An Intern’s Final Week

As I arrived at the DB Wood office on my first day, I was still in disbelief that I had been successful in the selection process, but ecstatic about spending my summer learning new things and exploring many opportunities with DB Wood. Safe to say the ecstasy abated quickly when Alex approached me at 11am and said, “C’mon Evie, time to complete our daily 2-minute plank!”.

10 weeks on and I have been educated on the different aspects of the financial world and developed many skills (unfortunately including planking). My university degree is in Business and Accounting, so I found that my skills were best suited in Financial Planning and Risk Management, two departments at DB Wood which I thoroughly enjoy. I was out on meetings with both in no time, greeting some of our lovely clients and completing various projects for them – this has been ideal because I love to make a difference… even a small one!

I have also been lucky enough to gain an insight into the investment world over the course of this internship, an area I had never explored before. I attended an Investment Committee meeting to discuss the performance of funds in the current quarter and action points that DB Wood would undertake to provide their clients with the best service possible. I was slightly baffled by the jargon, but the team were more than happy to answer any questions I had (and there were a lot) to help my understanding. I am so grateful for their help, it has been nice to be in an environment where you can ask as many questions as you like and where everybody is happy to answer them; especially useful for someone like me, who asks a question every two minutes!

One of my favourite things about DB Wood is the team culture. For example, you may have seen that we recently completed our annual static bike ride to raise money for The Children’s Bereavement Centre. We managed to hit our target of 600km, with some of the team pedalling faster than Chris Hoy! Although it was tough (especially when Oliver and I heard thunder just as we started pedalling), the team were constantly cheering each other on and every single person had a smile on their face. If you told me 10 weeks ago that I would be cycling on a static bike for an hour or planking for 2 minutes every day, I definitely would not have believed you. Whether you’re concentrating in an office chair or sweating on a bike, the true team spirit really encourages you to work as hard as you can.

Now, at the end of my 10-week internship, I’m experiencing mixed emotions. Sadness about not being in the DB Wood office and seeing everybody, thankfulness for the opportunity and gratitude to all the clients who let me sit in on their meetings. It has truly been an honour working with and getting to know everybody in the team (as well as seeing their football skills and netballing abilities).

However, this is not the end of DB Wood for me as I will return for my placement year in the Risk Management department from July 2018. For now though, I’m off back to Loughborough to show my friends my new skill… running a cash flow forecast whilst planking for 2 minutes and 45 seconds!