Finance Review

I enjoyed the placement a lot. It was a good opportunity to get a flavour for what working in a finance department would be like. Everyone was very friendly and there were social events that helped with networking and settling in. I found the charity challenge and finance presentation a good opportunity to meet the other interns and develop some good skills for life. At times it was very stressful but I think I managed it well and I overall enjoyed the experience

I felt like a valued member of the team and like my contributions were useful and valid. Everyone was very welcoming and there was a nice community feel. At times, due to deadlines, I felt that some of my colleagues did not necessarily look at my contributions until more than a week later which was sometimes disheartening. Overall everyone was very nice and I felt welcome and valuable for the most part.

My manager was very good at organising things for me to do each week and different shadowing opportunities so I could get a more well rounded perspective of the business. While my line manager and acting line manager were on holiday between weeks 3 and 5 I did feel quite lost and unsure of myself and what to do. Overall it was good but the holiday timing wasn't.

It varied. Often I created tasks for myself to keep me busy and over the first couple of weeks it was sporadic whether or not people had time for me. I would say half of the time I was either left with very little or overwhelmed by the deadlines and volume of work, especially when I had to cover people. But the other half of the time there was a good balance and I felt comfortable in my tasks for the day and the amount of work available.

During my third and fourth week, there was only one person of the team I was working with not on holiday so I was asked to cover a lot of tasks in their absence. It was somewhat overwhelming the amount of responsibility I was given so early into the placement but I was pleased that I could help.

During my placement, I taught myself how to code in VBA which I think will be a very valuable skill as I move forward. The knowledge I have gained about finance and the banking sector will assist my Finance modules of my degree next year. I also got the opportunity to develop softer skills such as presenting, interview techniques and networking which I think have made me a more well rounded individual and will help me in any job I go into

It depended on the time of month. At month end most people were quite stressed due to the high volume of deadlines but as time went on people were more relaxed. Pretty much everyone was quite friendly and approachable and I never felt nervous to ask a question. There were fruit baskets in the office every Tuesday which were a nice touch and often people brought in cakes or biscuits from home or their travels.

It was well organised for the most part, but a lot was left up to the individual to organise. We had to ask our line managers by email what to expect and where to go on the first day. My line manager was very good and had organised shadowing opportunities for every day within the overall department but I know a lot of people didn't have that kind of thing organised for them and had to be more proactive

I think Lloyds seems to invest a lot in their interns. We had accommodation paid for in London and our travel to the induction subsidised. A finance challenge was organised where we in groups had to present to the head of treasury, which helped develop a lot of skills. There was a lot of focus on training up the interns to be able to do "real work" rather than just shadowing and we were well supported if we showed enthusiasm for a particular task or sector. We also all completed the same training that would be expected of someone working in the role so we were up to speed with an employee.

Almost every intern found the graduate scheme available appealing and most have applied, including myself. Personally, I would like to work somewhere like here and am very keen to get the position. The development opportunities for their graduates are very good and I'd love to work in an environment like Lloyds. I like their focus on agile working and the atmosphere within the office. I also like that there are opportunities to move around within the company rather than being stuck in one position for too long.

Within our charity team and finance presenting group we were very social. We'd often meet up for drinks or go out for food. There was also lots of socialising within departments. Mine did an escape room and went out for dinner and are planning to make that more regular. There were also loads of charity and awareness events that were a lot of fun.

London is obviously more expensive than most of the rest of the country but there are always ways to get around that. Vouchers and taking advantage of offers are really good for lowering the costs and it can be done pretty easily. The additional pay London employees receive also helps subsidise this a lot.

I don't really enjoy that sort of thing so I don't really know. I heard other interns being incredibly noisy every Friday and Saturday night so I assume it was good,

Not really. There was the task to raise money for charity which was sometimes done outside of work but we mostly had to proactively find things to do out of the office.