Risk intern Review

The team were really nice and helpful, but the general categories for which you apply are pretty misleading. I was put in insurance which is something that I have no interest in - I really wanted to work in banking. I had no control over this which I didn't particularly like.

This was one of the strengths of the internship in my opinion, the team were all really nice and were always as helpful as they could be. I felt valued, and they definitely tried to make me feel as much a part of the team as possible. When my supervisor was on holiday however the 'who to report to' was a little unclear which caused some issues with other staff finding me to be an annoyance.

My supervisor was fantastic. She gave me a great deal of support with the work I was doing and was fantastic when it came to offering my opportunities to do some shadowing within the business. She was fair in her feedback I feel, and did work hard to make me feel as comfortable as possible which I really appreciate.

I was fairly busy a lot of the time as I had a fair amount to do, but in periods where my manager was not present I was somewhat overlooked when it came to work allocation which did leave me with a number of days where I was doing little but twiddle my thumbs and read on the internet. Again, the kind of work we were doing often meant giving me work was difficult which was a shame.

I was given a project to work on, the opportunity to work on improving internal processes as well as organising meetings with financial regulators. Due to the information heavy area I was working in there are however certain things which I just was not able to do Eg: report writing.

The skills I have gained are valuable - I have definitely learned a great deal about financial services and myself more generally. The training I received was useless - it taught you a little bit, but was sold as a certificate when in reality it was nothing more than an online module with no certification. Having done an internship will however definitely help my work ethic going into third year, and help me decide what I want to do in terms of grad schemes.

The office atmosphere was very relaxed with staff being very polite and talkative - at least in my department. However, I did notice going around the office (it holds around 1000 people) that different parts of the business appeared much less welcoming. It very much depends on where you are placed due to the size of the organization (70k people employed).

On my teams end it was fairly well organised, but in terms of the formal structure as set up by emerging talent (who are in charge of interns and grads) I was a little disappointed. There was a conference in London on the first day and the occasional departmental call with graduates, but very little outside of that in my opinion.

In terms of personal development online training which is mandatory for all colleagues was offered as well as a "chartered banker qualification". However, the reality was that this was nothing more than an intro to the banking sector which didn't provide any real qualification as was suggested and proved to be a waste of time.

Somewhat, though I do not want to work in my area of the business meaning that I would have to transfer. However, commercial banking (which is an area of the business I shadowed) which I would have liked to have swapped to is not accepting any transfers for some reason meaning that any chance of me being on the scheme will be through a new application next year.

The cost of living in Bristol is quite high, but accommodation is paid for meaning that your salary (£350 a week) is very comfortable. Cost of living for me was around £30 a week plus nights out and alcohol (which I wouldn't want to put a number on as it varies by such a huge margin from person to person).

There was the occasional session of after work drinks with all of the interns, but this primarily took place early on in the program and by the end it just wasn't happening. In terms of nightlife the program is very disappointing, and this is exacerbated by the fact that different people in the office have highly differing schedules. Finishing at 4 meant I was out of touch with some interns finishing later.

No, there were two "office parties" but in terms of opportunities to get involved in things outside of work I was very disappointed as almost nothing was offered. Opportunities to socialise were in reality left to interns. This isn't entirely bad, but in reality people tended to be lazy which meant that many people were bored.