the role.

The two main components were work shadowing and talks, which offered quite different experiences. The work shadowing was more informal and gave a good sense of the culture, as well as the chance to speak to employees about their day to day work. In contrast, the talks were more structured and focused on the business, analyst roles, and Citi’s overall background.

The experience mainly developed my soft skills. I improved my networking, both with peers on the programme and with more senior professionals such as managing directors. There was also a brief introduction to technical skills, along with exposure to Citi and investment banking specific, data-driven insights and modelling concepts that I would not typically have encountered.

I was mainly with the tech team, and the environment there felt very open and collaborative, which I really enjoyed. More generally, across different teams, the one-to-one conversations were also a highlight, as people were very approachable and willing to share their experiences honestly.

I enjoyed it a lot, it had a good balance of interactive elements, networking opportunities, and useful knowledge.

Yes

Maximise every stage of the application and treat each part as an opportunity to stand out. Show a genuine interest in the firm and what it actually does day to day. During the experience, take every small opportunity you get and don’t be nervous to ask questions.