Assistant Risk Manager Review

The team is worked with were really friendly and welcoming. The whole of SWB was happy to help me and made me feel like a well valued member of the team. My line manager set up meetings for me with all of the departments within SWB and the Managing director to give me a really good oversight and understanding of the bank and how it runs.

My colleagues treated me as one of the team, assisting me with my work, asking for my help with their work and delegating tasks to me. The work I was given was the same type of work my colleagues were doing rather than small unchallenging tasks. I was given lots of feedback for various pieces of work by various colleagues which was very positive. I really felt like part of the team which made me enjoy the placement even more.

During my first week especially, my love manager talked through a lot of information with me about the bank, my team, and my role. She also provided me with ample reading material which I often referred back to throughout my internship. My line manager had weekly one to ones with me to ask how I was doing, to offer support and to give me some extra interesting tasks to do along side my main work load. My line manager was always available if I had any queries.

Work load in my team was very high and I took on my fair share. I had plenty of work at all times, having to prioritise work daily depending on deadlines and various other factors. At times it felt like my work load was too much, but my line manager always reminded me that help was available within the team if necessary. However, despite the high work load, I did manage all tasks set, within timescales and without much stress. It did certainly need me to develop my time management and prioritisation skills.

I completed my mandatory training as well as additional training required for my role. My line manager trained me in my role and actively encouraged me to reach out to the business on various tasks. As the weeks went on I felt that I had more and more responsibility given to me. I was encouraged to liase with the business on my own with my line manager only doing a finial check on my completed, submitted work. I was given projects to run which I had much responsibility for and my colleagues occasionally asked me to take on tasks for them with confidence that I would do these on my own.

The time management skills I developed will certainly help me as I move into my final year of my degree. The work I did within my team has developed my skills such as project leadership, organisation etc. My strengths based interview and feedback from that from my colleagues will be useful in interviews beyond university.

Generally my office was busy, everyone had a lot of work to do, yet friendly. Everyone was happy to take the time to help a colleague. My office was split into various little departments, yet everyone knew each other and worked together like one big team. Even senior management were just as friendly and helpful as everyone else. Everyone made time for me.

My line manager had pre arranged for me to get a badge to access the office, had a desk and IT set up for me, and had a fully week plan for me to meet all of the departments within SWB. My line manager had compiled an initial 10 week schedule for me which is updated throughout my internship. The only aspect which let it down was folder access, though this seemed to be an IT issue rather than anything else.

I was encouraged to look into courses on discover learning to advance my personal development. I also attended webinars to expand my development.

Future employment aspects with lloyds banking group are now very appealing to me. As a result of my experience during my internship I am now very seriously considering working with lloyds banking group and have been offered a place on their retail graduate scheme. Prior to my internship I had no thoughts of working for lloyds banking group.

There was a very good social scene with the other interns both in the office and after work. However, personally, due to other commitments I could not join in with the social aspect out with work. There was also a good social aspect with my colleagues. We went out for a festival night out, participated in our day to make a difference, and went out for a leaving lunch for me. Everyone in the team were eager to meet for these social events.

I stayed at home so had to commute to my place of work. I therefore cannot comment on living costs. Being in the centre of Edinburgh, socialising costs were higher than at home, but about average for what you would expect to pay in a busy capital city... Not too expensive.

I didn't participate much in edinburgh night life over my placement, but edinburgh has fantastic and varied night life year round.

Not many. The day to make a difference was one.