Project Assistant - Consumer Finance, Change. Review

I did an internship in Consumer Finance. In terms of the workload, there was a distinct lack of it... It seemed as though my line manager had not prepared any work for me to do before I started my internship. The tasks that I was assigned throughout the internship were mostly simple admin. However, towards the end I was given more responsibility and my workload increased. The best of the internship was the opportunities to understand different parts of the bank, I undertook shadowing in call centres, in a branch, as well as different areas of Consumer Finance. Overall it was not what I had anticipated my internship to be like, nonetheless I did enjoy networking and being in an office environment and learning more about banking.

I did not feel that valued as the tasks that I was set were mostly admin being passed down from my line manager to do on her behalf and to free up some of her time.

I was given a lot of support and guidance from my line manager in networking an experiencing different roles within the bank. She was always on hand to help me, however there was little work that she could set me when I asked for it.

Most days were spent simply checking emails... There was little work availiable for my line manager to set me although she tried to.

No important tasks were delegated to me because my line manager's role was a project manager, hence the successful running of her project was vital and I would have needed a lot more experience than I had at the time to undertake important activities.

My networking skills were what I developed the most, as well as Excel skills. my increased social skills will definitely help me in my future.

It had it's fun days, but mostly people were just getting no with their work. Other floors in my office were definitely more lively. There are plenty of opportunities for networking to take place around the office if you look for them.

Overall the preparation for all of the interns to come in was great! There was so much provision made for us in terms of accommodation, and introduction and a closing ceremony. However, my line manager had not set aside much work for me to do... although other interns had a lot of work to do.

I did undertake personal training in the form of learning about various programmes used by Consumer Finance in project management such as CMT. I also had plenty of opportunities to develop my social skills and network with a variety of people, including important stakeholders.

Very appealing! Although perhaps not in the department where I did my placement. Nonetheless, there are plenty of opportunities to move around the company in various jobs and this is advertised well by Lloyds.

Yes! There were so many events organised for us and by us! Although the majority of events were organised with the Charity Challenge in mind and to raise money for charity, they still had good turnouts and were good fun nonetheless.

Expensive - I was based in Central London. Buying lunch everyday is expensive and going out to bars after work is also expensive, but interns in London, compared to everywhere else in the country, get paid more on account of this and this is very helpful.

Central London nightlife, I was based near Shoreditch and Liverpool street and this is where the very trendy bars and nightclubs are. The accommodation for interns was in King's Cross, which has transport links to everywhere in London and it's easy to get to any location from there.

There are so many charity opportunites that you are encouraged to get involved in during the Charity Challenge that all interns have to participate in . You are encouraged to organise events for fundraising and your line manager allows you time to go and meet your team and do this.