First Year Commercial and Retail Banking Intern Review

All colleagues were very friendly and supportive. Enjoyment was decreased however, because of large periods of time where I had little to no work. The work I had was at times unsatisfying, as it was repetitive and required very little thought. This was a feeling which appeared to be shared by other interns who I spoke with. At least half of my time was spent either doing nothing, or doing tasks such as doing filing, and checking information.

Across the areas of the business in which I worked, I found everyone to be very friendly and welcoming. I did not always feel valued however, as in one area of the bank, there was an unwillingness to provide me with work, because of the time it would take to explain it to me. On the other hand, I also had colleagues in a different area who were continuously giving me both work and feedback which actually helped with my development.

I had a mixed experience. One of my bosses was really excellent. They were continually looking for ways to involve me in what was happening, and tried incredibly hard to help me gain an understanding of the business. They met with me regularly in order to give me feedback, and were very open to criticism. On the other hand, my other boss was perfectly nice, but took relatively little interest in my development. They only met with me in a 1:1 situation once, and although they were aware of my lack of work, they did little about it.

There just wasn't enough work for me to do, which I know from talking to other interns was a recurring theme. The nature of the programme means that interns are sent out to regional offices, which is fine in theory, but means that those who are looking after the interns may not be particularly used to having one. The internship was split into two halves, and while one gave me plenty to be getting on with, the other was spent with large periods of me either observing people fill in forms, or just sitting in the office killing time.

These questions are hard to answer, because of the structure of the internship, but there were periods when for instance I was the only member of staff visible to clients, and so shouldered responsibility for dealing with their needs myself. That being said, I knew that if I needed support it was definitely there, but I was grateful for the level of trust placed in me.

I think that one of the most useful things to come from the internship will be experiences to draw upon during future interviews. I say this because in reality, I learned relatively little, other than things very specific to the bank's own systems, which are unlikely to be used elsewhere. What I did get though were some good experiences to draw upon in future behavioural interviews, which I didn't have before. I also gained some more experience in time management, and to a certain extent leadership.

Reasonably quiet really, although sometimes we had the radio on which was nice. Generally speaking I was a minimum of 15 to 20 years younger than those I was working with, so this probably explains the slightly more subdued atmosphere. People were willing to help though, and kind, which some might say is more important than it being fun.

When it came to centrally organised things, such as training, or charity days, the organisation was excellent. The problem is that most things weren't happening centrally, but were rather wherever the placement took place. The issue with this was highlighted by one of my colleagues with main responsibility for giving me work telling me that they had only been told I was coming the day before. This isn't the programmes fault really, and everything they could do to make sure we were well prepared was done. This just didn't always translate as the messages got further away from the central office.

They definitely invested a fair amount of both time and money into all of the interns. We had a two day induction, which focussed on soft skills, and clearly raised some concepts which most people were unaware of, such as personal branding. Then, there were weekly, and sometimes more frequent than that, webinars. These were presentations hosted by often quite senior members of the bank on their specific lines of work. I really looked forward to these as they showed some of the other opportunities available through the bank and were definitely educational.

I would definitely consider the bank further, but I would just be careful of which office I end up in really. At a bank of its size, there are so many opportunities. That said, I will be working hard to ensure that I get a placement in London if I do return, as I believe that is where most of the opportunities are. It's also worth considering that I only experienced a tiny part of what the bank does, and only met a handful of its employees.

With interns spread all over the UK, it was pretty unlikely that you would be with another intern, unless in one of the major cities. My colleagues were mainly middle aged, so socialising outside of work wasn't really on the cards. After a couple of the central events some of us would go out for a little bit, but most people had to get a train home so this didn't last long.