Retail and Business Banking Internship Review

The internship for myself was a good experience because I had not had any working experience before. We were all treated like colleagues there and everyone was really friendly and open to talking. I think what made my experience more enjoyable was having a group of interns who I could talk to, eat lunch with and socialise.

Colleagues treated me as a normal work colleague and really appreciated me helping with work pieces. I would be given jobs that permanent colleagues would also be completing. However as I did not have my own desk, there would be times where I would be sitting on my own and so did not always feel part of my team.

My manager was always checking in with me to make sure I was getting on okay. During the week I would also get phone calls from the colleagues who were guiding me on my project to make sure that I was on the right path. I also had tremendous support from my buddy who was on the graduate scheme himself. Being able to ask for advice and talking to him about I had was very helpful. He was very supportive in helping me sort out any issues that emerged and allowing me to network by introducing me to other colleagues.

The first couple of days started off slow because the interns all faced logging on issues but once that was sorted, we were all asked to complete our mandatory training. My manager thought would take me weeks but it only took me a day. However my manager always ensured I had something planned for the day whether it was attending meetings, working on projects or shadowing other teams. As the weeks progressed I was also left to take control of what I was going to be doing during the day and take initiative to ask for more work. However as I was given two main projects to work on, it was good being able to always go back and work on that.

I was given just as much responsibility as other colleagues during my time. A lot of the work involved required me picking up tasks of colleagues who were busy. Working on live projects provided me the opportunity to understand what it is like to work part of a team. It also required me to look at an assignment with a fresh pair of eyes for the company.

Personally the skills I learnt were mainly soft skills. I learnt many skills in particular how to be able to communicate with others, manage my time and be held personally accountable. However I did learn how to use excel but compared to other interns, I did not have to use as many features.

In comparison to other offices, our office was more tense than other locations. This could've been to do with the fact we were in the main head office. However, having said this it also depended on what floor/team you were working with. Some teams were more relaxed than others, whilst others would be more

My manager had organised what I was going to be doing each day for the first couple of weeks in order to get me into a routine. However overall I feel as if they could have organised certain aspects better because the internship experience highly depended on who you had as your manager/buddy. There was not always clear direction when we first started.

The company did not provide me with any training other than the mandatory training we all had to complete. However this training was more about our awareness of the company as a whole rather than our specific divisions. I think it would've been useful to have some more general training or tests in regards to the specific division we were working on to build our awareness.

I like how the company in comparison to other organisations is a lot more relaxed and everyone is generally really friendly. Personally, I am not sure how much room there is to quickly grow in the company but I would definitely consider coming back later on in life. The hours here also seem more reasonable as most people usually leave on time and don't work ridiculously long hours.

During our internship we had to work on a CSR charity project to raise money. I was fortunate enough that the members of my team

I did not have to worry about the cost of living because I was living at home. However the cost of socialising was expensive being in London. For those moving to London, they are likely to realise the higher prices for going out and different activities, whilst for myself I was already used to these costs.

Being from London and being based in London, there is always something to do.

I did not have many opportunities to get involved with other activities outside work. Most of the opportunities I heard of e.g. conference/talks were passed on to be through other interns.