Intern Auditor Review

I really enjoyed this internship. I found the location, team and offices great. I would say that as RBS is such a large corporation, and employs so many interns, this was definitely one of the more enjoyable aspects of the internship as you sort of already have a social group. I found the work interesting and also enjoyed the office environment in general. The work-life balance was very good.

I felt very valued by my colleagues and immediately part of the team. On my first day I was introduced to everyone and we all had lunch together. I also attended many team nights out which were very enjoyable. I felt like the team valued me as they incorporated me into their day-to-day tasks and meetings, and often asked for my input and thoughts on matters.

I was given a lot of support and guidance my management and my supervisors. I had weekly hour 1:1s with my manager scheduled where we would discuss my progress and compare this progress to my objectives. I also thought that the 'buddy' scheme was very good, I felt like I could ask questions openly when I didn't understand work and I didn't feel like I was being assessed all of the time.

This varied day to day. At the beginning of the internship I was probably less busy as the first couple of weeks I couldn't assist with much of the audit work as I didn't understand the majority of the concepts/processes, however, as the weeks went on I got more experience and therefore could participate in more audit work. If I was ever stuck for something to do I could ask members of my team for work, and if I had too much work on I just let my line manager know and she resolved this.

I would say that you are given a lot of responsibility on this internship. You are working on live audits and therefore doing work that will actually be viewed by more senior auditors and you are adding value to the tasks. As part of my intern project presentation we were also presenting to the Executive Committee of the bank, which I didn't expect and thought was a lot of responsibility.

I would say that the skills I developed will help me in my degree and in my future. Besides the actual auditing skills, the 'soft' skills I learnt such as leadership, teamwork and communication will probably be the most useful, and are transferable to whichever career I will choose in the future. Specific auditing skills will also be invaluable if I choose this as a future career.

The general atmosphere in my office was very open, welcoming and friendly, even from my first day. The colleagues are all lovely and I looked forward to going to work each day. The offices at Gogarburn are also amazing, and therefore there are lots of areas to meet. I found that as my internship was during the summer holidays, the offices were perhaps less busy than usual as most people were taking their kids on holiday, however there was definitely still a buzz about the place.

I would say that as the internship is so large and in such a large-scale organisation, the internship was very well set up and organised. Lots of socials were arranged for the interns which was great to build a social and professional network, and alongside actual audit work there were also lunch and learns, corporate social responsibility and intern projects organised to keep interns busy. You could always contact the Early Careers Team if you had any uncertainties.

I felt like the company invested a lot in me, although perhaps this was more dependent on your line manager. I feel like some line managers took more of a role in career coaching interns than others. Anyone in the bank is happy to talk to the interns at any point and I think this definitely shows how much the organisation values interns.

I would say that this would depend upon your department, however within audit I think around 70% of the interns are offered the graduate job every year. The internship is definitely a great way to get a graduate job provided you are engaged in your work and fit well into the team. Despite the not so great reputation of RBS, it is definitely on the up and I believe this would make it an exciting organisation to work for in the future.

There was definitely a good social scene amongst fellow interns - particularly in Edinburgh (Gogarburn) - I don't know if this varies from location to location. The Early Careers Team set up frequent socials and networking events that encouraged a social scene, and we were also invited to a couple of graduate socials whilst we were there. There was always something going on with the interns - particularly as a lot of the interns tend to live together. Think Uni all over again!

Cost of living within Edinburgh was expensive but could be done cheaply I think. Accommodation was very expensive at the time however this was due to the Fringe Festival and so I think Edinburgh would be more affordable in the rest of the year. However, the internship pays a lot and so it can cover this and much more, I think they take into account the fringe in your wage.

Edinburgh has a great nightlife due to the university, and also as mentioned previously, the fringe festival was on during the internship and so often we would go to pubs and to see a show after work which was nice. There are lots of clubs and restaurants within Edinburgh and so it is always busy and there is always something to do - even on a weekday!

A lot of opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work, there were a few volunteering days that interns went off site and did. There is also a 5 a side football team at RBS, and a netball and golf team to get involved with. You can also get involved with the corporate social responsibility scheme or the entrepreneurial spark team at RBS. There were also networking events that went on outside of work that interns were often invited to.