Analyst Review

The people were fantastic, really welcome and accomodating. Any time I made a mistake they were very understanding and made sure that I didn't worry about it all day. The people on my team for the most part were really great fun to work with and I enjoyed my time with them immensely. Similarly, it seems that everyone at LBG that I had contact with were like this. I emailed a lot of people out of the blue (and some of them were very senior people) asking them if I could shadow them etc and they were so open to this which really made me feel like my experience was important to them which was really nice. If they themselves couldn't help then they would get their colleagues to contact me or give me their team member's email so I could still get some sort of idea about what goes on in that particular area. The people were definitely the highlight for me. The reason for the rating of 7 was just that too many times there just wasn't anything for me to do. It wasn't that I didn't ask because I did but ultimately I just did a lot of my own research into the business as a whole and the other areas that I wasn't exposed to. I like a fast paced environment where there's lots of things to do and this just wasn't it, there could be a number of reasons for this.

Very much so. No question was to big or small. I could approach anyone to ask them a question, I could email anyone to ask for a meeting or to shadow them and everyone (barring the couple who were on holiday!) responded which I think is a really great indication of how people value each other at LBG. I wasn't treated as an annoying intern, everyone wanted me to get as much out of it as possible.

My line manager was a highlight for me. He had me in stitches a lot of the time, was so friendly and open that I really felt that I could speak to him honestly about my experiences there and any problems that I had. I felt very comfortable around him and he really did brighten up my days as I'm certain he does for the other people in the team. He was also gave me advice whenever I asked for it and got me involved with lots of team events.

I was not very busy at all unfortunately which was the main drawback for me. On many occassions I had very little to no work to do and so had would research various things I didn't understand in the documents I read or training that I did. If I had been busier it would have been a 10/10 internship. This aspect was the only major drawback and was very frustrating for someone like me who has to have lots on the go.

This is difficult to identify. I think I was given some, not tonnes but that's not to be expected and they did trust me with important documents. I was given some responsibility though perhaps more would have been nice but at the end of the day you are an intern going into a place where knowledge and thorough understanding of procedures etc is key and some of your team will have worked there for 20+ years so as much as I wanted a lot of responsibility I wasn't surprised that this wasn't the case.

I now have a more thorough understanding of the role of banks in todays society and the key processes behind such organisations. I have learnt about things that I didn't know existed (and some that I should really have known already). Beyond that there wasn't really much that I can see at the moment that I can transfer over to my degree and considering I'm working on systems that are to be changed I don't think those particular skills will help (that I can foresee). I think it's more just getting an idea of how many industries and people the bank touches and HOW it has an effect on these industries. There are some really amazing things out there!

Quiet but that's because it was quite an empty floor. Everyone just got on with their work but there was chatter and quite frequent laugher mainly from my team. I laughed more than I had done in a long time thanks to my line manager's hilarious stories and the jokes made by other team members. Generally it definitely wasn't bad but there wasn't *that* much interaction across the teams which for me, coming from an open plan office where everyone knows and jokes around with everyone, was different to what I was used to. It would have been nicer to get to know more people in the office area that I was in but they were all smiled and said good morning etc so it's not like there wasn't any interaction whatsoever.

In terms of overall organisation the set up was good and if you were unsure about something there was never a point where you had no idea who you could email. The Responsible Business people who are responsible (see what I did there) for organising it all are very accessble and all information is given you to very early on, so you know what you're doing. There was nothing wrong with the overall internship set up.

Considering I was only there for 8 weeks there wasn't a hell of a lot that they could invest in me. I was invited to all the interal training that was going on at the time and bitesized introductory team session. There's also free online training that you can do which is great and you can complete a variety of different courses and read a variety of different business related books - by business I don't just mean things to do with banking it also includes the necessary skills to be successful eg goal setting, leadership, negotiation and networking which can make very interesting reads. LBG run an intern/scholar 4 week introductory webinar course where you link in to a intern wide presentation and you're taking through various aspects of different skills that are integral to Lloyds eg putting the customer first and how you can add value to the business and help become the best bank of customers.

I would be proud to work for a firm like Lloyds but I wouldn't be able to not constantly have things to do. The people in my experience are reall y what makes the company however more than a couple of the times the slow systems caused me an immense amount of frustration but then at this point in the climate that we're in I'm almost certain all the banks will be in the same position so it's not really "personal" to Lloyds. LBG is great with flexible working - more so than I would have imagined going into the internship - and I mean surprisingly good. Some people put in an extra hour and three quarters every day Mon-Thurs to get Friday off (or something like that) while others work Mon, Tues, Wed in office and remotely other days. There's a "day to make a difference" where you go out in teams and volunteer for a day eg painting and decorating for charities etc. It has numerous benefits for colleagues too, especially around holidays etc. There seems to be more of an emphasis on career progression now although I'm not sure if this is replicated throughout the business or just the team that I was in.

Edinburgh's not an expensive city to live in compared to others, especially further south. Lots of Lidls, Aldis, Tescos, Asdas, Sainsburys etc as well as the more "expensive" brands. It's a great little city to work in and everything is within walking distance. Like all things you can choose to go expensive taking the taxi all the time, only eating from posh restaurants or you could walk everywhere and buy stuff from Lidl. All options are available to you here. (Again can't really comment on the cost of clubs etc but sounded average from what I heard from some people - although some might say differently). LBG put all the scholars/interns up in Edinburgh in a fantastic place which was within walking distance to the two main offices in Edinburgh and were very near to Lidl, big Tescos and a Sainburys (literally a minute away). Within 10mins walking distance to Calton Hill which is great to go up in the evening and watch over the city.

I was in Edinburgh so it was great especially when the festival on. I'm not really one for going clubbing but going to the festival events was great fun.

Yes. The interns/scholars where I was were very active in going out so yes there are opportunities but that was because this particular cohort were very proactive so I can't speak for future ones.