INTERN DIARY: A late assessment and an incomprehensible accent

It was a mere three weeks overdue, but this week kicked off with my mid-term review. I actually only have another three weeks left anyway, so it would have helped to have received more punctual feedback. Still, better late than never.

Filling in the self-assessment form before the meeting, I was in two minds - mark myself generously to emphasise what I'd achieved or err on the side of modesty in the hope that the bankers' feedback would have made my work more evident. I opted for the latter.

The meeting itself was very casual and went reasonably well. Surprisingly, the feedback from the risk desk was extremely positive - they were very pleased with the work I'd done, and emphasised my contribution when the analyst was away for the day and a crucial deal went through - and recommended me for a job at the bank!

Still, I was more concerned with the feedback from the rotation on the first markets desk, which was unfortunately slightly mixed (although on the whole fairly positive). I was told that I'd shown initiative and picked things up very quickly. However, my Excel skills had limited the work I could do and I was too quiet, so should have asked more questions.

I have to say that last one surprised me. Taking the feedback on board and trundling back to my desk, I fired as many questions as possible to anyone who looked vaguely free so ensure that sentiment wasn't repeated!

It was also the start of one of the few remaining weeks to prove myself and I was raring to go. I went around the desk asking for work, but there wasn't anything simple enough to give to me and no one had the time to set me a project.

Finally, my MD (who'd been carefully watching my fruitless quest), handed me a thick manual on commodities and told me to learn it.

The next few days were therefore spent trying to get my head around this tome, and then attempting to engage salespeople in conversation with my new-found knowledge.

As the week progressed I started to sound a little more like I knew what I was talking about. To be honest, I was a little bored, but I knew not to show it as this had already counted against my predecessors on this desk when they first joined.

Finally a task, as the end of the week approached - the MD called me into a meeting room (along with my buddy) and wanted me to take notes on a call he was making to an emerging markets client.

This may sound a little secretarial, but it was actually one of the hardest tasks of my internship so far. The caller's accent was so thick, I'm amazed my MD was able to hold a fluent conversation with him at all. By the end of the 10-minute conversation, my notebook was totally blank - luckily my buddy just laughed and told me not to worry.

He then briefed me on what was said during the conversation and told me that I'd be helping him price some exotic options for the remainder of the week.

Using my knowledge gained from the previous weeks regarding options (after my quick-fire quiz from one of the sales guys), I managed to keep up with my buddy as he was pricing them and ask intelligent (or so I thought) questions.

By the end of the week when we phoned the client back with our prices, he decided to go for someone else who had offered him a more competitive price, pretty frustrating after two days work, but I was told this is perfectly normal and happens all the time. So, I guess you win some and you lose some...