个人背景:
来到英国快3年.
Undergraduate Student, BEng in Electrical and Electronic Engineering

首先, 2003 年 penultimate year 时开始找 summer internship. 一开始, 自视过高, 以为找summer internship 很容易, 尤其是Banking 的, 所以我到2003 年1月才开始填申请表. 但(我认为)已经太迟了, 应该前一年的11,12月就开始找. 而且我填表的时候也没有用心填, 开头的几份我一般1个小时就填好一份了. 那些问题我回答的也很笼统. 有人说过, 你填申请表的速度, 和他们丢你的表格进垃圾桶的速度是成正比的. 我相信. 我填goldmen sachs 的时候, 只花了30分钟, 结果没几天就被reject 了. 最后去年只收到了Citibank 的interview, 但我又没准备, interview 前一天才从德国旅游回来, 结果第一轮就拜拜了. 真是惨痛的教训.

2003 年10月开学后,再也不敢掉以轻心. 我从11月就开始填申请表. 第一轮是各大银行的. Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, etc. 但是都被reject 了. 百思不得其解, 我也不觉得自己的成绩或者经历很差, 所以拿了我的表去问学校的career service advisor. 他们的conclusion 就是我的申请表里没有show Commercial Awareness.
譬如帮公司增加营业额, 争取顾客之类的. 而大银行特别看重这些经验.
但那时我有一些心灰意冷, 觉得自己可能不是做银行的料. 所以就开始看engineering companies.

最大的麻烦就是Work Permit, 很多engineering公司都不帮我们办, 这个我也不多说了. 所以我觉得我们学校career service 的最大好处就是, 他们给出了 一个会帮外国学生申请WP的公司list , 所以省了我不少事, 我就按那个 list 一个一个apply. 我一共申请了14 家, 都在Christmas holiday 结束前就apply完了. 可是到了2月头都还没有一点消息. 我害怕最后一个工作都找不到, 而且又没学上, 不能留在英国. 所以开始准备一个backup plan. 我apply 了Deutsche Bank 的summer internship in Technology division, 又apply 一个master course. Deustche Bank 的application form 我花了3天来填, 我觉得是有必要的, and made sure it was tailor made, 每个example我都有show commercial awareness.

没想到过了不久, 收到了 WS Atkins (engineering consultancy)的 first round telephone interview 和 Corus (metal manufacturer)的first round telephone interview. 那时候已是send application 后两个月的事了. 两个telephone interview 在同一天, 所以有点stressed. 准备工作就是read company websites; school career service asked for advices; prepare potential questions; prepare relevant life experiences; read my application form. 然后就叫我的朋友问问题, 我回答, 并用recording pen 录音. Recording pen 是很有用的东西, 尤其是telephone interview, 听自己的声音才知道有多差! Interview 当天把所有人都赶出家门. 一切顺利. Atkins 9 minutes, Corus 45 minutes. 我也录音了. 第二天就收到了Atkins 的 final round interview.

Deutsche Bank 也给了我first round interview. 有2 to 1 interview 和psychometric test. 准备工作:
1. company website
2. other online newspapers and BBS forum for Deustsche Bank related news and comments.(我觉得这个挺有用的)
3. free online psychometric test preparation. 这里推荐两个很好的网页.
- http://www.derby.ac.uk/careers/onlinepsychotesting.htm
- JP Morgan career website
4. 学校的career service again!
Interview 当天, 很多题问都在意料之中, 所以比较轻松. Psychometric test 33 题我做了26题. 我觉得practice online psychometric tests 是很有用的. 我practice 的时候每次都只有50, 60 percentile, JP morgan 的只能做对15 题, out of 28. 但我一直不停练, 总会提高的. 最后我Deutsche Bank 的test拿了90 percentile.

过了两天, 收到了Deutsche Bank final round assessment centre. 他们的HR 也给了我一些feedback, 她说我对Deutsche Bank 的了解已经很够了, 但是我对整个banking industry 的了解不够, 还有对别的banks的了解也不够, 她希望我在第二轮improve. 所以第二轮准备工作:
1. 从学校career service 找来一些banking jobs related 的书, 很容易找的. E.g. Doctorjob, Prospectus, eFinnancial careers, Targets. 然后开始背所有的banking terms. E.g. bond, hedge funds, futures and options, etc.
2. Search for all recent news about Deutsche Bank and other big banks.
3. 问我的前辈关于assessment centre 的情形.
Assessment centre 当天, 我倒不是很怕interview , 最怕的是group exercise. 我已经参加了两个学校organize 的 assessment centre 来练兵. 但没去过正式的. 而事实上group exercise 竞争很激烈. 我们一组有6个人, 要讨论一个新口味啤酒的开发. 一说开始, 每个人都抢着发言, 我原本想好要讲的东西一早就被人抢去讲了. 所以只好再仔细的读提供的information, 想一些别人没有讲到的点子. 重复别人的话没用. 整个30分钟的group exercise, 我只发了3次言, 但每一次都made sure 比较长, 有新意. 两个Interview中, 我在第一轮回答的不好的问题又被重复了一次.

一个星期后, 终于拿到了Desutsche Bank 的internship offer, HR的人说我在group exercise 中一开始很安静, 不太讲话, 但后来习惯环境后, Think before I speak!
之后我又去了Atkins的final round assessment centre. 也拿到了他们的permanent job offer. 过程很长, 我以后另开一篇写. 如果大家想知道interview 的问题, 我也可以写出来, 因为Atkins我有录音. Deutsche 的记不全了.

以上就是一部分心得, 希望对各位还在找的有一些帮助. 有几点我觉得很重要:
1. 学校的career service 很有用, 要好好利用.
2. 如果在英国找不到summer job, 回国找也很好, 在国内靠关系有靠关系的好处, 可以联系去一些大的银行, 公司实习, 可以不要工资, 但这个经验一定要, 如果CV上有大公司的名字, 拿到first round interview 的机会大大提高.
3. 机会难得, 一旦有了, 一定要做好非常非常充足的准备工作.
4. 不要放弃! 屡败屡战! 我也曾经几乎对自己全无信心, 但还是keep on trying! 总会有机会的!
p.s. 会帮外国学生申请WP的公司
1. ABN AMRO
2. Atkins
3. Booz Allen Hamilton
4. BP PLC
5. CIBC world markets
6. Citigoup
7. Corus
8. Credit Suisse First Boston
9. Delotte & Touche
10. Deutsche Bank
11. Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein
12. Ernst & Young
13. GKN plc
14. Marakon Associates
15. Mckingsey & Company
16. Morgan Stanley
17. OC&C strategy consultants
18. Pricewaterhousecoopers
19. P&G
20. Renishaw PLC
21. Rolls Royce
22. Shell
23. Towers Perrin
24. UBS
25. Watson Wyatt

Atkins Webpage

多谢大家的恭喜! 也谢谢 Darkblue 帮我把list分类, 这样更方便大家看了. 新添几个:
25. Arup (Engineering Consultancy)
26. Mott MacDonald (Engineering, Management and Development Consultancy)
27. QinetiQ (Creation and application of Technology)
28. Shlumberger (Oilfield and IT services)

以上4个我都有apply, 不过都石沉大海了, 不过大家还是要试试的!

我的经历如下, 应该不吓人吧. 呵呵, 这样岂不是暴露身份.
10/03-present MAGIC MATHEMATICS Travelling Circus, Flintshire, UK
What were your main duties?
- Coordinated with Operations Director to organise maths exhibitions for students at schools, museums and discovery centres. - Instructed and guided the students at exhibitions
What was your greatest contribution?
- I and two other colleagues organised a one-day maths exhibition for around 180 pupils in Virgo Fidelis Prep School, London. The exhibition was very successful such that the school was willing to pay for our visit on a regular basis.
What key skills have you developed?
-I have learnt to plan in detail and in advance. Effective communication between the school, and I would ensure the success of the event. In addition, giving presentations for pupils developed my presentation skills.

08/03-09/03 Fumon Systems International Limited, China
What were your main duties? 
Internship, International Business Division  Teamwork in drafting the tender for the project to develop a “Supply Chain Management (SCM)” software  Negotiated the joint venture between Fuzhong Computer Co., Ltd. and Monash International Ltd. (India) (represented Fuzhong)  Liased with officials from Science and Technology Bureau.
What was your greatest contribution?
During the negotiation between Monash and Fuzhong, I successfully helped Fuzhong to persuade Monash to agree to set up the major research and manufacturing base in China instead of in India. I also successfully assisted to persuade Monash to invest more capital in the joint venture.
What key skills have you developed?
I have learnt negotiation skills from other colleagues. Sometimes I needed to work on weekends and had meeting till midnight, but it was understandable as commitment is essential to the business.

12/01-05/03 Prime Time Video Entertainments, London, UK
What were your main duties? 
Customer service representative and the store key holder  Ensured financial performance of the store, accuracy of the cash flow  Resolved customer queries and handled problems under emergency
What was your greatest contribution?
The store system once didn’t automatically adjust its time when summer time ended. It resulted in wrong prices charged to customers. I immediately reported this to the area manager, and meanwhile handwrote down all transactions. It prevented the complaints from customers and also a loss to the store.
What key skills have you developed?
Persuading customer to rent or buy movies based on my good product knowledge made me more diplomatic. Customer-focus is critical to achieve store’s commercial goal. I also learnt to handle problems under emergency.

07/03-08/03 Ericsson Panda Communications Company Ltd., China
What were your main duties? 
Internship, Research & Development Centre  Studied the detailed service path of the mobile systems  Analysed Base Station Controller platform (BSC)  Tested upgrading patches for Mobile Switching Centre (MSC)
What was your greatest contribution?
Working with different teams in the R&D centre as Ericsson wanted to integrate a few operating systems of defferent division together.
What key skills have you developed?
I appreciated more the importance of the coordination and teamwork. In this case, delay of one team affected the whole process. I also learnt to understand the complexity of project management.

Please give details of a technical project undertaken as part of your undergraduate degree (Max 100 words) *
My final year project is closely related to 3G network - to examine a new scheduling method for transmitting data packages from network operator to users such that the transmission rate is maximised. This is desired as the revenue of network operator depends on the amount of date sent to the users, maximisation of the transmission rate would maximise the revenue. The project involves the study of mathematical model of conventional and new scheduling methods; programming and designing of simulations under MATLAB environment; and also analysing of simulation results. It combines statistics, program designing, and results analysing.

有的experience美化一下,可以很impressive, 譬如我的prime time part time job, 说白了就是收银员. 另外处处都可以show commercial awareness, 譬如我在technical project 里面的红色highlight

挺吓人的。但是感觉总结得特别好，从来没想过普通的经验可以总结出那么多东西来。。
努力学习中~

这里的符号没有礼物的，不然一定送很多礼物给楼主~

突然想起一个问题哎：

list上的公司有没有对学校的偏好阿？比如ucl就基本可以保证进first round interview, queen mary就肯定没戏的之类的。

darkblue知道吗？。。（因为你看起来好像是guru。。。）

.....by "appear" only how could you conclude that is a compliment? it is a good example of hotheaded conclusion.

regarding your answer, it is quite helpful. thanks for being so frank~

btw: it is a simple assumption, coming from feeling. no need to compliment anyone here.

另外添加一个挺有用的website
http://www.helpmegetaninterview.com/

里面有几乎所有大公司的 application form sample version.
需要register, 不过很快.
看了以后对fill in application form 有个底了, 很有用. 但我觉得不要从上面抄太多. application form 还是应该自己原创, 才能有personal touch.

who said finding a job was impossible.

问楼主：是不是ic或者ucl的？因为deutsche bank应该是只要oxbridge再加ic ucl lse的学生的。楼主帮忙确定一下这个消息？

经典。。 真要和楼主好好学习， 有时候让我填那好几篇的application form ， 我也会没有耐心。
不过， 真是一份耕耘一分收获阿！

What kind of job have you been offered?

楼主是有心人+好心人，感谢和大家分享这些宝贵经验！十分可贵！
就算偶不找工作以后也可以给人指点一二了。

楼主象你学习！偶今年也大二，我申请了INTERN，但是面了6-7个，其中也有DB，（其他的还有HSBC，ABN AMRO AND UBS）但是最后也都巨了，看来还是INTERVIEW的技巧问题呵呵。ANYWAY，能和你认识也是荣幸，可以告诉你的MSN吗？

just found out someone who got internship with goldman sachs. so they are definitely taking on people.

it may take quite some time. give me a few days bah!

oops! 两个月前还不用交钱看的! 唉, 不好意思

is this your own or standard answers?

i have around 50 questions which were asked at ib interviews.

here are the first 10.

1. describe when you had to analyse a complex situation, and how did you go about it?

2. why do you want to work in *********, why our company?

3. have you had to persuade someone to change their views?

4. when did you have a challenging experience? what did you learn about yourself from it?

5. when did you see a project through to completion?

6. have you had to make decisions with incomplete information? did this enhance or limit your conclusions?

7. when did you have to work with tight deadlines? how did you manage your time?

8. do you have any weaknesses?

9. have you made a decision that was not effective?

10. have you ever set yourself challenging goals?

i will add 10 every week.

想请教以下楼主，找工作的途径， website? agency? newspaper? any specific one?