Standard Chartered introduces inaugural virtual internships

Commitment to hire 300 interns across the Bank in 2020
       25 June 2020, London – Standard Chartered has introduced its first ever virtual internship to deliver a meaningful and enriching experience to 300 interns across the Bank’s businesses and support functions. Despite the limitation of placing its 2020 interns in physical offices due to the impact of COVID-19, Standard Chartered remains committed to offering a five to six-week programme conducted virtually and remunerate them for the full ten weeks of the internship.
       Across 15 markets, around 60 per cent of the interns will participate in a virtual internship across Financial Markets, Transaction Banking, Commercial Banking, Global Banking, Corporate Finance, Retail Banking, Wealth Management, Conduct, Financial Crime and Compliance, Risk, SC Ventures and Technology and Innovation. The remaining interns will experience a hybrid model across some of the Bank’s Greater China and North Asia markets, where physical internships will be complemented with an added virtual element for a more robust learning experience.

This pivot from the Bank’s traditional internship to a virtual one was the result of identifying the key aspects of an internship that could be replicated or modified, as well as surveying the incoming batch of interns to understand their priorities, expectations and willingness to participate in a virtual programme. The virtual internship consists of five key elements:

• An induction in the first week where interns can connect with peers and familiarise with the Bank’s technology systems and support network;

• E-learnings and virtual classroom sessions through weeks two to four to build technical competencies required for each business or functional stream;

• Assignment to a project focusing on a current problem statement in the Bank, which will offer interns a better insight to the businesses and client lifecycles. This will be presented to a project sponsor in week five, who will assess the intern’s technical and behavioural competencies;

• An opportunity to network globally with peers and other stakeholders in the Bank; as well as

• An assigned buddy and coach to support each intern throughout their journey.

“Our first ever virtual internship comes at a time where we are witnessing a significant shift to virtual in the workplace and is a trend that will be here to stay. This continued commitment to our internship programme despite the current environment is not only the right thing to do, but also ensures our future workforce is ready to embrace a digital state of work,” said Melissa Angerson,Head, Early Careers, Standard Chartered. “The introduction of distance learning as part of this year’s internship will give us the opportunity to assess the value as well as the viability of such technical training, as we look to permanently embed it within our ongoing internship offering.”

In addition to fulfilling its internship commitments, Standard Chartered has pledged to place all of its 2019 graduates in full time roles at the end of their programmes. The Bank also remains committed to more than 400 incoming 2020 graduate cohorts, who will be joining the respective business and functions from July to September, as well as the launch of its first Cyber Apprenticeship Programme in the UK this year. Specific to Singapore and Hong Kong, the Bank is looking to hire an additional 280 local graduates across both markets this year, under a separate trainee scheme that aims to provide work experience to new graduates who are impacted by weakened job market conditions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For the upcoming 2021 graduates, the Bank is also fully committing to all 500 roles, which will be primarily filled by its 2020 interns.