Financial Institutions Intern Review

Out of the 4 internships I've had, this experience was the most fulfilling one I've had to far- in terms of the work culture (people at Lloyds are just really lovely) and the rigor of training I’ve received. There is also a proper structure for the internship as the Emerging Talent team conscientiously track our progress in the internship with biweekly intern meetings with the emerging talent team.

My colleagues are highly supportive and the responsibility I was given increases as the placement progresses. The sense of ownership that I've gotten from the responsibility that I was given is one of the reasons why I enjoyed this internship. Everyone in the team was really friendly- and will always take time out of their (really really) busy schedule to sit down one on one with me to explain any aspects of the work should I not understand anything. This was something that bought me over as they always seemed excited to share their knowledge

Yes - they do not expect me to come in with an arsenal of economic/finance knowledge and are open to explaining just about everything and anything to me. The COO team also organizes trainings with other teams across the floor in order for us to have a basic understanding of what the other teams are doing. In addition, my supervisor was really supportive in terms of how he arranged for me to meet with contacts working in other aspects of the business in order for me to gain a holistic view of the business

While the first 2 weeks of the internship may seem slow as we do not have the necessary knowledge or skills, towards the end, some days can be packed with meetings one after another, but I've never had to stay in office past 7pm or come in in the weekends.

At the start, there was still a lot of hand holding as I shadowed people as they work. But as the placement progresses, I was given ownership for the work that I've done and by week 5 or 6, I was tasked to write transaction papers fully on my own

The knowledge that I've learnt with regards to the finance industry from the training received/ chats I've had with people here will definitely help me in my degree should I choose to take any finance mod in my graduating year, and it will definitely be valuable in any jobs should I apply to work in the finance industry in the future.

General atmosphere in office is pretty lively, especially on Friday afternoons when everyone is generally in a really good mood. On some Friday afternoons, there might be fellow colleagues, pushing a cart around selling wines and beers as a fundraising attempt - and that never fails to lift everyone's moods.

There is a proper structure, with intern staffing meetings once every 2 weeks to track our progress, and weekly 1 to 1 meeting with our line manager to discuss our balance scorecard, which is a matrix of the things we should have achieved by the end of each week in the placement, for example, having used certain systems or having had interaction with client or attending client meetings.

There were loads of training put in place for us. In the FI department, there will be trainings led by the team heads of other teams so that we get to know what the other teams are doing. Across the business, there were also trainings with other departments to give us a more holistic view of the business as a whole. We also had mandatory online trainings to complete regarding compliance as well as a visit to the Bloomberg office to have a go at learning how to use the Bloomberg terminal

The referral rate into the grad scheme for my current scheme has historically been pretty high, as Lloyds believe in retaining talents, and not just hiring according to headcount. Hence, usually if the intern has proven to be capable, they will usually be referred onto the grad scheme - though I'm not sure if this has been changed following the announced job cuts during the Half Year Results.

The FI floor have monthly drinks and periodic huddle where the whole department comes together across the floor. There are also sports events planned once in a while (such as a Softball Tournament against Capital Markets) where we get randomly split into teams and play games with colleagues from other departments. There are also networking drinks, open mic nights, or even a graduate boat party planned by fellow graduates/interns for everyone to socialize

Living in London is never cheap - but there are a few places where you can get drinks/meals at affordable prices. Lloyds do provide extra allowance for colleagues living in London to help us with the high cost of living in London. At the cheapest, a pint of beer can be £2-3

London night scene can get pretty wild - maybe not in the St Paul's area, but there are a few clubs around Soho/Chinatown area if people are looking for a good night out – though cheap nights out are not common in London unfortunately. But people do go for drinks, typically on Thursday or Friday

There is an initiative within Lloyds called the Innovation Lab where conferences on different topics are held (weekly?) and also several networking drinks where we can interact and get to know executive members. And also, like mentioned earlier, there are open mic nights, graduate boat parties, drinks etc planned by fellow graduates/interns for graduates/interns.