Retail Banking Intern Review

I was most impressed with Lloyds as a Bank, its values, aspirations and colleague commitment towards customer excellence. The working environment was fantastic however there just was not enough for me to do to warrant a 10 week internship. Rather 4-6 weeks would have been much more appropriate.

Every stakeholder I came in contact with was brilliant, they really made me feel part of the team and always engaged in friendly conversation. My office really cemented Lloyds culture and what a brilliant company it is to work for.

My line manager was fantastic and all key stakeholders were always willing to help and were fully approachable whenever I needed support. I could not fault my line manager's support and feedback. However, I feel like prior planning could have been done to map out a weekly plan on what I would be doing on a daily basis, rather than the disjointed organisation of not knowing what I would be doing everyday.

There was very little I could engage in because of the nature of my placement and I felt my only true sources of responsibility was with tasks unrelated to my actual internship. I would advise all interns to fully engage with the charity challenge because this will keep keep you extremely busy along with developing your communication skills and networking profile.

I was provided with tasks to complete but I felt their relative importance was very low and thus my responsibilities were generally low priority. I feel like contingency plans need to be placed to ensure interns are always busy or adding value. My placement as a whole was very beneficial from a commercial awareness aspect but poor from an engagement perspective.

I developed a far greater understanding and appreciation of how theoretical applications of banking illuminate in a real world environment. Issues of Fraud, KYC and risk which I have understood from a theoretical stance were engrained in everyday banking activities and processes. I have developed my communication skills and confidence and will carry this forward in my career pursuit.

The atmosphere was fantastic, it was very fast paced and loud. There was a real "team culture" where individual colleagues would always extend a helping hand where it was needed. The guys was a really close knit team and this was highlighted in their responses to faults or problems. This team ethic is clear throughout and is shown in Lloyd's commitment to "make a difference together".

The application process was very seemless, a simple initial application, followed by a variety of personality and psychometric tests and an interview. The time in which it took for me to receive an offer post interview was very long but this is to be expected since I applied late into the process. Communication prior to starting my internship was contradictory as the recruitment team were poor but once I had started, my manager was extremely organised and had all the relevant documentation needed for my first week in the business.

I do not feel the internship gave me the potential to really show what I am capable of. I think this was a consequence of both entering a division which doesn't match my skillset but also because my daily and weekly schedule was very disjointed.I don't feel my site had the facilities or time to invest in an intern fully and I believe this is something the Bank should look to improve and fully assess whether sites can support interns - to get as much out of them as possible.

I really gained a good insight into Lloyds as an organisation and the customer culture which drives each and every colleague. Lloyds really do strike the perfect balance between supporting and developing their colleagues but not at the expense of the customer journey. Although I don't intend on working in my specific stream, I will deffinitely apply for other divisions within the organisation as Lloyds offer so many career paths which I intend on pursuing. Lloyds offer a plethera of benefits (if you were to become employed) and really look after their colleagues - as an intern I did not receive any but am aware of the benefits post employment.

The social scene for fellow placement students was much the same as mine since Wales is such a small area for interns when compared with the rest of the UK. The graduate students which arranged my socials arranged socials for all interns based in Wales and so there were always social opportunities around. There are also clubs situated in different areas accross Wales and so the opportunities are always there.

I was not provided with free accomodation, despite having to travel around 80 minutes to get to work from home - purely because I didn't have car access. Every other intern was provided with accomodation so I felt quite isolated to begin with as they were all living together. I did not go out in the area which I was placed and so cannot really comment on the cost of socialising.

I did not go out in the area which I worked but I went out elsewhere with other graduates/interns which was great fun. The graduates who are tasked with the responsibility for organising socials are brilliant, they always provide different types of activities so if nights out aren't for you, they organise alterantive events such as bowling/cinema trips/meals - there are activities for every type of personality.

The department I worked in had a fantastic bunch of guys and they invited me to group socials as and when they arose. There were no work cliques. Everyone was positive, approachable and friendly and this shone in out of work social activities and events. The site always held events, usually charity related which colleagues could get involved in. Other grad students and interns students were always arranging events for us to partake in - so the opportunities were always there.