HSBC Work Experience Programme Review

The work experience involved students attending a variety of lectures and speeches from HSBC staff from a wide array of departments. For some of the talks, there was a project involved. For example in the compliance talk, we were given some information and had to try and find the Outlier.

Due to receiving an array of talks, each talk helped to build on a new skill. The compliance talk helped to develop our problem solving skills whilst some of the banking talks improved our financial literacy. Additionally we had to pitch to other students in the end to present our projects which helped our public speaking skills

I very much enjoyed the work experience as it helped me learn a lot more about the banking sector, which is a sector that I would like to work at in the future. However, at times it did feel a bit like a lecture when staff would just talk at you and didn't have any interactive activities

The work experience was fairly well organised, as materials for talks were published prior to the talks beginning. This meant that before most talks, you had time to review the material and understand it. We were all also all emailed a strict timetable with clear indications on the topic and the speaker.

As most of the work experience was online, we didn't get the opportunity to go into the office and observe the hsbc office culture. Moreover, most of the talks were just a single staff member using a slides how so we couldn't see how the staff interact with each other

The work experience helped a lot in helping me decide on my future career path. The talk helped me to narrow down which departments I was interested in working at, and which I weren't. The commercial banking talk was particularly insightful and their overview of the duties was of particular interest to me

The work experience programme was unpaid which meant that I didn't receive any money or salary from attending it. Additionally, due to covid, the work experience was moved to a virtual setting online, so that we could attend it from home which meant that we didn't receive any travel reimbursement

In the talks there was not much of an opportunity to meet other students and candidates as most of the camera were turned off and only the staff member would be speaking. However in the pitching task there was the opportunity to talk and meet some of the other candidates.

Yes

The work programme was highly informative and I learnt a lot about how they operate and the different departments withing the company. I would highly recommend hsbc and their work experience programme to any individual that has a high interest and is planning to enter the world of finance and banking

I would advice others to spend time to focus and work on their CV as you have to submit it as part of your application. The CV is the best place to showcase your skills and qualifications to the recruiter. Additionally, going online to research some past interview questions could be helpful