PBA Change Team Intern Review

The internship has been very enjoyable, with a variety of tasks given to me right from the beginning. The team and, in fact, the operation I have worked in have been very welcoming and helpful. The location of the office is good - close to the train station which is useful as I commute, and also in the city centre therefore meaning there are plenty of places to go to on my lunch break.

My colleagues have been one of the highlights of my internships; when I started, I was given a mentor who came from the apprenticeship scheme and checked in with me everyday, ensuring I was prepared for any upcoming tasks and internship responsibilities outside of the operation (internship development, balanced scorecard, charity challenge etc.). She also provided extra tasks for me throughout my internship and made sure I was always busy and contributing. My other colleagues were all very helpful - in my second week we travelled to an outreach event which was ideal for getting to know them better, and they had sorted my transport and accommodation. Whenever I needed any help or advice I knew they were all willing to help where they could. My line manager told me she considered me part of the team and I felt like I was too.

After three weeks, my line manager moved to a different business area so I had a different line manager for the remaining seven weeks. Both of them were very supportive; the first one had planned my responsibilities for my first couple of weeks as well as various pieces of induction. My second line manager was very approachable and I knew that if I had any problems I could contact her and she would do her best to help. She planned a small project for me to deliver and made time to have one to ones with me, but gave me a lot of independence which suited me very well and helped with my development. Score is slightly reduced because my line manager changed but this can't be helped.

I never had nothing to do! I had about the right amount of work to be getting on with; some days would be busy due to tasks with tight deadlines or lots of calls, whilst others were quieter. During quiet periods, this gave me chance to do my mandatory training, balanced scorecard, internship development, and tasks related to my charity challenge like contacting businesses, planning our next events, and creating/updating documents on our sharepoint.

My first task was helping to plan an outreach event, which involved creating registers, signs, and planning the itinerary for the event. During the event I was given a job which involved interacting with the attendees and promoting the event on social media. I was given a small project to complete in the second half of my internship. I also received day to day tasks from my mentor, or other members of my team when I told them I was available to help. This allowed me to contribute to some large scale tasks.

The skills I have developed during my internship aren't necessarily ones which directly apply to my degree studies but I feel they are very useful for my career beyond that and any job I undertake in the future. To some extent, it has helped with prioritising and time management which are skills relevant to studying.

The people in my office were lovely and funny and clearly get on very well together. Due to some colleagues working from home, some days were quite quiet in the office with only a couple of us there but I didn't mind this too much. My direct team was spread across two sites so I visited the site further away a couple of times.

The Blue Arrow agency were not very efficient or helpful; while I was at university, we had a meeting prior to our internships which required documents including a passport (which I do not take to university as I have no need for it there). I was told that instead I could take a driving licence and proof of my national insurance number - the email I received gave examples including a wage slip, so I took a wage slip, to be told that was not suitable. In addition, at this meeting, the staff did not photocopy the front of people's passports or the back of driving licences, both of which were apparently required resulting in having to g to the agency offices in my own time. Additionally at the meeting, the agency had forgotten to give us a form so everyone had to go to the offices to sign that as well. It would have been helpful if we had heard from Blue Arrow a few weeks earlier so that we had the option of sending relevant documents whilst at home or returning to university with those which are required. Furthermore, The Security Watchdog sent me multiple emails asking for documents, including my GCSE, AS, and A Level certificates (all on separate emails across a few weeks), and as I was at university I had none of these documents with me so had to go to the trouble of asking a family member to scan them each time. I was also asked accused of leaving a gap in my employment for May as I wasn't working my part time job, which was obviously because I was at university - the response to which was asking what subject I study (information I had already provided) and proof of enrolment. I was also asked for enrolment letters and transcripts for high school, which my school (and many others) do not provide. All of these emails occurred during a stressful exam period, and I was asked multiple times for the same documents which was frustrating. Upon expressing this disappointment to the security watchdog, I received no response and no further correspondence, which would've been appreciated if only to tell me no further documents were required. During my internship, I received an email on a Thursday from Blue Arrow with subject line 'You are at risk of not being paid', which was a reminder to submit my timesheet by Friday evening. As I had submitted all of my timesheets well within the relevant time, this email was unnecessarily stressful and made me feel like I should submit my timesheets on a Thursday before I was even on my last day of work for the week. I appreciated that I got the location I chose, but felt I didn't know much about any of the business areas I could potentially be working in; having spoken to many interns, it felt like most did not understand what they'd be doing before their internship because the summary we received had large amounts of jargon and felt vague.

I completed many pieces of mandatory training for my business area, and some internship development provided for all of the interns. The company provided transport and accommodation for me to attend an outreach event. I also attended a Hive workshop to develop my knowledge of this within the business and increase my ability to use it during my internship.

I would love to work with Lloyds Banking Group in the future, although I was told during my internship that there are now more Lloyds Scholars than graduate places, and that there are more graduate places than jobs available! As a Lloyds Scholar, this has been my first internship so employment prospects are something I will consider more seriously on my second internship.

I selected my location so that I could live at home and commute, so did not have the social side of living in the provided accommodation with other interns. I was also the only intern in my office due to the nature of the operation, but collaborated with some other interns for the charity challenge which involved walking across the city to a different office where they were all based. Had I been based in that office, it would have been less convenient but I would've had a more social aspect with the other interns.

Fortunately I lived at home and Lloyds Banking Group provided money for rent. I had to pay to commute which cost around £40 a week, but typically I would provide most of my own lunch so did not have many expenses related to my internship. On the whole, the city I was based in is reasonably priced.

During my internship, I did not experience the nightlife in the city I was based in because it wasn't particularly convenient with me living at home. I have heard from other accounts that the nightlife is good, and I would have experienced it had I had a better opportunity, but I was also working a part time job on weekends so did not have much time to do so.

I attended an outreach event with the rest of my team, which was very different from the typical office work I did after that. In addition, as an intern I was asked to complete a charity challenge to raise money and awareness for Mental Health UK, which was very rewarding.