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

Online numerical test --> Telephone interview --> Assessment centre

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:

• 30 minute 1-on-1 interview
• 8-10 minute presentation, followed by 5 minutes of questions (25 minutes preparation time)

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.

Telephone Interview

It will be a 30 minute one on one interview. The interviewer will normally be an analyst or associate.

The interview will be heavily focussed on your CV and cover letter; although competency-based, there is scope for technical and commercial awareness questions.

First Interview & Interview Questions

It will be a 30 minute one on one interview. The interviewer will normally be an 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

You will be given a set of articles and asked to summarise and analyse them, using your own knowledge of the topic. Overhead projector and other presentation facilities are not available.

You have 10 minutes (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 2010 was regarding regulation.