Find out what our Guest Bloggers are getting up to. Throughout the year we will be following the progress of our Guest Bloggers so read on to find out how Ben has been getting on!

“I am currently 3 weeks into my placement with State Street and am here writing my first blog. The question on everyone’s lips for me is: so how is it going? To them, I am reserved. It hasn’t started as quickly as I anticipated, and maybe that’s a fault of my own for being a very eager person. But inside I really feel like this is the first stepping stone into a long and successful career, which I cannot wait to progress along. The other question is: how was your first day? This, as I’m sure most people will say was incredibly exciting but at the same time I did struggle to remember that I was only an intern and nothing was expected of me yet. This is something I would recommend to people moving into a placement: yes it will be scary but you’re a new employee and expected to know nothing, this was how I felt!

The people at State Street have entirely made the placement what it is so far, very friendly and approachable, whilst professional at their desk. For me, the people were always going to be the most important part of my internship, and I am lucky that it is one of the finer qualities of State Street. I assume this aspect is to credit for their terrific client reputation and success as a custodial bank. Moreover, the transition period over which I am shadowing the current intern is paying off, and I have a lot to owe Neill for being a very good teacher. This time next week, Neill will have left and the responsibility will be on my shoulders, I am nearly ready to take over.

My job title exists as Global Research Intern and I am responsible for a few specifics. On a daily basis I will send out research publications which I will update from our raw data sources and send out to clients who have been in contact with the sales team and benefit from our research. These are often a few pages worth of charts which update the client about what is happening in their chosen markets or global regions for example. The work is heavily based on Excel, which up until now I thought I was mildly competent at, however I had only ever saw the tip of the iceberg! The learning of this program happens very quickly as I am using it all day. Aside from this, I will be conducting ad-hoc prices of research for my manager over the coming year. I have already finished my first which will aid the induction of a new employee due to start in 2 weeks time, this was a really satisfying exercise.

One of the other qualities of an internship is that there are other students in the same boat as you, so being encouraged to meet up with them for drinks at the end of each week was a godsend. You feel like an outsider when in a new company and the average age of an employee is 30+, however an evening with the interns will remind you what it feels like to be in the union bar! I encourage all interns to meet up with other interns at the institution they are placed at; it will improve the experience tenfold.

On the whole, my placement has started great! Working on Canary Wharf is a dream; teamed with the company’s credentials, I am very happy! I do come home tired and eager to relax, but each evening I cannot wait to get back into the city, this is enough to tell me that it’s going well!”

Find out more from Ben and our other Guest Bloggers in the next couple of weeks!