Business Internship Report
Business Internship Report
I come about the Bank of China internship opportunity through the company website. It offers a three months and six months internship in various departments at least two times a year. The application for the internship was online, giving my details and credentials to the career application form on the website.
The response for the internship was three days later. I received, and email confirmation that my application was received, and they would like to do an interview the following week on Monday from 9.30 am.
Five members of staff did the interview. I introduced myself, and so did they. The interview panel incorporated the head of ICT department, Human resource manager, a PR officer, Head of accounts and secretary for the Head office of Bank of China.
The conduction of the interview process was by a panel consisting of five members of the company. It was a face-to-face interview. On entering the interview room, the greeting was handshakes to all member of the panel. I stood until given permission to take my seat which was in front of the board table. The asked for my interview papers, which I promptly handed over to them. There were a few minutes of silence as each of the members of the panel went over my documents. Then the interview questions began. Each member of the interview panel asked at least three questions.
The interview questions were both open and closed questions, some questions required yes or no answer and other a brief and precise descriptive answer. The basis of the questions was in my education life, my perspective of the workplace experience, personal objectives, and information about the company and the state of economics in the market today (Beshara, 2008).
The internship interview was the second interview I had in my professional life. The interview was for my work study program within the school for the department of finance. The performance of the interview was the college’s head of Finance and questions were not as in-depth as the internship questions. The head of Finance just asked Finance questions and why I sought the opportunity. Other than that I have no other record of previous employers.
The interview process was memorable, in both cases. For my first interview, I learned about the inevitable mistakes that I felt I did not do right. The interview required more attention and research. For my internship interview, I was more prepared for it doing research by reading Daily Finance Report, keeping up with news updates, reading the newspapers and doing a background check on the company and the internet research on the dos and don’ts during an interview. The process was comfortable; I was not nervous as my first work study interview and felt at ease as I was more prepared for it.
Job Function
I reported to the Head Office of Bank of China, Beijing. The primary duty was doing research in areas that are related to the bank of China. The research area was on how big data can help commercial banks in business and risk management. The research involved the review of two cases, the lending club cooperates with Citi-Bank case and the Ondeck cooperate with JP Morgan.
The lending club seeks to make credit more affordable and investment more beneficial. It aims to do this by reducing its expenses to 2% by using technology and business models which drives costs down. It has an efficient regulatory framework which looks at consumer protection and capital efficiency. The club also incorporates the recession simulation to be able to benefit investors; this is done by avoiding economic slowdowns, a time when investors flee.
The application of the simulation is by the Moody’s S3 scenario which results to the expected performance being close to 5%. The continuous investment will enable for there to be presence of finance for credit facilities, improving credit performance.
The Ondeck capital cooperate with J.P Morgan case scenario is a partnership to originate underwrite and distribute loans to small businesses. The partnership led to one of the leading FinTech companies. The APRs are both small and large. The small APRs go for a three month term and the loans range from 70-80%. The large APRs go for a maximum of 36 month and the loan range is 30-40%. The company’s performance structure has a default rate of 6.4% when it comes to borrowing risk profile.
The loans offered are able to bring double digits but that is an expensive mark to make, this leads to the company directing its clients to credit card facilities. Other problems that face this venture are the fact that there is more at state than the company’s revenues and that the loans are more expensive compared to what the banks offer. The interest rates on the loan are high. The target market for such a company is clients who require a certain amount of money for their business venture. The business venture must have positive returns for the loan to be granted
The research also looks at the ABL (Asset Based Lending) factor when it comes to the research in the cases. ABL is a guidance that a bank must follow when it comes to asset based lending activities. The other ABL description are a bank provided loans that fully allows creditors with high and continuous cash flows in their businesses to borrow money. The basis of the loans is on pledges and they are structures to aim provide capital for the business. The research will look at the ABL in depth describing its advantages and disadvantages. What risks a bank can face while using the ABL and how the ABL is used in risk management.
Other duties performed in the department are such as doing research in M&A (Mergers and Acquisitions, doing research in ABL, study of new Bloomberg tools, Strategic Plan making, be part of the CRS (Credit Risk Subcommittee) and arranging the Memorial Hall of Bank of China.
Assignment review
The duties I was most interested in was in was the study of new Bloomberg tools, it allowed me to keep up to date with the current events in the market and how they affect the bank. The other duty I enjoyed was the being part of the Credit Risk Subcommittee. The meetings enabled me to have first class experience as to how the business world works; the debates and discussions held was educational and just showed that business required more that capital and resources to be successful.
The least enjoyable part of my duties was doing research on merger and Acquisitions. The duty entailed too much information and others that were interesting had need for information access. The reason it was least interesting was I got to do research on books that were not at all interesting and did not get my attention.
Experiences learned during the internship period
The organization incorporates an efficient workforce with each having his strengths and weaknesses. The company is very productive especially when it comes to distributing work according to each staff’s strengths. That is the reason for the success, concentrating strongly on strengths and least on weakness (Zemliansky, 2008). The basis of the structure of the organization is on the values of the organization making it simple for people to efficiently towards a common objective.
The work ethic in the firm was admirable. Every person took his/her job seriously, arriving early and more efficiently performing tasks. The coordination and teamwork in the organization were impressive as everyone new their responsibility. The relationship present in the company was totally professional allowing each person to work with the other comfortable (Firth, 2012).
The other thing I noticed was the relationship between the employees and their employer, and it was comfortable and open. The employees felt free to socialize with their employer and to share ideas and innovation on how to improve the organization. The relationship developed trust thus there was the least supervision on employees as bosses know that they are an active workforce and will perform their work efficiently (Mann, Stanley & Archer, 2014)
The culture was another thing that had my attention. It made the working environment comfortable to fit in. During my first weeks of internship, everyone was friendly; this made my adjustment to the workplace comfortable. Also, the culture incorporated teamwork and I was promptly included in some of the activities that happen in the company. The partnership allowed focus that aims at achieving the organization’s goals and objectives (Mann, Stanley & Archer, 2014).
The experience in the organization did not affect my original career choice but assisted me to know how fascinating it is and how important it is, both in the organization and in the market sector. The experiences enhanced the skills I was equipped with in the college and reinforced my business intelligence.
About my Superiors
During the internship period, I was placed in the Research and strategy department. The departmental supervisor was the Head Office of Bank of China, Beijing. The supervisor was very efficient when it come to training. He assisted me to do duties such as work tutoring, report editing and lead me through other activities done in the department. The use of the company equipment was also part of training and the supervisor was patient enough to show me how to use them.
Also, when it come to other duties that I have no experienced in he would gladly experiment while observed how he was doing the task or give me specific instructions that were easy to follow. His supervision technique was mostly observation as to how a performed a particular task, responded to commands, behaved in the office and how efficient I was when performing my duties. His supervision was mostly based on personal opinion of my professional personality.
The organization can improve the internship method by splitting interns into groups. The group will allow the interns to share knowledge and skill and learn from each other. It is another way to improve on skill. It will also allow interns to be able to take on certain and simple duties without supervision so as to learn from their mistakes and feel more independent.
Recommendations
The opportunity provided to me by the company meet my personal objectives and much more. The experience was exhilarating and improved my skills. Apart from that, the training provided helped acquire new skills and view the business world in another manner. My original perspective was blown way out of promotion by the level of coordination, cooperation, and efficiency present in the organization. The experience positively influenced my professional life.
I highly recommend the internship opportunity to any intern who wishes to improve his/her skill in the business sector. The opportunity is a given when it come to morally upgrading, socially uplifting you and professionally encouraging. It will also have positive influence on your skills and personality. The end result at the end after the internship period will be a very professional and efficient business man or woman. That was me at the end of the period and it positively impacted my life and I am positively recommending the company to interns who wish to start their professional life in an upstanding manner.
However, the opportunity requires that one has set objectives and be willing to do anything to be able to achieve them. The company will play its part, but it is only 20%, the rest all relies on you and your effort. It you have what it takes and the determination, the experience it worthwhile, otherwise in the end it will feel like it was of your time and skills (Zemliansky, 2008).
References
Beshara, T. (2008). Acing the interview: How to ask and answer the questions that will get you the job. New York: AMACOM.
Firth, L. (2012). Ethics in business. Cambridge: Independence.
Mann, A., Stanley, J. C., & Archer, L. (2014). Understanding employer engagement in education: Theories and evidence. Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge
Zemliansky, P., & St, A. K. (2008). Handbook of research on virtual workplaces and the new nature of business practices. Hershey PA: Information Science Reference.
