Project Analyst Review

I really enjoyed my internship. I moved to the UK specifically for this internship, so for me it was not only a very challenging work experience but also 10 weeks of living abroad by myself. I felt that the specificity of my case pushed me even further out of the comfort zone and helped me a lot in improving my soft skills. The only thing I didn't enjoy that much was not having that much work to do sometimes.

I felt that all my colleagues were very keen on helping me settle in and learn more about the job and the bank, but somehow reluctant in giving me actual work to do. I started being given real assignments in Week 4, which sometimes felt a bit like a waste of resources. Once I started being given assignments, I felt very valued by my colleagues that reached out to me and even asked me advise about some issues.

I was given a lot of guidance by manager and my supervisor. They always helped me out and were very focused on giving me the opportunity to learn and improve myself. They suggested courses I could go to and materials I could read to gain a better understanding of the bank and to improve myself in general. They also helped me settling in in the UK.

There have been days in which I literally did not have anything to do. This was not only very demotivating, but felt also like a waste of the bank's resources as I was actually paid by RBS to sit in front of a computer and just browse learning online to still do something when I had nothing work related to do. After Week 4 I started receiving more assignments and I even created some things to do myself, but I believe this is definitely an aspect that would need to be improved for the Interns in 2019.

At first I did not have any responsibility at all. Gradually, I started to receive more responsibilities and things to do, but I never got to the point to feel completely responsible and accountable for something, which instead happened in other internships I have done previously. The occasions in which I felt the most accountable for something were during the CSR challenge, but in my daily job I feel like I never had that many responsibilities.

I believe that the skills I developed here and the training I received will be instrumental in my future studies and beyond. The main thing I will bring home from this internship is a significant improvement in my soft skills, which I believe are something that can be useful in any situation.

The general atmosphere in the office is very positive and everyone seems very nice and ready to help other people. I don't see people going crazy because of stress. Also, the fact that here everyone uses first names to refer to other people is very nice. The only thing I did not like was the fact that many people did not respect the seat allocation, which I believe is a very impolite behaviour.

I believe the organisation of the internship was impeccable. Early Careers really thought about everything and I did not have to worry at all about any administrative issue. The only thing that maybe could have been better is the information the line managers received regarding the internship. I believe my team was not very aware of what I would have to do as an Intern.

The bank invested very much in my training and development. I had at my disposal amazing tools such as SkillSoft for improving my skills and I could also attend courses and training sessions of my choice. I have never been in a work environment this much focused on learning and continuous improvement.

I would really like to work in the future for this bank, in Edinburgh or somewhere else. I really appreciated my time here, and I believe that in the future I could do more here if given the chance. This really looks like the perfect place where to grow and learn alongside work.

I believe all Interns really got along. We had a group chat with all the Interns and we used it to organise our own social events and to spend time together. The only negative aspect was that being placed in Drummond House I couldn't spend much time with the majority of interns, which were instead placed in Gogarburn.

I believe that the cost of living in Edinburgh is not significantly different from the cost of living in my hometown. The only problem, especially for finding accommodation, is that the Fringe festival takes place in Edinburgh in August, so prices tend to go up during that month. I personally managed to find accommodation with a reasonable price for 10 weeks, but I know that many people struggled with that and had to pay crazy amounts of money for August.

I believe the nightlife in Edinburgh to be very fun and cheap. However, during my internship I had to go through the very distressing experience of someone putting drugs in my drink without my consent or knowledge, which resulted in me being hospitalised. I never heard of these kind of things happening in my hometown, while apparently here it's a common occurrence, as I was told that many girls end up like me in various clubs of the city.

Because of the Fringe festival it is very easy to get involved in activities and to find things to do outside of work. Also, there are many gyms and sport facilities in Edinburgh, as well as tourist attractions and hills. All of these makes it very easy to never get bored during weekends.