Lendwithcare and Finance Intern Review

I had an amazing time working on my internship. It was a three month internship, during which I learnt so much about myself and the organisation I was fortunate enough to be a part of. I met some amazing colleagues and found that I grew both as a person and as an employee. I gained so much confidence and that helped me to enjoy myself.

Obviously as an intern you are not on the same level as full time employees. However, at the organisation I interned with, I was made to feel like a fully valued member of the team. This was done by small things such as the way the employees treated me in a friendly and polite manner at all times (on occasion going out of their way to make me feel included), and also to the real responsibilities I was entrusted with.

I was lucky enough to have two extremely supporting and knowledgeable bosses during my internship. They both respected my willingness to learn new skills and systems and after observing my capacity to perform tasks to a high standard they were then confident enough in me to trust me with roles and tasks of greater responsibilities.

I consider myself a bit of a full-throttle person and as a result I was delighted to experience an internship where I was never lacking in things to do. On a day to day basis I would never have any moments where I was struggling to think of something I could do. This meant I had a range of different tasks which often varied in priority and it was important for me to learn how to manage my time efficiently.

After quickly proving my competence on a range of different tasks, my bosses identified very early on that I would be able and happy to take on more and more responsibilities. My bosses were both very trustworthy and very supportive. They were always there if I needed any guidance, but allowed me the freedom to showcase the skills I’ve been developing over the course of my career.

I learnt such a range of extremely valuable and more importantly transferrable skills during my time on this internship. To name a few: Time management, team working, MS skills, budget monitoring, loan applications, accounting terms and methods, micro-finance, economic empowerment, focus group facilitation, customer satisfaction surveys, project leading, inter-office interactions. These skills have given me such a solid foundation for any future employers to look at.

Given that my internship was in a global organisation based in central London, the office was a hive of activity. Despite the high number of office workers and the fast paced nature of the organisation the atmosphere in the office was always affable. Colleagues were always happy to take 5 minutes to interact with one another. There was even time for appropriate jokes. One great aspect of the office was that every Friday at 12pm those who had the time would go out the office across the road for a quick 45 minute game of football!

The whole process was incredibly well run. From when I saw the opportunity to getting to the office on my first day I was impressed with the efficient streamlined nature of the process. Once I’d started my bosses had a clear plan of what they expected of me and what they expected to do for me. Even though we ended up surpassing these preliminary ideas, it was very reassuring and comforting to know they had efficiently and carefully thought about my time with them.

I was invested in to a large extent in my opinion. I was taught new finance software systems, marketing survey systems, included in important meetings both internal and external. I was even offered a paid placement at the organisation after my internship had finished. On top of all this I am regularly invited to events despite having finished my professional relationship with the organisation and am always welcomed back into the office.

Even though it is not the exact industry area I am looking to enter right now, it is still extremely appealing to me as a potential employment opportunity in the future. Knowing that I would be incredibly happy amongst the co-workers there and that I have a strong knowledge of the organisation and its systems is something that remains very attractive to me.

There was one intern who was at the organisation at the same time as I was. We became close friends despite the fact that he was several years older than I and had already completed a masters whilst I was still in my first year at university. Our social lives were incorporated into the organisations very seamlessly and that was a really nice thing to experience.

Being based in central London, travel and lifestyle is what it is. If you are from London as I am then it’s not very difficult to get used to it. However, the other intern I worked with moved into London from Ireland and took a little bit of time to adapt. However, he was helped in no small manner by the organisation who paid all travel and lunch expenses.

In central London, you are always about 5 minutes away from whatever you could possibly desire. The nightlife is never a problem, the members of the company had a specific few pubs across the road they would frequent. These inevitable branched out into traversing around different spots in London and very merry evenings.

There were always offers being circulated around the office with respect to activities outside of the office. These ranged from gym memberships, football teams to pub quizzes and musical events. There was such a diverse range of employees at the organisation with a diverse range of interests outside of the office. Given that they were more than happy to share these experiences, one was never short of things to do and try.