Model Approval Review

My work placement with Lloyds Banking Group was very enjoyable. At the start of my placement a lot of help and training was provided to ensure I felt comfortable in my role and I was never left without any help. It was really good to get this experience so early on in my career.

The team in which my placement was based were very welcoming and made me feel included and like I was part of the team straight away. If I ever had a problem or needed some advice there would always be someone to talk to no matter how busy everyone was.

My line manager was very supportive throughout my whole placement year. At the very start of my placement we had daily one to ones to make sure I had sufficient work and then after a few weeks we would have weekly one to ones to get updates on my progress through the week. We would also have quarterly updates were I would receive a report and score for the last quarter.

At the very start of my placement there were times when I wasn't too busy and I had a bit of free time. During this period I made myself busy by reading through team documents and enrolling in some online courses which helped me to progress in a few coding languages. As time went on and I was trusted with more and more responsibilities and then I always had work to be getting on with.

As my placement progressed and I gained more and more trust from my colleagues I was then given more and more responsibilities. This helped to boost my confidence as I understood that due to the work I had already produced, my team were able to put their trust in me to carry out work alongside themselves or on behalf of themselves.

During my placement year I was fortunate enough to be enrolled in a number of online courses. The excel language, VBA, proved to be the most beneficial throughout my time at LBG. In addition, I was able to gain knowledge about the office working environment which I had never experienced before and will help my when getting a job in the future.

The office was very work focussed, so during busy periods our team would be quiet apart from those who were attending meetings on the phone. However, it was quite relaxed in the fact that you could have conversations with the people around while working and it wasn't frowned upon, as long as you still managed to get the work done.

I believe that the work placement was very well organised. I never needed to chase for answers to questions I had as the majority of these were cleared up before I needed to ask. The assessment day was very good and we didn't need to wait long to find out whether we had got the placement.

Through my one to ones with my line manager I was always asked whether there was anything else I would like to work and whether there was a particular part of the job that I would like to focus more on. This showed that they was very willing to tailor my job role to suit my personal development.

Lloyds Banking Group offers a number of graduate scheme roles for when we have graduated from University. If a placement year has been undertook by an individual then they are able to skip a few steps of the application, however, a presentation and interview are still required. The graduate schemes are also available to those who have not undertook a placement year.

A number of my team were not far from my age and therefore there was quiet a number of social events that we could take part in. This was really beneficial as it helped to network with the rest of the team and create friendships which I find important in a working environment. There was also a number of opportunities to socialise with the other placement students.

I was lucky enough to be able to live at home while on my placement as I had a car and my office was not too far from home (around a 40 min drive). Through my experience of socialising around the area, the places were not very expensive at all. Even the hotels were not badly priced around the area.

The nightlife in the area was not too bad. If you were looking for a nice café for lunch or restaurant for dinner then there were a number to choose from. However, bars and clubs were a little harder to come by and the ones that are actually here are not the best. Saying this, we always had a really good night.

Even though I was living at home with my parents and not in the area I am aware that there were a lot of clubs that you could get involved in. There was a bowling alley across the road from the office and there was also a number of pool tables which were frequently used by a number of my team members.