Risk Summer Intern Review

My work placement was quite interesting. I was exposed to things that were quite new to me. Therefore, there was a lot I got to learn. However, my work was more research based than I had anticipated. I was hoping to use my quantitative skills and have some exposure to the market which was not present.

My team was extremely accommodating. Particularly my line manager, who took time out on a regular basis to touch base with me. I was always appreciated highly for my work, even when I felt I was not doing very well. In addition, whenever I required help, my team would take time out to see how they could help me.

For every task, my line manager first held a long discussion session where he briefed me about the task in detail and allocated enough time for me to ask any questions I have. Even after I started my work, my line manager checked frequently if I needed any help. When my manager used to be away, other people from my team always helped me out.

It varied throughout the placement. In the first half of my internship I was relatively more busy as the tasks I got had short deadlines and the work was straightforward. In the latter half, I had a research based task with a long deadline. This work often depended on receiving information from other colleagues so often there was a long wait. Also, just the nature of this work often got me bored.

I was fortunate enough to get a fair amount of responsibilities. I was given tasks that were assigned to my line manager, reflecting their importance. This helped me not only in learning about the nature of job in practical terms but also allowed me to share my line manager's workload.

This placement helped me develop and refine a number of skills. Most are directly attributable to my career for example networking skills, research skills, excel skills, communication skills and multi tasking skills. There wasn't a formal training procedure. Everything was taught on desk through work. Even though I do a quantitative degree I think the soft skills I have learned here would really help me.

The general atmosphere was quite pleasant. People were extremely friendly and often made small talks along with work. Weekend activities were also discussed. The environment was generally very relaxed. Since I was new to the city my colleagues also suggested me places to see and restaurants to check out.

I think the overall structure of the placement was not very good. There was no event accessible to all interns that would allow them to interact with a senior colleague (director level). Even the induction events were very low profile. I was expecting at least 1 Q&A panel discussion with seniors. In addition, there are hardly any activities outside of work planned for interns.

I felt the company had not invested too much in my training and development. Interns only got emails saying you should read this or watch that video for personal development. I expected training workshops to take place on a wide range of subjects with an expert for interns to attend.

Previously it was quite easy to get a job with Lloyds but now they are changing the recruitment process so it is hard to say. There will be more rigorous assessments from now which would make the recruitment process more difficult.

I personally did not attend too many socials as I was mostly out of the city. But I often heard about the numerous events the interns planned. Everyone would go out together for drinks more than twice a week and often had lunch/dinner plans too.

I found the cost of living to be cheap. I'm from London so in comparison I found the public transport as well as the local food stalls much more cheaper. The student accommodations here are cheaper too as you can get a studio room for as cheap as £160 a week in the central area.

I hardly got to know of any activities outside of work that I could get involved in.