Morgan Stanley Insight Programme

Morgan Stanley European Spring Insight Programme

The European Spring Insight Programme is another form of internship available at Morgan Stanley. It is designed for first-year students on a three-year degree course, or second-year students of a four-year course who are considering a career in banking. The programme gives you an opportunity to learn more about the investment banking industry and a chance to experience working life at Morgan Stanley.

The Programme lasts for one week and will give you an overview of all recruiting divisions, including Investment Banking, Sales & Trading, Private Wealth Management, Investment Management, Credit, Finance, Operations, and Technology.

Application and Assessment process

Assessments are held at Morgan Stanley's offices in Canary Wharf. About 120 candidates will be invited to attend it and about 80 of them will be given an offer.

The assessment centre consists of:

• 35 minute numerical test
• 30 minute 1-on-1 interview
• 5-8 minute presentation

Numerical Test

The numerical test involved finding data from tables and graphs and making simple calculations. Time is very tight and there is a lot of info in each table/graph.

First Interview & Interview Questions

It will be a 30 minute one on one interview. The interviewer will normally be a analyst or associate rather than from HR.

Interview questions likely to be asked:

• Questions asked:
• When have you worked in a team?
  • What was your role?
  • Did you have difficulties with any of the other members?
  • What did you learn from the other members?
• What career do you want to go into, or are you undecided? Why?
• Tell me about a team you haven't liked.
  • What did you do?
  • Was it successful in the end?
  • How would you deal with the situation differently in the future?
• What do you know about what's going on in Investment Banking at the moment?
• Why did you choose your uni and degree course?
• Tell me about a time you've shown initiative.
• What other interests do you have?
• Describe a situation when you had to obtain information in order to solve it. How did you obtain the information?
• Have you got any questions for me?

As a first year you will not be expected to know in great detail information about financial engineering and financial markets, you will be mostly asked about your CV and cover letter.

Presentation

Finally, you will be asked to do a presentation. You will have been sent the topic of the presentation four days in advance of the assessment centre. Over head projector and other presentation facilities are not available, although you will be advised to print out your presentation for the assessment. You will be given 5-8 (do not surpass the time limit) minutes to present your topic, followed by a 5 minute question time. The better you know the subject the more you will impress the interviewer during question time.

The presentation in 2008 was: What impact will climate change have on the financial markets and the financial service industry?