Finance Intern Review

It was an amazing experience - for an intern, I was given lots of responsibility and I felt very valued. Everyone was always willing to go out of their way to help. I did find lots of challenges along the way as I was pushed outside of my comfort zone. But, I'm glad because this way I learned a lot of new things and improved on some of my weaker skills e.g. presentation skills or networking skills. The other interns were also very wonderful!

My colleagues were always present when I needed help and they did the best they could to help me have a smooth, and fruitful internship. I felt part of the team from the very first day I entered the office and my colleagues made me feel at home, especially since I was only one of two interns in one large office. I was involved a lot of activities and socials held by my colleagues and I couldn't ask for nicer colleagues!

My line manager fully supported me along the whole journey along with other members of the team. She was very understanding and did her best to help me out in any problem I encountered. She also made sure that I got the most out of my internship, for instance she helped me get some job shadowing experiences in other areas of the company and held one-to-one meetings every week where she would give me feedback and listen to any comments/feedback that I had about that particular week or the internship in general, which was a very helpful thing for me especially since I was only at the internship for 10 weeks.

As you would expect at the start I wasn't very busy, I spent most of my day doing mandatory training which didn't make me feel very useful. But when these finished I found myself constantly looking for things to do, I had to create my own work at times. However as time went by, I got very busy and felt useful to the company. I was given responsibility for daily tasks, which took most of my day.

I feel that I was given just the right amount of responsibility. I loved how I wasn't doing useless tasks, or just getting coffee for the team, as one might expect in an internship but I was involved in highly confidential projects, and I was responsible for daily tasks that my team had to carry out. A couple of weeks into my internship I was covering for a member of the team who was responsible for a particular daily task. This showed me early on that I was being trusted by my colleagues and was valued by them. Eventually I was also given responsibility for tasks by other teams within the department.

I believe that the skills that I picked up during my internship were skills which I will be using for both my studies and also life. I've learned how to manage my time, networking skills, how to tackle problems and many others. Every second in the internship was an opportunity to learn and the company made sure that an event or training session was always coming up. I've had a number of webinars, team overview meetings, networking events, online training, job shadowing as well as training from my colleagues.

The general atmosphere at the office was lovely! Everyone was always willing to go out of their way to help me out whenever I had a problem, and the people were very friendly! I was treated as one of the team rather than just a temporary colleague. Successes and thank you's were celebrated and each colleague was valued.

There was a bit of an issue with regards to Reed and how we were to submit timesheets/holidays/tax status etc., as there was a bit of confusion as to how this was to be done. But this was eventually solved. Apart from that, internship was very well organised and I always had training or tasks to do. Whenever I didn't, I asked my colleagues if I could help them out with anything. There was a right balance between the amount of training and amount of work to be done.

The company did its absolute best to invest in my personal training and development! Whenever I asked for training, job shadowing experiences, or any kind of information, I was always provided with them. If not, my colleagues did their best anyway to help me do this. I was provided with lots of information meetings, networking events and job shadowing experiences.

Very appealing! I am still waiting for answer with regards to the graduate scheme, in which I do hope I was successful. If not, I will definitely try improve my skills so that I'll apply again and maybe get a job with LBG sometime in the future. Employees are treated very well and I would be glad to work for a company in which I can see everything I would want out of my future employer.

Yes! My team made it a point to have a team lunch once every month, which was great for team building! Moreover, I really enjoyed my time with fellow students, since almost all of us were living in the same building for the entire Summer, we were just like one big family. There was always something to do, especially during the Fringe. I have definitely made friends for life.

Cost of living and socialising was quite expensive, especially during the Fringe time - I noticed some cafes raised their prices during that particular period. However, considering that the company was paying for our accommodation and this was a paid internship, if you manage your funds well, it shouldn't be a problem. Also, there is always something fun you can do for free!

The nightlife in Edinburgh was very good! Especially during the Fringe festival. I went out with the other interns and scholars every weekend, and sometimes we also went out for drinks during the week or after work. Although entry fees to clubs could be a bit expensive at times, it was still worth the money!

Yes, we had the charity challenge which was a competition between different teams of interns where we had to raise as much awareness and money as possible for Mental Health UK. Through this, we organised and attended a lot of activities outside of work to raise money and awareness for the charity.