Intern Diary: Travelling to Sydney, training, learning and volunteering – all part of my first week as an intern

This summer I am working in the investment banking division of UBS in Auckland. I have just spent the first week of my internship in Sydney attending a training course with all the other interns from across Australia and New Zealand.

My first day began in the UBS offices in Sydney with the opportunity to meet all other interns over a delicious breakfast spread. For the rest of the day various business heads provided us with a brief overview of what they do and the importance of their divisions to UBS as a group.

We were provided with an economist's view on the markets and how the European debt crisis influences the future outlook. A member of the compliance team also explained the importance of adhering to regulatory parameters.

During the week we also received some in-depth training on some of the necessary skills required for day-to-day work within the investment banking department. This started with a full day of Excel training, followed by a session including valuation methods, financial statement analysis and PowerPoint presentations.

Volunteering is an important part of UBS’s community engagement programme and as interns we got to experience this first hand. We travelled to the suburbs of the city by bus and spent a day providing gardening services to frail, aged people and people with disabilities. This was a lot of fun. It gave everyone the opportunity to get to know each other in a more relaxed environment.

The camaraderie amongst all the interns during the week was fantastic and has left us all with an exciting feeling of expectation for the weeks to come. Overall, the week in Sydney was an amazing experience for me. It was worthwhile meeting the full team in Sydney and will make it so much easier and more personable to be able to put a face to name when I’m emailing or calling from Auckland.

It was also interesting listening to the other intern’s stories and gaining an understanding of their diverse backgrounds. Through this internship I hope to gain exposure to a wide variety of investment banking advisory work and to learn as much as I can from the people around me. I am really excited to start working once I get back to Auckland and to start applying what I’ve already learnt.

Daniela is a UBS IBD intern in Auckland. She is studying for a Bachelor of Arts and Commerce at the University of Auckland.