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After interning with RBC Capital Markets in London this past summer, I was asked to write a review about my experiences. Rather than solely telling you about the company and the internship, I thought it might be more interesting to share my views on how Frankfurt School students can successfully apply to banks in London.
I interned within RBC’s Global Markets summer internship program, where I was one of 17 interns in total. On the first day you get two desks assigned on which you will rotate for four weeks each. My rotations consisted of the North American Equity Sales and the European Algorithmic Equity Trading desks. Seeing both, the sales and the trading roles on the floor was a really enriching combination, since it helped me understand the connections between the teams a lot better. Almost every intern rotated on two very different desks, so they could really pick up the various aspects and functions on the trading floor. In between the different tasks, you also have the chance to spend significant amounts of time on other desks. I basically sat with every team for at least a couple hours, but also spend several days with High Yield Trading and Macro Rates Sales on the other side. It really depends on what you want to make out of the internship. RBC takes good care of the interns and although it is a Top 10 Investment Bank, the people seem very humble and a lot more relaxed than at other institutions. I can highly recommend this program for everyone who is interested in Global Markets as well as Global Investment Banking, since there is another program just for the corporate finance side.
Before I start talking about my position and bank too much, I thought it would be valuable to share my views and experiences about recruiting in London. I believe that there are many students at Frankfurt School, who would be interested in a temporary or permanent role in London. Although the Brexit still looms above us and no one really knows how this will affect the financial industry in Europe, there are still plenty of applications being sent to London’s banks. Thus, the market is still very competitive and students from very well-known UK or European institutions have the best chances of landing a stint in the city. However, Frankfurt School students seem to get more and more recognized by the recruiters and the big banks in general.
Final year or penultimate year students from Frankfurt School have the best chances. I met a lot of interns and juniors from other banks and it really seems that even fresh graduates apply to intern roles, rather than graduate programs. Saying that, banks also start to recruit more graduate students into their summer analyst classes, just to be more flexible at the end of the summer. Most banks have a little more than half of their intern classes filled with penultimate year Bachelors and Masters students and hire graduates for the rest of the spots. This makes it a lot easier for banks to hire their full-time juniors out of the program, since some can only come back in one year and others could possibly start right away. Depending on the specific needs in each team, the banks will hire people starting soon after the internship and others for the following year.
Since the programs are very similar for all the top 10-15 banks, I would recommend applying to all of them, rather than a selected group. The problem is, that your qualifications can be outstanding but you do not have enough luck for your application to land in the right hands. Recruiters receive thousands of applications each summer and it is physically impossible to go through each of them in detail. Because of that, spreading the applications will increase your chances and should lead to some interviews if you did well on the online tests. Also, applying early is crucial. The applications tools usually open in August or September and the banks recruit on a rolling basis. This means that even though you can apply until December or January, sometimes the intake is already full by the end of October or November. So get your CV and Cover Letter ready by August and apply as early as possible.
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