Change and Business Solutions Intern Review

The internship was enjoyable, mainly because I was lucky to be with such a great group of other interns. The inconsistency with my workload made it less enjoyable, as there were times when I was quite bored. I think I would enjoy the internship more if it was 8 weeks, as opposed to 10.

The colleagues on my team and across the office were very friendly and willing to help you if you want to learn more about what they do. When setting my objectives, I was given two projects to work on, but one of them never went through, so I actively asked other colleagues if I could join onto their projects. Because of the time of year, many projects were on hold as a lot of people were on annual leave, but on the projects I did work on, I was given a considerable amount of responsibility, so I felt valued by my colleagues.

My manager was always around if I needed help with something or had any questions to ask. They were also very helpful when I asked for feedback for work I completed for different projects, as they were willing to help me out. With regards to the internship specifics, at times there was a lack of communication between my manager and Early Careers, so I would recommend that all managers whoa re taking on interns are properly briefed on what is expected of us, and so that they can give us tasks to complete during our time here. My manager was also not aware of the marking criteria for my final assessment, and this was the same with some other managers, so I think Early Careers should brief them on what to look out for during our assessments. I also have to give credit to my Graduate Buddy, who was really helpful when putting me in contact with the right people, helping me with my CSR challenge and individual assessment, and also getting me involved in one of the projects he was working on. So I would recommend getting to know your Buddy, regularly meeting up with them, and ask them for advice - because they will be able to answer your questions about the internship and graduate scheme, as they have been through it all.

This varied greatly... some days I had plenty to do and the day would fly by; other days, I would have nothing to do and kept asking colleagues if they had anything I could help them with. I think this is because unlike some other interns, I didn't have a set structure for my 10 weeks, so the work I did do was very much dependent on me actively asking for work to complete. My advice would be to ask early on for projects to get involved with, otherwise you will be quite bored. On the plus-side, it left me with a lot of time to work on my individual project and CSR Challenge, but since those were both in Week 8, I did not have much to do during Week 9 and 10.

The main project I was working on required me to create the risk documents, and liaise with the team in India, as well as other colleagues across different departments. I also created the input and output material for each weekly meeting, including assigning and following up on tasks that other colleagues need to complete. This included chasing up senior managers on tasks they needed to complete in time for the next meeting - although this was a bit out of my comfort zone at first, it was a good insight into managing people and projects. Therefore, in this project, I was given a good amount of responsibility, and I really enjoyed it. For the other project I was working on, the amount of responsibility I was given varied depending on the tasks I was doing, but overall, I was treated like other colleagues and was given a comfortable amount of responsibility.

I would say my degree actually helped me with some of the work I did here, as I study IT and Business, so it was a good opportunity to utilise some of the skills and theory I've learned from my degree. As I worked on change and transformation projects, I gained a good insight into change management - which is a very relevant topic on my degree, and is very closely related to one of my modules next year. Overall, I think the skills and training I have received will be useful when applying real-life examples to the theory I will learn next year at university. Also, the knowledge I have gained about the financial sector will be useful beyond my degree studies.

Although the office is very big, the atmosphere is generally very friendly. The way teams are laid out makes it easy to chat with colleagues and collaborate. My department also had a 'People Week', in which we had different activities organised for us, including; yoga, cheese and wine tasting, and a Deaf awareness session. I got to know people from different departments on my floor and beyond, and all have been very welcoming and friendly. My team also brought in a lot of snacks to share, and there were a few team outings during the World Cup.

The overall internship structure was good i.e. the induction, social events and spotlight sessions were set-up well, but the structure of my individual internship could have been improved. The amount of work I had was inconsistent, and I would have certain weeks of having a lot to do, whereas other weeks would be empty. One of the good things about the internship is the chance to attend different workshops and events to learn more about the bank as a whole - these were enjoyable and a good change of scenery from the office. Again, I think there needed to be more communication between my line manager and Early Careers, because I didn't have a very structured internship, and instead did what I could do. My line manager however, would frequently check up on me and see if there was anything they could help me with, which was helpful.

One of my favourite things about the internship was the chance to go to different workshops and events to expand your understanding of the bank. There was also a two-day Hackathon in Edinburgh, but unfortunately I couldn't attend it. There is also the chance to do optional e-learning modules, alongside those that are compulsory. Moreover, we attended fortnightly spotlight sessions which explained different aspects of the bank, for example, risk in the bank.

The organisation seem keen to invest in its employees by providing them with the opportunity to do development courses based on their career interests, so this is something which is really appealing to me. Also, when speaking to colleagues, they have all worked in different departments throughout their time here, and it seems that there is the opportunity to progress here. The bank has also recently started to focus more on technology, so my interest in technology makes the future employment prospects here more appealing. However, I have noticed that there are still some employees who are not willing and open to change, and as a young, innovative person, I'm not sure if the culture here is wholly compatible with my ethos and aims for the future.

The other interns in Manchester were really friendly and sociable, so they made the whole experience enjoyable. I would recommend you start socialising straight away at the induction, and don't be afraid to talk to other people who aren't even on your internship stream or at your office. We went out for food and drinks and ate lunch together everyday, so they have been a really lovely bunch.

Since I am already a student in Manchester, I found the cost manageable as I am familiar with the places to get good deals on food and drink. Also, I lived in my student house, so rent was not very expensive as I don't live in the city centre. Because of this, I had to pay £80 a month for tram travel. If you are looking to stay in the city centre, be prepared to pay a lot more - nothing like London prices though. Manchester is one of the best places to eat and drink, and there are so many affordable places to go out. I recommend following blogs and voucher websites to make sure you get the best deal. Some of the places nearer the office are a bit pricier as they attract the young professional crowds.

Manchester is a great place to go out during term-time if you are looking for student club nights/ events, but there is still plenty to do during summer. There are a lot of bars in the city centre, and you can easily find 2-4-1 deals around town, so there is always somewhere to go for after-work drinks.

As far as I am aware, we were not advertised many opportunities to get involved with outside of work. Some of the other interns got involved with the 5-aside matches, but that wasn't really for me. Most activities you would find through your own research, for example, volunteering at a MoneySense workshop, but unfortunately, the spaces for this filled up very quickly. To my knowledge, there were more opportunities available for those in Edinburgh.