Intern Review

I have extremely enjoyed my Finance internship at Lloyds Banking Group. Working in Group Corporate Treasury, I have been given the chance to be proactive across both front and back office. As a result, I have been able to work alongside colleagues across all areas of the floor, and have taken the opportunity to learn as much as possible during my 10 weeks at the bank.

I was extremely valued by colleagues and had the chance to regularly catch up with my team on my progress and to gain support throughout my work. Colleagues across other departments were also happy to grab lunch, discuss their involvement within the bank, and overall, have helped me settle almost immediately into my internship.

Despite my manager being extremely busy throughout my internship, I still had the chance to fit in 1-2-1 meetings to catch up and get support in my work. My team also helped to guide me on a more daily basis, and therefore made me more certain that I was working to a high standard, whilst learning new things everyday.

On a daily basis, I always had something to do, whether it was working alongside my manager and team, or being proactive and asking colleagues for other work to do. On very busy days, I had the chance to prioritise my time to focus on tight deadlines and had the support of my team to help ensure I delivered to a high standard.

Given my manager was extremely busy during my internship, I had a responsibility to be proactive in my work. This gave me a chance to tap into the experience of colleagues throughout the treasury floor, take on additional tasks, work independently, ask for support, and deliver my progress to the wider team on a daily basis. As a result, I was hugely responsible for the work I delivered.

By working in Finance, I have gained numerous computer, organisational, team working and leadership skills. Studying Economics at university, these skills will be extremely useful particularly during modules with a quantitative focus, as well as projects that involve working in teams whereby organisational skills becomes fundamental. Beyond university, these skills will assist me as I aim to progress into a finance graduate role in the near future!

The general atmosphere in the office was very friendly and made coming into the office always enjoyable. The treasury floor were all very keen to help each other, and therefore made busy days more manageable. Colleagues would also regularly bring back treats for others from their holidays abroad, which was always a bonus!

My placement was very organised, particularly with training, support and workload. However, given the complexities of Treasury, colleagues can be busy at times attending meetings and therefore I have had to take the initiative on several occasions to chase up additional work to do, and to be proactive. Besides that, my overall work placement was organised and set up to support interns in carrying out real work.

Throughout the internship, there was an importance put on completing quarterly training, which helps to improve colleagues' understanding of the cultural and ethical expectations required of them. This personal development was very useful in getting up to speed with the values of the bank. Additionally, interns had the opportunity to dial in to regular webinars given by stakeholders throughout different areas of the bank, which was extremely useful in furthering personal development.

The internship culminates in a referral process near the end of the 10 weeks. This involves sitting down with my manager and discussing my progress and development. Based on overall performance, this can lead on to a graduate offer with no further assessment. As a result, the bank has helped to bring the best out of me during my time here, with an appealing future employment prospect possible.

Graduates and interns caught up with each other on a regular basis, and were very open in supporting us throughout our internship.

City of London, so pretty expensive!

Working in the city of London, I did not experience too much in terms of nightlife. Interns would take the initiative to journey a bit further out for the nightlife experience.

During my time, I didn't experience too much in terms of activities outside of work, besides colleagues and interns going out for drinks occasionally. However, there's definitely an opportunity to be proactive and organise activities, such as events outside of work time.