Colleague Excellence Assistant Manager Review

I enjoyed the nature of the role and especially enjoyed the company of the colleagues that I worked with. I felt that I was trusted to work independently, but had the coaching available when needed. It's been a great insight into a customer serving area of the business, and by working in colleague excellence, a support role, I was able to meet and work with many people, something that I particularly enjoy and that keeps the work fresh and interesting.

I felt that I was very valued by my colleagues. I was able to work with colleagues across all areas and levels in my office - everyone was approachable and I felt that colleagues cared about how I was progressing and what I was getting up to on a day to day basis. I was also pleased to be able to be able to do work that has the potential to enhance staff’s working lives, by holding colleague engagement forums as a major part of my internship, I was able to gain a really good insight into the business and use my findings from that to build on.

I was given good support and guidance by my supervisors; I was able to spend time with numerous high level colleagues, as well as shadowing key stakeholders across the department. Regular feedback sessions as well as informal training meant that I was able to develop a good background on the functioning of the business and focus on personal development goals.

The workload during the internship was manageable, with clear deadlines and success criteria to work to. At the start of the placement, there was less to do at times, however I found that those days were very useful to shadow team members and get stuck into the group discover learning units that I was required to do.

I feel that I was given a lot of responsibility during the internship. I was able to design and implement a plan to hold colleague forums, as well as managing my own work time. Furthermore, I was able to meet and present to more senior staff than I was expecting to. For me this was important, as it shows that I was trusted by my supervisors, and that I was able to do valued work.

The skills I have developed will certainly help me beyond the internship. Previously, I had never run serious group sessions, so my organisation and communication skills have been pushed. I’ve also improved my time management, as I was free to choose what I was working on daily, but still had to adhere to overall deadlines for different projects.

The general atmosphere was different across the areas I worked in. On the service floors, the atmosphere was lively, with lots of staff and usually something going on in the day, either a game or food brought in. When working in the executive area, there were fewer colleagues and the office could be quite quiet. Overall, there was a very friendly atmosphere.

The placement was quite well set up, with a plan ready to jumpstart me when I arrived, however due to sickness and holiday my supervisors were less available in the first couple of weeks. This wasn't a problem as I was able to learn from a colleague on the graduate programme during this time, while I shadowed them in their line manager role. It was also a good time to learn the business.

Good, based on my performance with Lloyds during the internship my eligibility for the graduate programme will be assessed and I have the potential to be offered a 2 year graduate placement situated within Group Operations, the area that I did my internship in. This would give me a chance to do three work placements in different areas over the 2 years.

Yes, there was a good social scene with the other Lloyds interns, those of us who didn’t live in Edinburgh, the city where my office was based, were accommodate in a new student block in the city centre. This meant that around 25 of us were living in the same flat block so there was always plenty to do on weekends.

Very good, being based in Edinburgh in summer meant that there were lots of arts festivals on, including the Edinburgh international festival, the blues and jazz festival and the Edinburgh Fringe, which meant the city was full of people and events were going on almost every night. There is plenty to do in a city as big and popular as Edinburgh.