Automation Lead Review

It wasn't great. It was not what was pitched to me throughout the application process. The level of technical knowledge needed is zero, but as someone with technical experience this meant the curve of the work was so low and did not benefit me unfortunately.

I felt valued by the members of team I was based in, they were welcoming and encouraging. I did not feel valued by Early Careers, who were very unhelpful and patronising to me whenever I spoke to them. It felt like they didn't realise that interns can have skills they can use rather than leaving us doing nothing. This was echoed to me by many interns and Grads, stating early careers are underestimating programs and letting us down.

They were fantastic. After talking to them about my issues and the placement not being what I expected they did everything they could to allow me to get something out of the placement. They changed some of the work I would be completing in order for me to use some of the skills I had picked up during my degree. Helped me learn about the company and the way it works in an engaging manor where I wanted to know more.

Not very busy at all. The tasks I was set weren't very hard at all. A lot of time was done waiting for a team in India to check things and give feedback. Overall it probably took 3 weeks to do something that could of been done in a day, due to waiting. Also I think a lot of interns have found that their managers go on holiday for 2 or 3 weeks in summer, which is not ideal for giving us work to do.

I would say I was given full responsibility of the work I was doing. However this responsibility was not high itself. The work I was doing would save the company sometime and money for sure, but it seemed like I was task the task just because I needed something to do, not that the work needed done.

I don't think I have learned anything that will assist in my degree. I have seen how a large company works. I have learnt about how meetings should be conducted arranged and managed. I've seen more about emails and how to run a calendar, stuff I haven't had to do before. But none of that is special to RBS and could of been done somewhere else.

It was a really fun atmosphere. Everyone on the team were chatty and tried to include me in different events. We had a team BBQ which was good fun and something different. People would bring back things from their holidays and other team nights were going to be arranged. Something I hope continues in the team.

I feel that not enough planning was put into the scheme. At no point did we get asked about our skills or what we wanted to get out of the process. I also feel that due to this a lot of people found themselves either wasting time as they were too skilled for the job, or in a placement that they were never interested in.

I think the investment from the team and supervisors was good, they tried to share real experiences and lesson with me which were interesting and could be reflected back on, even after the placement ended. The company ran different spotlight sections, but a lot of these had some very basic concepts in them and could of been speeded up in order to show us more things about the bank.

I think I have a very good chance of working with the company If I choose too. My managers have spoken to me saying I would do well at the company, as have other team leaders. You need a 2:2 to get the job and I'm on track for a first so would meet all the requirements. If offered the grad scheme, I will weight up other options first before deciding.

There was good social interaction with the team during work hours, but however as I commute a couple hours to the job it is very hard for me to socialise with anyone else on the schemes. I think there could maybe be more events during work time as a lot of interns had free time and would allow the people living outside Edinburgh to interact with everyone more.

It cost me £20 a day to travel into and from work. I lived back at my University house. The wage I was being paid was not enough for me to rent in Edinburgh as well unfortunately so could not socialise as much as I wished too. I think some interns found it okay in Edinburgh though whose University rent wasn't as much. St Andrews is bad for that.

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There were a couple events organised, but I feel there could of been more of a weekly thing. By week 6 there had been two events that were organised by the grad team. There are lots of new things to do in the area that maybe could of been good for everyone to get regularly involved in.