ABN Amro - undergraduate intern case study

&quotMy placement within the corporate finance division was with the transport team. From day one of my internship I was asked to support a live deal my team was extremely busy with.

I was very much thrown into the deep end and was asked to research big projects on logistics and the European bus and rail industry. I also had to put together complete presentations on my findings.

I started by finding out who are the major players in the transport industry and for the logistics Industry what it is that they move. Most of the research was done using desk-based resources like Reuters and Bloomberg.

Because I am not as yet registered with the Financial Services Authority, I could not interview people directly to get this information.

As part of my internship programme I was also assigned a mentor with whom I was able to discuss aspects of my internship. He was able to answer all my questions about my career choices and even took me out to lunch!

I think that my internship was successful in helping me decide which area of the bank I was most suited to. I feel much more confident about my decision to focus on a career in equity research.

What advice would one give to someone contemplating an internship?

Although it is not possible to know before your internship exactly what area of the bank you are best suited to, it is always a good idea to be as well prepared as possible about where your interest lies.

There would be nothing worse than thinking that you'd like to be somewhere else after two weeks.

Most important of all, treat the internship as opportunity to learn as much as you can, and ask as many questions as possible.

What was the best thing about being an intern? My moment of pride was when the 100-page presentation on the logistics industry which I put together was bound and sent to prospective clients as a marketing document. It was very satisfying to see the end result.

What was the worst thing about being an intern? Getting used to the hours that people worked. I worked longer hours than I was expecting to. I was treated like a member of the team and worked anything from 8am until 1am, although normally it was 8am until 7.30pm.&quot

Mathew has received an offer from ABN Amro to join their graduate development programme in 2001.