Spring intern Review

We were treated very well at the program. Put up in a very nIce hotel, food and transport costs were refunded. The people I met during the program were also very friendly and interesting. I liked the RBS culture but ultimately decided I didn't like Operations very much which was fair--the purpose of an insight program is to find out what you are interested in.

It's obvious that RBS is looking to hire lots of new talent. I definitely felt very valued as a person--they invest a lot of time in spring interns and are very interested in developing your potential and finding out what areas you are interested in. During shadowing most employees were very interested in us and our interests.

We were well supported throughout. Everything was made very clear and because there were so many of us going to the same places it was quite easy to find out what we were supposed to do. We got a handbook which was useful, as were the presentations on the first day.

I don't think the program gave me much discernible skills apart from teamwork. That is something RBS values very highly and we had to work in a team for a presentation as well as for the bonding exercises. The information I received was fairly interesting. Am now more informed about how a bank works.

The parts organised by HR were very well structured. We knew what we were supposed to be doing at all times. But the work shadowing was hit and miss--one division had a very disappointing shadowing session that only consisted of them talking to us, and us sitting in a chair for three hours. They should standardise the shadowing more as some people got excellent sessions that involved teamwork and actual case study sessions.

Excellent. There were 70 of us staying at the Marriott. It felt a bit like halls at times! RBS has a very relaxed work culture and the employees were very nice. The other interns were really nice and friendly and it was the first time in Edinburgh for most of us so we went into the city after work together.

The work shadowing bit of the internship was fairly good. Two people who showed us around were on the graduate scheme so they talked us through a typical day. They seemed to be very involved in project management. Not very sure how a proper job with RBS would be though but it can be hard to glean that from 3 hour sessions.

RBS has a very good company culture. Everyone seemed very focused on the customer and very excited about meeting and training interns and graduates. There's a huge deal of flexibility when it comes to working and lots of extra activities employees can get involved in. Everyone seems happy and involved. It's one of the things I liked the most about the internship.

Quite valuable. It made me realise that while I enjoy organisation and project management I would want a more customer facing role in a bank--something in the front office perhaps. I didn't find the back office roles I shadowed very interesting, and wouldn't want to work in those rules in the future.

Reimbursed for the train ride to and fro, hotel paid for, 25 pounds worth of food reimbursed everyday.

There were two networking opportunities.

the graduate panel opportunity we had was very interesting and probably more honest than the other one which didn't have very many employees. The employees who were there were surrounded by a swarm of RBS interns. I did have a chance to speak to a senior manager with another person as part of the work shadowing, and that was good.

There was a panel on the last day that explained in detail the various activities they could get involved in. There was a large variety. RBS has a gym and a nursery on their campus. They all seemed very interesting. In addition during lunch there were a few employees who came to speak with us about groups they were involved in.

It was really good to be able to explore Operations at RBS. The company is great and I would love to work there someday. It gave me a good insight into the corporate world and was generally quite good fun. However I didn't like the nature of the work we were shadowing and so won't be considering a career in Operations in the future.