Internal Audit Summer Internship Review

I really enjoyed the time at RBS. Very nice company culture and great facilities. Work could have been more challenging but all in all the experience was very positive.

I could not have asked for a nicer team.

My manager and his superiors were always friendly and helpful. They offered me feedback and guided me where necessary.

It depended on the weeks. Sometimes, I had no work at all - occasionally, I stayed until late in the evening. I never minded being busy but sitting around with little to do got old very quickly.

When I did have work, I was free to make decisions almost independently and received good feedback to guide me along the way. I never felt overwhelmed but always encouraged to take ownership of the projects I was involved in.

I learnt a great deal about my function but little that would help me if I was to go into a different area. Despite the fact that I was not very busy, I still got a lot of exposure to working with stakeholders and colleagues within a large corporation - people skills that will help regardless where I go.

Everyone is very friendly but given the lack of work sometimes the days got very long. However, people were easy going and had time for a game of ping pong or breakfast together in the morning.

Everything ran smoothly. However, my team had had little time to find adequate work for me to do. We had various projects/challenges over the course of the program. Some of them felt like they happened somewhat last-minute.

There was no technical training per se, as a consequence of the nature of the work I was doing. However, there were plenty of opportunities to get exposure to other parts of the bank and various talks and events to learn more about the bank and the industry. We were also encouraged to spend some time in a different function if we wanted to explore other types of work

The company is in transformation. Lots of things are changing and in the right places you can have a substantial impact on the RBS of the future. However, it also means that costs are being cut left and right. The bank is less flexible financially than others which is very noticeable. In terms of development. I have met a lot of people that moved around the company and have changed careers within RBS many times. Many of my colleagues were also supported by the bank in their pursuit of further training and qualifications. If you buy into the RBS of 2020, it could be a great place to pursue a career in banking.

It really depends on the team. Within the cohort of interns, we quickly found a large group of people that were keen to go out and do things after work. Amongst colleagues, teams have different habits. My own team spent little time with each other outside of work but I know of other interns that frequently went for drinks or dinner with their coworkers.

Living and going out in Edinburgh is not too costly. As someone who likes to go out a lot, I still walked away with some money at the end of the time at RBS. During the Fringe Festival, things got a bit more pricy, as we spent more time going out on weekdays. All well worth it!

Edinburgh has a great nightlife and the four weeks of Fringe spiced things up a lot. It is not London but there is something for everyone. Big bonus: everything is cheap!

There are various volunteering and sports groups around the company.