Summer Intern Review

I really enjoyed my internship. It was a great experience and I completed it in a great team with a really friendly atmosphere. Before I started I thought `10 weeks would drag by, but really they were over in an instant! It definitely wasn't what I expected at all but in the best way, everybody was more relaxed than I thought they would be and sociable and I wasn't asked to fetch one coffee!

I felt very valued by my colleagues, I worked in a great team and really felt like I was part of their team by the time I was finished. They were great about supporting me and giving me space when I needed to get on, they'd give great feedback celebrating when I did something well and gently correcting my mistakes. I'm definitely going to miss them when I leave.

My line manager was fantastic, he was great at introducing me to everyone even if they were just passing by our desks. He talked me through things without patronising me and suggesting my next steps without pushing me or making me feel like I was out of my depth. He was away for two weeks as he was getting married but he left enough instructions that I felt fine continuing without him. The team were always there as well so I never felt like I was lacking support, I always had someone to ask a question to if I had one.

This is a funny question, as with any internship I'm sure the work comes and goes. The first two weeks were a little slow as people slowly realised I was there to help and as they figured out how much help I could actually give. But then people were really good at giving me things without bombarding me and they always took time to explain what it was and why they were doing it. I did have a few admin type tasks but this is only natural and I was happy to do them as the majority of the work was interesting and not admin like at all. There is also online learning, your individual project and the CSR challenge to be working towards if you are ever lacking work.

I was given a good amount of responsibility during my internship, I never felt overwhelmed but I did feel like I was trusted with a lot of information and projects. People were great about explaining things and then leaving me to get on with it, trusting me to do what I had to do and produce a good result. I even had the chance to present a bit of work I did in a meeting to quite senior people.

I definitely think these skills and training I have will assist me beyond degree level, I have such a greater depth of knowledge of how a bank works just by being in the middle of it. I also now know what it's like to work in a bank in the middle of London five days a week which is really important I know what to expect next time, how to dress, how to act. In terms of degree level I don't think I have any specific crossovers that I feel will assist me but in terms of perspective it definitely gives me a target to work towards to get the graduate scheme and motivation to do well.

Amazing, it was a great balance of being sociable and letting everybody get on with their work. They had the TV on for the odd football match in the world cup, there were team huddles and social events you could attend. As well as everyone was just very friendly and welcoming they'd stop and say hi as you passed them, it was a really great office to work in.

It was very well organised. I always knew where I stood and what was expected of me throughout the whole ten weeks. They had a good setup in terms of extra activities and letting you get on with your team. There was good contact by the Early careers team and there were plenty of extra meetings meant to enhance your knowledge of the bank.

In terms of investing in me, the internship is well paid and I have no complaints about that there were plenty of other benefits I could have signed up to if I'd have liked to. In terms of personal training and development there was nothing official but there was a series of intern inductions done for the local interns in my office that gave really good half hour summaries of different areas of the bank by graduates. These were a great chance to ask questions and learn more about how we fit in. I also feel like people invested their time in my development through the ten weeks especially the people in my team, sending me interesting articles and bits of learning.

They are quite appealing, I am still not sure if this is the route I want to go down but I definitely think if I do choose to continue my career down this path then this is the company that I would want to do it in. Everybody was very supportive through my time there and I learnt that there is quite a lot of movement within the bank so if one job isn't working out for you, you can just apply and move to a different part of the bank.

There was quite a good social scene amongst fellow interns, there were a few official socials but you get to know the interns sitting near you in your office more and get lunches or a drink after work sometimes. I also was quite social with the team I was in for our CSR challenge they were very friendly. A few more official gathering perhaps on a smaller scale would have been good.

The office was in London, living was expensive and socialising as expected was expensive. We found somewhere that wasn't too expensive but being in London it is only to be expected that it would not be cheap.

I personally lived quite far away from where I worked so I had a long commute to get in and out. This meant I didn't get a chance to see what the nightlife was like, but being in London I'm sure it would have been very good if that is what you're looking for.

There was a good amount of things to get involved in. CSR challenges and social events as well as sporting events. There were also charity runs while I was there and I'm sure I could start my own activity as a graduate for people to get involved with if I wanted to.