HR Intern Review

The way we were housed by the company (together and in student accommodation) was really positive as it allowed us to talk to and build friendships with other people in the same position; it made organising social events easier. Everyone in the office was super friendly and welcoming, which made the days more enjoyable. The only thing I would say is that I didn’t always have a meaningful task to carry out, so often got bored.

All of my colleagues were very welcoming and warm, especially my line manager and the other interns. I’d often be invited to social events, or to go eat lunch with somebody, and I was introduced to pretty much everyone in the office at least once. An interest was taken in my personal wellbeing, especially in terms of an illness I had. However, it was hard to feel valued in terms of the work I was producing, since it didn’t feel like there was much responsibility at all.

My line manager was super helpful, and gave me ample support, especially in the first few weeks. He made sure I had plenty of time and opportunity to get acquainted with the people and work of the office, project and company through organising meetings and workshops for me. He also provided me with opportunities to work with other departments closer to my specific interests.

Some days were super packed, especially in the beginning, with things like meetings and workshops. However, by about the halfway point, I often didn’t have very much to do at all while at work. I tried to occupy myself with things like training, but I would have felt more comfortable having a few more tasks to take ownership of.

I was given responsibility for completing a small task (an actions log). Whilst this was a task all of my own that I was allowed to get on with independently, it was very low-impact, and not very time consuming or wide in scope. I would have preferred more responsibility or more tasks of a similar level.

A lot of the skills I developed were specific to working in a bank office, so if I choose to go on to work for the company after graduation they will be very useful. There were other skills that were more general and so more likely to be useful—I developed project management skills, which I feel will be of use to me in organising my studies and my charity work. I also developed my organisation and timekeeping skills, which will be useful in most any context. However, I would say that the formal training (the banking skills and compulsory training) developed less transferable skills which are less likely to be useful.

The office was a bit quiet/tame, but that is understandable when a lot of phonecalls and meetings are going on in one relatively small space. However, it was also very friendly and very relaxed, which is something that I appreciate. People were very open to conversation and would always be happy to say hi or help with a task. The rules were sensible and flexible dependent on how you work and what realistically needs to get done, which is preferable to the rigid and strict rules of some offices.

At a wider level, the internship was relatively well-organised given the scope of the task at hand (there are a lot of us doing internships here). However, some of it did feel very last minute, such as finding out where specifically we were actually placed and what was going on with the specific induction events. At an office level, it was very well organised, with my line manager organising lots of things for me to do and ensuring I found my feet in the first week.

The induction events I attended were very well funded and fairly well organised, with even travel to and from events paid for. However, the venue wasn’t ideal in terms of space, and the tasks weren’t necessarily actually useful in terms of practical preparation for the internship. We had online training to complete, and this was more directly relevant but less well funded.

They are more appealing than they were before. I don’t particularly want to work for a bank, but the culture that the company has is quite positive, and the attitude towards mental wellbeing in particular is commendable. I also like the idea of the flexible work week that they promote, and the sensible approach to rules

Everyone was really friendly and there were lots of nights out organised between the interns. I think the other colleagues had a few nights out as well, but the people working in the office were a bit quieter. Meals were also organised between the interns, and there was plenty of socialising within the accommodation.

It was super cheap. There were lots of discount shops, especially discount frozen food shops. There was a big shopping area in central Leeds with plenty of cheap clothes shops. There were lots of cheap bars, pubs, clubs and takeaways. This was augmented by the fact that we were very well paid and our accommodation was paid for.

The nightlife was fairly good. The bars, pubs and clubs were super cheap, and often all we interns went out together. There were two different night scenes to choose from: the central city and the specific town I worked in. Both were cheap. The clubs could be a bit trashy, and weirdly some of them were strict on dress code, but it was close enough to the accommodation and there were enough of us that it was still fun.

We did a charity challenge in groups with other interns, so this provided ample opportunity to get involved with activities outside of work. We carried out a walk together to raise money. There were also a few events in pubs to raise money, and a bake sale. In addition to this, volunteering activities were advertised to us internally.