cardnet and commercial cards business partner Review

I really enjoyed my internship at Lloyds Banking Group. Firstly, I loved working within the Cardnet and commercial cards side of group finance and my team were just excellent, providing me with continuous help and laughter. I took on many challenges in project's i worked on throughout my internship, which was something i am very proud to have done. I also had lots of fun meeting new people and learning about other individual's life experiences and their job roles.

My colleagues always made me feel included in the team and with all the social events that took place whilst i was interning at Lloyds Banking Group. Every morning we would take part in a team huddle and i got to run this myself a few times. I really appreciated that they put a lot of trust in me and gave me 'real' work throughout my 10 week internship. Also at team lunches and drinks they always included me in converstation and took an interest in my personal life as well, which made me feel valued.

I was given support and guidance by management and my line manager. I had two/three one to ones with my line manager to see how i was coping and performing during my internship. This helped me build a working relationship with my manager and allolwed me to be more open with him on how i was feeling with my work and team. I also got support anytime i required it as my team and manager were within immediate contact via email or a phone call, therefore i never had to sit an d struggle when i was finding something difficult. All i needed to do was pick up the phone and speak to my manager or team about the problem i was requiring help with.

I would say i was rather busy on a daily basis, as i had a significant responsibility running a project with another intern and producing a presentation for my boss to present to a managing director. This was a very time consuming and challenging task so it kept me busy daily for a good 5-6 weeks of my internship. There has been days that have been slightly quieter than others, but i will never sit bored so if i find myself in this situation i normally just asked my manager or a collegue for more work to do. There will never be a shortage of work within a large organisation such as Lloyds. Plus if there is not enough work circulating within the team your in, you can always coordinate with a supporting team to get some additionl work. There is nothing worse than being bored!!!

I was given a resonable amount of responsibility during my internship. I felt valued and trusted with the work i was executing as i was given quite large tasks and projects. This helped my confidence levels within the workplace as i had the support and trust from my team and line manager. I carried out two projects and made a couple of presentations so it feels good to see my work get used by my team and he wider business. I also had the responsibility of managing my time and setting up meetings with people i wanted to network with in the business. There was no restrictions because i was an intern, I was allowed to do what the rest of my team and other collegues do on a regular basis.

I have developed and built on an array of skills during my 10 week internship, which will all come in useful within my studies and future carrer. I have gained many soft (interpersonal) skills such as communication, problem solving and teamwork attributes. These will also come in very useful within my last year of studies and my future job prospects. I feel i have built up my confidence even more becoming a very confident individual when i am meeting new people and when dealing with new and challenging work projects.

The general atmosphere in the office was a friendly and relaxed environment, but everyone worked hard and got their work done in an efficient and effective manner. It was not all serious everyday, as some people would interpret the atmosphers to be like that when working in a bank. But this is far from what the atmosphere in the office is like. Each collegue gets on with their work, however there is time to chat and have catch up's on personal life activities as every thing we talked about was not all Lloyds knowledge.

I would say it was relatively organised. some interns had a structured 10 week plan, however mine was more just a weekly sort of plan. Where my manger decided what he wanted me to do week on week. I think when i joined on the first day everything was very organised, regarding general admin jobs. I had my brand new laptop and i had a proffessional Lloyds email address. I made it easier to settle in as all admin stuff had been sorted and i did not have to worry about setting all that up myself. I feel like i would of liked a more structured 10 week plan just so i knew what i was soing each week, although it was not a bad thing going with the flow as i had quite alot of exciting events and conferences.

The company/firm invest quite alot in personal training and development as they set you up on the discover learning system within Lloyds Banking Group, making sure you can carry out the mandatory training required to carry out the job in a sfe and secure manner. Also as part of the intern developmennt journey there was a proffessional banker qualifications that each intern had to complete so this eveloped our knowledge further and allowed us to gain a further qaulification within the bank itself. I like the fact they invested time and effort into the interns on the programme and i beleive they further invest when you become a graduate employee.

Future employment prospects with Lloyds Banking Group is very appealing to myself. I would love to become a Lloyds Banking Group Graduate and hopefully roll of the graduate scheme into a manager position within the organisation. An aspect that stands out for me is the ACA and Cima qualifications the banks pay for you to do as part of the finance graduate scheme as this allows you to become a chartered accounting. Another aspect i like is the placement and rotation aspect within different location's in the UK. This allows the graduate to do two finance placements and one placement within the business. Rotations can fall anywhere within the UK so it is exciting to see where you will end up on the graduate scheme.