Spring Insights
Some companies offer shorter experiences specifically for first years (or second years on a four-year degree programme). These Insight Days/Weeks are usually run by larger organisations and are designed to give students a taster of the industry. Spring insights are most common in the finance and consulting industry, but a few other large companies do offer them. They often include work shadowing, training sessions, presentations and tours of workplaces. You will generally apply for insight experiences during Autumn term, and they often take place during the Easter break.
Tony: Macquarie Spring Week
Tony used the Tracker website to explore available Spring Insight Week experiences and applied for a few of the general finance ones as he was interested in exploring this industry. He got accepted on the Macquarie spring insight week which ran over his Easter break. To apply he had to submit a CV with an application form. While there wasn’t a lot of information on the advertisement, he used the rest of the Macquarie website to understand what skills they look for in their graduates to help him tailor his CV.
Tony’s week was held over 4 days, and he was part of a group of 40 other students who attended this at the Macquarie London headquarters. He was assigned a smaller group to work on a merger and acquisition case over the whole four days. This culminated in his group presenting their recommendations to a panel of senior executives on the final day. Throughout the week they also got to tour the building and spent time with a range of different departments. There were also talks on how the industry works as a whole and smaller activities to help him understand the ethical considerations involved in finance. He got a chance to meet and talk to so many different people and was able to spend an afternoon with a group of data analysts who helped him to fully understand their role. There were social events with the other students in the evening which weren’t compulsory, but Tony enjoyed getting to know the group, so he chose to attend them.
Overall, while Tony still isn’t sure that finance is for him, he has a much better idea of how the industry works and what sort of roles he might be more interested in. He did receive a fast-track option to return to Macquarie for a summer internship next year, but he isn’t sure if he’ll accept that.