Contractor Review

I enjoyed my internship quite a lot. It was good to get some work experience and have something to help build up my CV. I gained a lot of skills and learnt a lot about the business. Getting paid was definitely a bonus and it was nice to feel like I was working for something. I was really happy living in London as well and found it both useful and social to be able to network with other interns. I liked the fact that I was able to work from home on Fridays. There were times when I felt I was lacking in work to do or wasn't given enough responsibility, which was quite frustrating. However all in all I found it to be a good experience.

I felt somewhat valued by my colleagues. My team was really helpful and willing to get me involved with anything they could for the most part. However quite often I felt that I was treated too much like an intern and not taken very seriously, particularly when trying to get in contact with colleagues outside my team. There were many occasions when I didn't get responses to my emails and arranged meetings were postponed or cancelled. I understand that everyone has a lot of work to do, but it obviously did not make me feel valued and was extremely frustrating, especially when I relied on colleagues getting back to me in order to complete my own work. If my line manager tried to contact these same colleagues they would get back to him quickly and agree to help however they could. It doesn't take long to at least reply to an email, and in the end, not being able to complete my work because I was dependent on someone who didn't respond to me is only going to reflect badly on me, which I don't think is fair. I know many other interns feel the same as well.

I was given a decent amount of support and guidance. From a practical point of view, I received the help I needed with respect to receiving all the necessary admin information and learning about what my team does, as well as in situations when e.g. my laptop crashed. With regards to my work, I received enough information to be able to do any tasks that I was set. I appreciated the fact that I wasn't told how to do absolutely everything though, because it allowed me to figure certain things out for myself. I had bi-weekly knowledge transfer sessions with my line manager, which were really good as I learnt a lot more about banking in general, something which I didn't know a lot about at the start of my internship.

There were days where I had a lot of work to get on with and/or a lot of meetings/events to attend. These days were really enjoyable and it was nice to have responsibilities and tangible pieces or work to complete. There were other days, however, where I had hardly anything to do and had to find ways to fill my time. These days were boring and I felt it was pointless to be in the office. It would have been better to have more work to do to fill those days, or at least have the overall workload balanced out a bit more.

To be honest I don't think I was given that much responsibility. I guess this is understandable considering my team is quite specialised and it is extremely important that the work done is completely correct given it's confidential and legal nature. However, I would have liked to have been able to get more involved. My line manager did give me 'mock' type pieces of work to test my understanding - i.e. doing the work my team would do but not for actual use. He also gave me some tasks which were related to LBG but not really to do with my team's work, such as getting involved with the Building the Best Team initiative. I was actually given more responsibility when I networked with somebody I met to reach out to another team closely related to the one I was in. They gave me tests to do within the bank looking at evidence and filling in documents which were then actually filed and used.

My degree is not particularly related to banking, so I didn't really develop any skills that will aid with my university studies. However beyond that, a lot of the skills I enhanced would be useful for whatever job I end up doing, e.g. communication skills, presentation skills, time management skills, organisation skills, etc.

Overall it was quite a cheerful place and colleagues were friendly. I could only say it was dull when I didn't really have anything to do and was unable to ask if I could help with anything because they were on calls or in meetings. A lot of the people in my team work from home 1-2 times a week, some of them work mostly at other locations, and quite a few of them took holiday time during my internship. This is completely understandable, however it did mean that I was left to work on things by myself a fair amount, and if I had no tasks to get on with I would find the day boring and the office atmosphere dull.

It was fairly well-organised. It would have been nice to have received information about my placement earlier that when I did so I could be better prepared. The intern events and webinars were organised well, however some were not entirely necessary. My line manager was reasonably organised with what he had planned for me to do when I first arrived, however I feel it would have been better if he had more discrete tasks for me to work on as opposed to general areas that he thought I could somehow get involved in. What I would specifically do was sorted out a couple of weeks into my internship, so I potentially could have gotten more out of the experience if a more concrete plan was established earlier on.

My line manager taught me quite a lot about the business and I had many 121s with colleagues. I also completed the mandatory training and Professional Banker Qualification. Webinars were also hosted to try and provide interns with information about the internship/grad scheme process and where we could find out more about certain things and enhance particular skills. The fact that the internship was paid and accommodation was provided shows that the company obviously likes to invest a lot in emerging talent.

I'm not yet sure what I want to do in terms of employment after I graduate. The grad scheme at my company does sound quite appealing though, and is definitely an option I am considering. My company is very keen to keep on the emerging talent it has invested in, and I do think that if I had more responsibility (which I would if I was a full-time employee as opposed to an intern) then it would be a really good environment to work in. I think more information about the different areas of the company that I could potentially be employed in would be useful to have (I did arrange some shadowing and meetings with people, however there wasn't enough time to get all the information I believe I need to make a properly informed decision).

Yes there was a very good social scene with the other interns, especially as I was living with many of them in accommodation provided by the company. This was not only a lot of fun but also a great opportunity for networking. I feel that I have made a lot of friendships and useful contacts with the other interns. There was less of a 'social' scene with non-intern colleagues, however they were all really friendly and welcoming.

My placement was in London, so living and socialising was generally quite expensive. It wasn't completely unmanageable, however I did have to really think about managing my money and making sure I didn't overspend. I know some of the other interns in London did struggle with the high costs though.

London nightlife is obviously great. I went to a lot of fun places and had a really great time being in such a vibrant city. The only downside is that it was expensive, especially because of travel costs. Going to places with other interns was a lot of fun and a good way to get to know everyone.

I did a fair amount of sightseeing activities and going for drinks/meals with people, but other than that not really. A lot of the time I was quite tired from work anyway though so doing an outside of work activity was not something I was keen to do. Being in London though, I'm sure that there are actually many things that one could get involved in if they wanted to. In terms of opportunity to do so with time, I had most weekends free and would occasionally go somewhere after work.