Nikhilesh Shankar's Internship Experience At JP Morgan Chase & Co. - SIBM Bengaluru

At JPMC, all the interns were a part of a program called “Global Analyst Development Program” which helps the interns to get a holistic view of the working of the company. Along with that, the program heads also organised regular sessions including face to face meetings and video conferencing sessions with the top management and the subject matter experts (SME’s) on the trending issues around the world which helped us in getting clarity so that we can be industry ready. Along with these a lot of networking sessions were also organised with the motive of getting to know the fellow interns and it also gave us a chance to interact with the stalwarts of the company. The best part about these sessions was the FREE FOOD! (P.S- The chocolate tarts were amazing!)

The other advantage of this program was that if you get selected as a full-timer in the company, you are still a part of this program for two years, where you are groomed, trained and developed, not only as professionals but as individuals in areas pertaining to the industry, business knowledge, domain specific knowledge and soft skills. After the period of two years, you would become eligible for your next promotion and you have an option to switch between various domains from there on.

Now, I was an operations intern, working in a banking firm, confused? So was I. This was where I actually came to know that irrespective of the industry which you work in, there is always Operations involved. I, being a part of investment banking operations had to work on process improvements in my domain, for which I had to understand the entire workflow very well. This not only gave me an overall idea of how a bank works but also about how to keep an eye on any kind of changes which could be made in order to make the whole experience better.

The first and the most important learning which I got while working here is to understand how exactly the trade flows in the market right from its booking stage to the stage when the trade is completely settled in the market. It also gave me an understanding of the different stages which are involved during the trade life cycle. Being a part of the back office system, the project gave me an overview of various systems which work in tandem to help facilitate a trade to flow in its proper path free from any errors. It also tells us about the huge number of checks which are in place, that help to make sure that no mistakes are committed at any stage of the process.

The Nine weeks at JP Morgan, gave me an insight into the kind of world which is waiting for me when I complete my MBA. It also gave me a sense of confidence, that, I have what it takes to survive out there, and to someday make it BIG! 

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About the Author:

Nikhilesh Shankar, is a final year Operations Management student at SIBM Bengaluru from New Delhi. He is also the IT Head of SIBM-B and a member of the Admissions & IT Committee. He works as a freelance web designer, loves novels and food. He is a hardcore techie, a good listener and has an immense amount of patience. He is a B. Tech graduate in Electrical and Electronics engineering from Indraprastha University, New Delhi.

He was recruited in HCL Technologies after his graduation and worked as Web Developer for three years for where he developed a passion for coding. After this, he went on to pursue his MBA from SIBM Bengaluru, where he got placed in JP Morgan for his summer internship and scored a PPO for the Final Placements.

He firmly believes in never backing down from anything without giving it a try as the word impossible itself says I am Possible therefore – “Do not lose hope no matter what.”