IT Business Management Intern Review

I really enjoyed working at Lloyds Banking Group. The team were all very friendly, and happy to give me varied and interesting work to do. Additionally, work-life balance was generally very good - we were able to leave work at around 5pm every day, and could also take five days holiday during the internship. Overall, the internship has given me a really positive impression of the group.

All colleagues I spoke to, both inside and outside the team, were very willing to dedicate time to helping me, and advising me how to get the most out of the internship. And all the interns were encouraged to present their work at team meetings, and, generally, made to feel part of the team. So, overall, my colleagues certainly made sure I felt like my contributions were valued.

Sometimes things were a bit unclear early on. For instance, I wasn’t always sure in the first week what tasks I should be working on, what to do with a piece of work once it was complete, or who to go to for help with a particular issue. But things quickly improved. And generally my line manager was very willing to help me.

Busy enough. I never had to work late, but, during the day, did usually feel like I had work to do. There were a few times, especially early on, where I did not feel like I had enough work. But after I raised this with my line manager, this problem was very quickly addressed.

I was very happy with the amount of responsibility I was given on the placement. I had the opportunity to present to people from across the group, and work with stakeholders to deliver a particular outcome. I certainly felt like I had the opportunity to take ownership of my work, and be responsible for completing tasks to an appropriate standard.

The analytical and research skills I developed will likely be useful for my degree. But more important for me was the chance to develop my public speaking skills, something that will help me during the rest of my degree and beyond. I definitely felt like I was given the chance to improve in this regard.

Everyone was very friendly, so the overall office atmosphere was great. And there were several other interns on my team, as well as two grads, which was good. The office was slightly quieter on Fridays (when most of the permanent staff worked from home). But overall I enjoyed being in the office every day.

The internship was well organised in general. There was a helpful induction on the first day, which gave us an overall idea of the objectives/values of the group as a whole. And our line manager worked hard to outline the overall structure of the internship on our first day, as well as explain how things work in the office.

On the one hand, we were certainly given the chance to develop our skills in areas particularly important to us. And weekly 1-2-1s with manager were useful for defining personal development goals, and getting advice on how to achieve them. Possibly the internship could have benefited from more formal training early on – as I didn’t have a particularly clear idea of what my role entailed in the first few days.

There are certainly good opportunities for interns to progress to the graduate scheme, should we want to do that. The internship has certainly made me consider Lloyds Banking Group for my future career, far more than I would have otherwise. And we have been provided with lots of information about the graduate programme over the course of the internship, which is really useful.

Yes – very good. Both within the office and with other interns more generally. Lloyds provided accommodation for the course of the internship, which gave me a great chance to meet with a number of different interns, including many working in different teams/buildings. And the induction on the first day gave us a chance to meet interns in other locations as well.

My placement was based in London, so the price was inevitably quite high. But Lloyds provided accommodation, and this accommodation was within walking distance of the office, so this kept accommodation/transport prices quite high. And our pay was slightly higher as a result of being based in London (I think roughly £40 a week more than for non-London interns). As a result, it was easy to live on the salary we were paid.

London – so obviously good

Lloyds themselves didn’t put on any activities for interns outside of work. But this wasn’t really a problem, as there was plenty of opportunity to meet with other interns and plan things ourselves. And, of course, it is never difficult to find things going on in London.