FX Markets Intern Review

I got a lot of opportunities to develop my skills during my 10 week internship. I felt like a valuable asset to my team during my time with them. There was also a lot of opportunity outside of working with my team for personal development, such as creating and presenting a presentation to other interns and senior members of the bank about what our teams do. Also, there was a Helping Britain Prosper challenge which all of the interns had to get involved in and it was incredibly fun and rewarding because it involved fundraising for charity and working with other interns.

I felt valued by my colleagues because they had a lot of work to complete over the summer and I was able to get involved in a lot of projects. I was in a team with 3 other colleagues and one of them went on holiday, so I was able to take charge of a project when my colleague went on holiday and help it to progress, with the support of the other members of my team. My team were really lovely and nice to work with, as are most people working for Lloyds Banking Group.

My supervisor was incredibly supportive and keen for me to perform well on the internship so that I could be referred on the graduate scheme. She provided me with all the relevant resources for me to be able to take charge of my personal development and to see what areas I wanted to get involved in in the bank. In terms of projects that our team was involved with, I received a lot of support in bringing me up to speed with everything I needed to know before I started working on them, which was very useful.

Personally I was kept busy with meeting deadlines for projects with my team - but I really enjoy being busy and having things to do! Luckily I never needed to stay in the office past 6pm so I was not too busy. Other interns on my floor however were not so fortunate and by week 5 were complaining that they were getting bored at their desks. All interns were encouraged to branch out and see different areas of the business and so a lot of our time was also taken up by shadowing and learning about other teams; obviously this was dependent on how proactive you were if you reached out to various teams asking to shadow them, thus dictating how busy you were on a daily basis with meetings.

As an intern I was not expecting to receive much responsibility, however my team were great in making me feel valued and making me feel as though I had made a real contribution and left a legacy - I created new pricing forms which were implemented throughout commercial banking and also created training packs for sales teams and was able to interact with various senior sales colleagues and train them how to use the forms. I also updated Wealth pricing margins and had to pitch this to senior colleagues, giving my rationale for the changes. Also when one of my colleagues went on holiday, I took over her project and talked about it in meetings and kept all relevant stakeholders in the loop.

I really developed my confidence throughout my internship - this is an incredibly useful skills for the future and this was developed through speaking to senior staff members, presenting to stakeholders and also my peers. I improved my leadership during the Helping Britain Prosper challenge because I was team leader, and this is also a skill for life. I received plenty of opportunities to develop my PowerPoint and Excel skills, which are also very useful for employability and future jobs.

Friendly! Everyone was really nice and welcoming, our floor has 400 people on it and I was able to visit the other sections and talk to/shadow various teams to find out what they do. Although, there are a lot of senior colleagues on my floor too and thus there is also a very focused atmosphere at times, yet their are still happy to stop what they are doing and have a quick chat with interns to see how they are enjoying their experience in the bank.

My internship was very well organised and my team had work set up and ready for me to do, as well as projects for me to get involved in. They had a personal development plan for me set up and I was set objectives from the start that I needed to work towards during the course of my internship. There were quiet moments, but in this time I organised shadowing other teams and learning more about the bank. Other interns were not so fortunate and were put in roles where they could not add much value to their team e.g. a trading team would not need an unqualified intern helping them with trades.

I was provided with initial training in my first week by the bank and this took up a significant amount of time but helped me to develop my knowledge of the bank and was a useful introduction. Also all interns were involved in a Helping Britain Prosper challenge, which was incredibly useful for personal training and development because it was entirely dictated by the teams we were in. We had to organise innovative events and delegate responsibilities to enable use to raise as much money as possible for charity. Also, we had webinars during our internship with tips and ideas on how to make the most of the internship and to receive a graduate scheme referral, which was incredibly useful.

I feel as though I was given a lot of opportunity to perform well on my internship, but I was also able to source opportunity for personal development - thus, I think that I will receive a referral onto the graduate scheme and be able to continue my career with the bank. There are a lot of opportunities for career progression with the bank that all colleagues are able to access. Also, I have heard from a lot of colleagues that I met during my internship, that it is very easy to move to a different sector within the bank and do a completely different job, as there is a lot of opportunity for skill development.

The bank provided the interns with accommodation in central London where most of the interns lived and the social scene was very good as we were all together. However, intern socials were not organised by the bank, unless it was meetings for our personal development, where we were able to network with other interns in a professional environment.

Accommodation was provided by the bank, thus we did not need to pay rent to live in central London. The costs of travelling to work were dependent because it was possible to walk to work (35mins) or to take the bus or tube (20mins). Socialising near the accommodation was relatively cheap for central London and for a good area, however I worked in the City and socialising around there was considerably more expensive.

Brilliant nightlife as it is central London, however most interns did not go out with other interns living in the accommodation on weekends because, as you can imagine, they all had many friends also living and working in London. Although there were intern nights out every week, a significant amount of interns would go out with their other friends. However, after-work drinks was very popular among interns and in this respect the Nightlife was very good!

The interns had to make their own opportunities for activities outside of work such as charity events, after-work socials and weekend activities. There were not many activities run by the bank.