The first Sunday without the Monday morning looming is the perfect time to reflect and gather thoughts on the summer just gone. Having packed up my life and taken the slow boat home, with the monstrosity of Canary Wharf gradually disappearing behind me, it looms how quickly time does fly.

I think it’s important to reflect and recognise what a wonderful experience this summer was and how privileged that I was to be a part of it. It seemed it was yesterday the morning of Monday 29th June, our first day, when we were told how lucky we were, how honoured we were, how we were chosen from a pool of 9,000 applicants to be a part of Credit Suisse for the summer. We must make the most of it. I for one hope I did, I have no regrets. Credit Suisse is a wonderful firm, truly exceptional. I’ve interacted with some amazing peers, who I’m sure will become the next business leaders of our generation.

The quality and organisation of the summer was faultless, so a big thank you to the HR recruitment team for that. From initially being told I had the job the day after the interview, to the different events organised over the summer, everything was superb.

The events really offered a sense of the Credit Suisse “One Firm” culture. The interaction between all departments, whether front office or back office enabled networking and chin wagging. These interactions can be characterised by our finale event, the hiring of PEP-C bar on Haymarket; a free bar was provided to eschew clear heads the next morning for all, no matter the department.

The final review process (luckily not the next morning) was conducted in a professional and thorough manner as to be expected. It involved my manager to identify my strengths and weaknesses and determine whether I would be recommended for future employment. I feel that the only thing missed from the review was a real thorough, tough appraisal to assist in pinpointing my weaknesses and flaws. I understand it’s difficult to criticise others, but when its constructive and it’s always needed, I personally would’ve received it well.

I was lucky enough to be recommended for future employment and should be starting from September 2010 after I finish my Masters.

So, yes, I would recommend Credit Suisse as a possible future employer of all future interns. If you’re willing to work hard, listen, contribute and take real responsibility over then summer then you should apply. However if you’re just in Investment Banking for the money and for an easy summer, please don’t as you’ll be wasting an opportunity of someone else who is ready for the challenges working in this industry brings.

The final straight; 9 working days; not long. So the beginning of the end is well under way, with the majority of our internship almost over it is evident that the working wheels are beginning to slow down.

More work for us now means more work for the full time staff to finish after we have gone. It has also meant that the last few weeks have been little short of hectic for me personally.

I guess the hecticness (is that even a word? Spell check said no – I’m going to roll with it anyway) started after I demanded more responsibility and a greater work load. I wanted to be pushed and tested and I wanted to make a difference. I’m not sure how much difference I’m making but I’m certainly being pushed and tested. It is a liberating experience having real responsibility, real projects to deliver, and real deadlines to meet. Execution is a terribly difficult thing to complete with quality.

Part of my role as a business analyst is to delve into problems and suggest solutions, but where do you draw the line? It’s a fascinating role which enables you to engage your brain, other people’s knowledge and experience then apply practical solutions to real problems. My undergraduate degree of Computing and Management has been a great help during my placement. Understanding technology and data whilst also understanding different financial products and banking terminology has left me with a reservoir of knowledge to apply to the different projects I have been working on.

The last few weeks has also seen us do various non work related events. We have had social networking events at the various drinking houses situated around Canary Wharf. We were given a day off to clear Mile End cemetery park – a day which involved the 160 interns in Credit Suisse T shirts rolling our sleeves up and doing good for the local community. The philanthropic work Credit Suisse does in the local community has been very impressive. Corporate Social Responsibility is a buzz word in the industry; especially because of the negative rep the financial services industry has taken over the last two years. But Credit Suisse has identified where they feel they can really make a difference and there is a lot of commitment to do good in local schools and for local children.

The next two weeks hold the key to whether we are to get an offer to return next year, I have presentations to give to my director regarding the projects I have been working on, I have an end of year review to undertake with my line manager and my HR correspondent. I’m hoping for an offer, I very much believe in my ability to contribute change through my role within Credit Suisse however I understand the competition for places in fierce. I’ve put all my efforts into the previous 8 weeks and I know the last two are going to be just as much hard work; I hope it will pay off.

The first week is over; the body clock is back into the swing of those mesmeric 6am starts; the body is back running on caffeine as the primary carbohydrate; the perma-smile needed for the first few days has disappeared; and overall I’m pretty excited about how the next 9 weeks are going to pan out.

I thought it was worth while blogging the first week as it seems to be the most important and will arguably set the tone for the remainder of the internship, that and some quite interesting interactions only occur in the first week. One meets their team, one meets the fellow interns, one navigates their commute, one explores their office, one meets senior management, and one is given their tasks for their role.

So, Monday morning, 8:30am, Credit Suisse head office congregated 160 interns who could probably be compartmentalised between rabbits caught in head lights and impenetrable confidence. Small talk, brief introductions and first impressions were the order du jour before being separated out by division and frog marched to our holding cells where we were provided with a splendid spread of fruit skewers, pastries and fresh coffee.

Forms completed, ID cards got, buddies identified. Post formalities, we were ushered into a Credit Suisse branded auditorium for a morning of introductions: to the industry, to legal and compliance, to health and safety, to business continuity planning, to IT regulation. This process despite being a bit tedious was I guess necessary to make sure we weren’t going to get fired and/or sued during our summer stint of employment.

Next came another wonderful spread for lunch, which offered a more “informal” chance to interact with fellow interns; perhaps the word informal is too much of a suggestion and not a reality, there is little informal about the process of networking (introduction, small talk, information gathering, attempt to create a way of matching name to face, impossible: smile and query their university, degree and job, then repeat).

The afternoon consisted of a quiz to test how much we took in during the morning session, it was wholly light hearted and had very much a “who wants to a millionaire” feel about it, buzzers and all. Unfortunately there were no millions on offer (yet). After the fun and games came a serious panel with senior management. The interns were offered really an unparalleled access to a team of Managing Directors from across the banks activities. Questions were posed from one of the recruitment team to the panel and their insight was really something; thoughtful and truthful expression about the economy (challenging), the firm (progressive, exciting), industry (aware of regulators), interns (amazing to get so far, 7000+ applicants to 160, talented, future leaders).

This panel led to another but with former interns who were there to offer the golden rules to a successful summer: socialise, network, be friendly, get your hands dirty, don’t worry if at 4am when you’re finishing work your brain isn’t working 100%…(!). This panel lead to an evening event consisting of dinner and drinks at a local bar (up market, the food was great), time for more networking and a few beers to wind down a long, action packed first day.

Day two was training and having already been through a third party finance training regime at my previous internship, plus being a finance nerd, the whole ordeal was pretty slow. If you’ve read Michael Lewis’s “Liars Poker” I was comparable to those morons sitting at the back of the room shouting out the answers at the detriment of the rest of the class, c’est la vie. The training was conducted by Martin; Martin was a bright and interesting teacher who shared with us his views and knowledge on the banking fraternity, the equity markets and the fixed income world all shaken together with personal stories. By 5 o clock we knew our commercial banks from our retail banks; our primary from our secondary markets; our private equity from our hedge funds; and we were ready to jump into the deep end of the Investment Banking world.

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were all a bit surreal and now looking back seem to be jumbled into one. We were introduced to our “buddies” on Wednesday morning for breakfast and introductions, this informal setting allowed them to say what they did in some more detail and what was really to be expected over the course of the internship. However I was in the strange predicament as my manager was away in Singapore on business for the next two weeks and I hadn’t been assigned a desk, I was nomadic.

This wasn’t an issue, someone was on holiday, I jumped on his desk and instantly I had made two new contacts either side of me! My team were a stone’s throw away and I was given a general overview of the floor which seemed to consist of 100 teams all within the same sub division. I didn’t realise the complexity of this place, well I did, but now I saw the complexity of the world I was now a part of.

I got the macro view of my world throughout the first three days, I was given a brief outline of the expectations placed on me for the summer. Then there I was shoved into the deep end! So what does one do when they can’t swim? One piggy backs onto someone else. I was told I was kind of involved in a project with a lady who sat near me, so off I went and plonked myself down next to her and grilled her about what she did, how I could help, asked those around her what they did and how it was involved to what I was going to be doing…. It all worked out pretty well, I’m unsure whether this is what my boss intended for me to do, but I’ve got responsibility now, I’m involved in some pretty interesting projects that are happening.

If I’m doing something that is useful to the bank then as an intern within three days, in my opinion I’m of some benefit, and I’m learning, that’s the main thing! First week over and I’m impressed, not too fussed about not having a desk it means I can meet new people, the work I’ve managed to get myself involved with is interesting and I seem to be helping out. What more can I ask for. I’ll let you know in a few weeks time how this plan works when my boss returns and see’s what I’ve actually been doing…..

Cheers Julian

Name: Julian Reddick University: Loughborough University Course: Computing and Management Company: Credit Suisse Job Title: Summer Internship

Bonjour, I am writing this introductory blog from the sunny climate of the south of France where I am spending 10 days relaxing with my family before starting my placement on June 29th. This summer I will be working for Credit Suisse at their Canary Wharf office in their derivatives division. I have recently finished my finals at Loughborough University where I studied Computing and Management, so this holiday is a much needed break before the busy summer ahead.

So the natural question is to why I’m going to be interning this summer rather than looking for a graduate role. Next year I will be studying for my MA at Warwick, in order to make the most of the summer I decided to gain some experience in the financial sector. However this wasn’t always my plan.

The third year of my degree was a “sandwich year”; this was spent working in the Finance division at Lehman Brothers. Upon completion of this year out I was offered two jobs (great!) within the IT department and upon the general management program. The Friday I received my job offer was the Friday before the announcement of Lehman’s declared bankruptcy. Obviously having worked at the bank for the previous year I knew there were problems at hand, however I didn’t, nor did anyone else, think that the American government would allow the bank to go under. After this news I was back to square one, no job offer and stuck in a rapidly contracting job market. This in reality presented a great opportunity to continue my education in the form of a post graduate degree and it also allowed me a free summer to gain more experience.

From the work I had done at Lehman, the people who I had met and the high level of expectation placed upon staff, whether interns or not, I knew I wanted to work in the financial sector. Lehman being an American Bank had a very distinct culture, so I wanted to experience a new culture and with British Banks offering little distinction between their Investment Banking divisions (where I wanted to be) and more commercial activities I decided to apply for roles with European Banks. The Banks I applied for and successfully navigated the plethora of questions, online tests et al were Credit Suisse, UBS and Deutsche Bank.

Credit Suisse invited me to come in for assessment centre and interviews almost immediately, this was a great sign. As I’m sure many of you students know it can be an eternity between steps of an application. With little to no correspondence, one enters a land of hope with every ring of your mobile potentially being a job offer. So for Credit Suisse to be so prompt was impressive.

The assessment centre and interview process was a really enjoyable experience, I am lucky enough to not really be phased or nervous before such events. Having other options at other banks gave me a bit of a stronger position regarding finding the company which fitted in with my personal ethos and plans. So the interviews were really a two way process, I probably asked more questions than they asked me! The assessment centre consisted of a group activity and three interviews. The interviews were conducted by managers who were looking to bring interns in to their teams, this was the first time I had seen this and thought it was a great idea. The managers could align their expectations and needs with the prospective candidates to see whether they would fit in.

The whole process went really well and I was offered a job in the Asset Management division. Perfect! I accepted this offer almost immediately: the people who had interviewed me, the role they had offered and the culture of Credit Suisse seemed like a perfect match for me. I informed the other banks of my decision and whilst they tried to talk me out of it I stuck to my decision.

As I stated initially I will be working in the derivative division, but I had been offered a job in Asset Management. As it turned out, through the economic down turn Credit Suisse decided to concentrate on their core competencies which didn’t include their Asset Management team; this was sold off so I was transferred to their to derivatives team.

This in all honesty is a better fit for me. Due to the change of division I was invited to their head office to have a chat with an MD in derivatives and to see where I would fit in and the type of work I would like to do. This level of personal contact between someone so senior and an intern I really appreciated and showed the approachability of all their staff.

Phil, the MD, allocated me a team he thought I would be suitable for and I met my prospective manager at an event organised by the recruitment team. All the successful applicants were invited down to the head office to meet one another, the current placement students as well as their prospective managers. I saw a bunch of friendly faces from the interview process which was great, had many of my questions answered, a tour around their very impressive Canary Wharf office and a long chat with my manager about what was to be expected of me during my internship.

This summer will be full of new experiences and will be a great learning opportunity and I look forward to sharing it with you all.

Cheers, Julian