We catch up with Cameron who talks about how he got into the Spring into Banking Programme with Deutsche Bank, how he built his commercial awareness before the interview and his top tips for Bright Network members looking to follow in his footsteps.
Why a role with Deutsche Bank?
While I was searching for first-year opportunities, the Deutsche Bank Spring into Banking programme really stood out as a unique internship because of the variety of activities it provides. Throughout the programme, you not only get to shadow various positions within the bank, but also develop non-technical soft skills such as networking, presenting, and interviewing. The opportunity to explore the culture at a leading investment bank and potentially interview for their summer internship programme really made me want to apply for a role at Deutsche Bank.
How did you build your commercial awareness before the interview?
One of the best things I did was to explore the company’s website in the area that I had applied for, I found that there was a lot of content explaining what they were currently working on and how they are applying technology across the company, which was mostly explained through a series of articles and podcasts. One of the main things I found was that they were working on was a partnership with Google to transition their company towards the cloud and used this knowledge successfully in my interview when they asked what commercial awareness I possessed.
How did Bright Network help you secure this role?
I used quite a few resources provided on Bright Network’s website to make sure I was sufficiently prepared for the telephone interviews I was required to complete. Articles that were particularly useful were “Seven top tips for your telephone interview” and “How to handle situational judgement tests” as I had not encountered either of these prior to my application and helped me get a feel of what each part involved.
What top three tips would you give Bright Network members looking to follow in your footsteps?
My first tip would be to start looking for opportunities quite early in the academic year, most spring week opportunities are posted before the Christmas break and to allow yourself the best chances of getting a place, apply when the applications open.
Secondly, I would say if you do get to the interview stage, make sure you have done some research on the companies themselves – especially the areas you have applied for. You could look around the company’s website and see what new developments have been made in that area and think about how you can use this research to show commercial awareness.
My last tip would be to write down some potential questions they could ask at the interview, mostly make note of competency questions that they could ask based on the company’s values, as this came in handy when I had my competency telephone interview and helped me feel prepared beforehand.
What’s been the toughest interview question you've faced?
Some of the toughest questions I faced during the telephone interviews would be the more open-ended technical questions, these were difficult because there wasn’t a clear answer to any of them and you had to use your knowledge to think of a reasonable response in a limited time. Questions like these were also related to commercial awareness as they were based on what new technologies and developments the company, and their overall industry, was in the process of adopting.
