Retail Intern - Local Directors Support Review

I loved the opportunity to meet such a range of people, working in all areas if the businese and the vast outline of the role. Having a lot of opportunity enabled me to really enjoy a mixture of the jobs in Lloyds Banking Group. However, not fullfilling a full star 10 rating was due to some of the places I needed to go to, did not create such an enjoyable experience due to the atmoshphere from the customer base.

I always felt valued by my colleagues even when they were super busy and didnt really have much time. The groups values were obviously embedded into all departments i was able to go to and it really encouraged a positive working environment every single day. The management were especially helpful in embedding me into their teams straight away and took time out of their day to make me feel valued.

Management in each business area I worked in were always approachable for asking for advic, help and feedback at any poitn in the day. They also always scheduled time each day to catch up with me and my progress. My line manager was amazing throughout the whole process, every week if I was not working alongside her, time was taken out to confirm my weeks agenda and recognise progress, concerns, queries and praise.

Throughout the internship I was given the opportunity of multiple training days, tasks, challenges and opportunities. However, I was given a lot of opportunity to create my own agenda each week running alongside projects my line manager had set me. This created some days to not be so busy as others as different managers in the different locations wanted different from me when I visited their branches. Also, due to technical issues some days I was unable to participate in other tasks due to not being trained on their sysyems. I was also fortunate to visit different areas of the country for example I visited Manchester, London and covered all of the Birmingham area.

I was given a lot of responsibility. For example, I was able to set my own weekly agenda where by I chose what places to visit in Birmingham and had to plan each day with branch maagers across the region. Also, I was given full responsibility of the project I was given to challenge my self and decide how much analysis I needed to equate and feedback.

The training and skills I developd throughout my time at the internship will enable me to manage my time better when I return to my studies and also enable me plan my day to day and weekly action plans of when assignments and revision needed to be completed. This will therefore be better time management for myself to do other things. Also, the responsibilty of the internship has developed my self awareness of how in depth I need to be in relation to tasks. However, due to already be very self efficeint before this intership was taken, I feel I am already doing this and the internship has just refreshed the importance of time management and selkf awareness.

The atmoshphere was always prodomiantly positive, with branch managers setting a good tone to the start of the day encouraging a team ortientated work place. Howver, there were some branches I visited that didnt have the same morning start or didnt put such a big priortiy on the morning team talk and this had evident effet upon the atmoshpere of the day and some people never even spoke to one another.

My line manager was very organsied, making sure each week there was set objectives and motives going forward even though I planned my own weks for the latter part of the internship programme. Weekly phone calls from my line manager were also made and continuous emails to make sure my plan of actions were being actioned. Also, all managers in the different areas were made aware of what my role was and that I was going to be taken part in different branches throughout my time at LLoyds.

I was given all training opportuity which involved both face to face and online learning. This was given to me throughout the entire time at the bank which helped to develop my knowledge and understanding of the job role. It also gave me the chance to learn how to understand customers needs and the best method in helping them.

I really want to work for the company and they have really shown me the opportunity available for working for LLoyds bank. I have been able to see first hand of how they embed the core values and the value they have of their colleagues. Even though I have marked the benefits throughout the internship as beong quite low I have been made aware of the benefits available when joining the company.

Due to many of the interns in my region being placed in various locations the opportunity for a good social scene was very difficult as it was hard to meet easily. The social scene was not encouraged by anyone in the workplace however it was noticed those who work in the branch did have a good social scene out of the workplace in particular branches. We do have plans to meet at the end of the placement period.

I never socialised on my internship which makes it difficult to judge the cost of socialising in Birmingham. I do live in this area though and would say the cost is quite high depending on where it was agreed to go.

When i took part in my internship I never experieced the nightlife with my peers.

There was always the opportunity to take part in any of the charity days at the bank, which meant being out of office for the day. For example, part of my internship involved a charity project whereby teams were established according to location and there were plans and goals needed to be ahcieved throughout different times in the placement. This enabled me to get involved with the companies charity and visit different locations. For example, I went to Wolverhampton offices to do a cake sale and I also went to London to do a Krispy Kreme sale.