Commercial Banking: Business Management Review

I really enjoyed my 10 week internship and the opportunities that I was given during the time I was with my team. I feel like I was stretched and gained new skills during the time, which will be beneficial in the future.

I was given responsibility for projects and trusted with important tasks that would be used by the team in the future. This gave a sense of value to my role, as I knew that the work I was doing was beneficial to the team and was not just something to 'keep me busy'.

I had regular informal chats with my line manager, so communication was strong throughout. As well as this I had a few more formal 1-2-1 sessions with him, which were useful for gaining feedback on both sides. There was a good sense of openness with my line manager and supervisor throughout and I felt able to ask them any questions or queries I had about the work I was doing.

I was very busy for the majority of my internship, with the odd day where I would have slightly fewer things to do. In general though, I think the workload was just right for an intern, as I felt stretched on a regular basis, but had time to complete my balance score card and complete charity challenge activities during the rare, slightly quieter times.

I was given my own projects to work on, which allowed me to have ownership of the tasks and produce something that was of benefit by the end of my 10 weeks. I was given a relatively free reign by my manager, which meant that I had the opportunity to speak with other lloyds employees in different locations, as well as arranging a few days to spend in different departments in Edinburgh and London.

My excel skills in particular have improved quite significantly, which should be useful for the completion of my degree next year. I think excel skills are applicable to a wide range of roles, so these skills should be valuable in the future. I also had the opportunity to work with other interns in the same stream/department as me, but based in different locations on a project/presentation, which was a great opportunity to improve my presentation and communication skills.

Everyone in the office was very friendly and willing to spend time with me if there were any areas of their work that I was interested in. This was true for all the offices I visited, and there seemed to be a good team atmosphere throughout. I don't think I came across anyone who wasn't friendly and even senior management were willing to spend time with the interns and took a very relaxed approach, which put us at ease.

I had a positive experience in terms of the setup, and my line manager was very organised and kept up to date with the emerging talents team. However, I know that this was not necessarily the case for some of my fellow interns, who felt there was a lack of structure at times.

I was lucky enough to be put through a course in which I gained a widely recognised accreditation, this will be extremely beneficial to my CV and so I feel that this was a large investment by the organisation. The regular feedback meant that I was aware of my strengths and areas for improvement throughout, which was also very useful.

The internship program at LBG has a clear link to the graduate scheme, so by the end of the 10 weeks you know whether or not you have been referred to the 2 year graduate scheme, which means that you do not need to re-apply to the grad scheme. This is a great strength, however there is not really an option to switch department/stream if you think you would be suited to a better area of the organisation.

I was placed in student accommodation with fellow interns, which provided us with the opportunity to get to know each other well and socialise outwith work. This worked really well and we had regular after work drinks, so we got to explore the local area a bit more. The nightlife in general was good.

The cost of living in Birmingham was probably around average, there were lots of smaller Tescos and Sainsburys around the centre and plenty of places to choose from if you were going out or grabbing something for lunch. The accommodation costs were all covered by the organisation, which was great and if we needed to travel for work, this was paid for too. In terms of going out for drinks/nights out there were cheap and more expensive options depending on your taste.

Nightlife was good, there were lots of options for both bars and clubs and we normally managed to find a happy hour if we were going for drinks after work. There seemed to be something for most tastes. There are also lots of cinemas around the centre, and restaurants too. We tended to do things during the week, as some interns lived fairly close by so went home at weekends.

The charity challenge encouraged us to raise money for the LBG chosen charity, so we held events in the office and participated in out of office activities too. There are lots of gyms nearby and plenty to see and do in Birmingham- it definitely exceeded my expectations, as I wasn't too enthusiastic at first about being placed in Birmigham.