Penultimate year RBWM internship Review

This internship was fantastic, it gives you a real insight into banking. You look at more than just the branches of the bank and although some of the tasks set were a challenge, your colleagues are always happy to help. Furhtermore no question is too silly, staff really respect that you want to learn and may not have much experience.

All of my colleagues treat me like an extension of their own families. I am still in contact with many of them now. All they want is for you to show enthusiasm and they are happy to take you under their wing and help guide you through your time at HSBC. No problem was too great or too small for them to help with.

Both of my managers put aside time to meet with me regularly and stay updated with my progress. They were both more than happy to give me feedback on how I was doing at any point and we're always constructive with their feedback. There was never and negativity. In terms of guidance, if I really needed help they would guide me through tasks and projects however,they left me to my own devices to try overcome my own problems as much as possible as a way of learning how to self manage my own work.

Some days I was so busy I stayed late to ensure I was still on track and others were much slower and I was struggling to find tasks. However, these days were few and staff did try to help as much as possible in both circumstances. I feel it is like any job, no two days will be the same and not every day will be perfect but my colleagues tried to make everyday as great as possible.

I was given a lot of responsibility for my own projects. All of them involved some form of management role but there was always a manager to back up any decisions I made and to help me learn how to best manage people. It was a fantastic insight into what the graduate scheme might entail without the fear of failure.

In terms of my degree I did not learn many skills that will help, but that is because my degree is a very specialised degree. However, in terms of life skills and skills for future employment there was no end to the different skills I learnt. A big focus on this internship is networking and this really sets you up for life beyond university where a lot of jobs are found through networking.

The office atmosphere was always friendly and welcoming and everyone wished you a good morning and good night. Once a week there was a pub lunch that everyone went to and they all made the effort to be inclusive of everyone. Even when there was deadlines and stress the atmosphere was never less than pleasant. People were very understanding of other teams pressures and just tried to help take the pressure off by doing tea runs etc.

The organisation of placement locations and communications prior to the placement were lacking the urgency you would expect so close to the start of the placement. However, during the placement contact with placement leaders was regular and emails and phone calls always returned promptly. The only real issue was that they would self impose contact deadlines to let us know about things and then not stick to them. However, they were apologetic and do try stick to them as close as possible.

The whole point of this internship is to develop you as a person and teach you the skills and give you the insight you need to make a decision about working for HSBC. You can set up meeting with people form all different areas and you can opt. to go on training courses and the bank supports you 100%. This internship has helped me train to work in a sector completely unrelated to my degree and feel confident in that sector.

The graduate scheme is an amazing opportunity to work with the bank and train. The scheme is 2 years and designed so that by the end of it you will be in a management role. The opportunity is fantastic and you also get a qualification. Furthermore the routes in and around the different areas within HSBC are phenomenal so you will always be able to get a job in a different department if you fancy a different challenge. And if you are unsure they do such things a secondments, essentially allowing you to "try before you buy",

For the students based in London the social scene was astounding. There were weekly events all the time. For those not based in London the spread across the country was quite far so you are more reliant on your placement colleagues social scene. There were events throughout the placement that brought all the interns together, and after these events there was always an informal social activity so you never felt excluded.

I worked in Sheffield which is a northern student city so everything was fairly cheap. A good night out cost about £20 the same as a standard two to three course sit down meal. There also were always different offers on so you could team up with colleagues and reap.the discount! Honestly up north is fantastic for cheap socialising. Sheffield has the perks of cheap.theatre tickets for people aged 25 and understand also.

Again, I was in a student city, the nightlife was fantastic. I found that with the students away the locals partied hard while they had the city for themselves! There is always a pub or club open from 11 am to 6 am. So no matter how long you want to party sheffield has you covered.

There was a running club in my office and a few people took classes at the gym together but generally there wasn't a whole lot to get involved in. I feel this was because most staff lived in the surrounding areas and commuted in and they had children. This was fine though because there were a lot of out of work office meals and things planned throughout the year.