Contractor - Relationship Banking Review

The tasks that I was provided with this year were considerably more interesting than those that I was provided with in my placement at the same company last year. This coupled with the fact that I had a lot to do are the main reasons why I enjoyed the work.

I worked as part of a very small team that was spread across the country. This meant that the I didn't work as closely with some of my colleagues as I would have preferred and therefore did not get to know them as well as I would have like. Despite this, everyone who I did interact with was very friendly and forthcoming with support

Support was provided as and when I needed it. Due to the fact my team was spread across many locations, it did mean that support would often be delayed while awaiting email responses. If I was not provided with as much different tasks as I was, then this arrangement would likely have resulted in me being sat around waiting for long periods of time which luckily was not the case

On the whole, I was provided with a good amount of tasks that could get done each day that perfectly filled my day. There was the occasional day when I would have little to do (normally Fridays when everyone works from home) or have too much and have to work extra (mainly midweek when most of my tasks were planned for).

As I was part of a project team that was short staffed, I wa slucky to be provided with numerous independent tasks that I was in charge of that contributed to the weekly progress of the project. Therefore I feel like I was given an appropriate level of responsibility for my level as opposed to many of my peers (who instead often had very menial and unimportant tasks)

The vast majority of skills improved in these internships are more office work specific (email etiquette, chairing phone calls etc.) than transferrable skills. However I was provided with numerous chances to work on Excel (which I use as part of my degree) and Microsoft access (which I had not used previously) which I feel are skills that I will need in later life (either my studies or as a value to future employers).

The office was very friendly and nobody was unpleasant to be around. other than that, the office itself was as you would expect. It could be extremely quiet at the beginning and end of the week when most of the staff worked from home (I was unable to do this but some of my peers did to great success)

My Line Manager was very organised and supplied me with lots of work to do and therefore this criticism is not at all based at her as she was an absolute asset in my time here. However, the external body our internship was ran through, caused unnecessary problems to literally every one of my fellow interns with holidays being paid late, personal details being repeatedly lost and just generally being unresponsive to emails Alongside this, the company itself proved to be considerably more unprepared than they were last year (Inductions happening at the end of the 2nd week out of 10, Grad Scheme being released very late on etc.) This may have been the result of the company still catching up to recent restructures and will likely be fixed next year but still it was very inconvenient this time around as opposed to last year

The company provided numerous training materials based on bi-weekly "themes" (e.g. personal branding). These consisted of weekly videos, articles and tasks. I personally feel that there is little to no benefit to these videos other than using them to fill time on slow days. However, this may personal and others may gain something from them

The company runs numerous grad schemes within the business areas it has. The number of places available does reduce yearly and the actual structure of the grad schemes is ever changing and unclear when compared to last year but the ability to easily run off from an internship into a grad scheme remains high. It should be noted that the odds of success for interns does seem to be considerably higher than they do for scholars

All of the Interns/Scholars stayed together in the same accommodation in flats together and this provided us with a very good social atmosphere as there were around 35 others in my location with me. Some people stayed at home rather than being living in the accommodation and this does seem to decrease the social side of things considerably if you choose to do this

As the company supplies accommodation (all bills are played also) the cost of living is affordable regardless of location. I worked in Bristol which is relatively expensive to socialise in, however transport is cheap and as you have the entire wage to yourself, it is easy to afford to enjoy yourself

Bristol has a very active nightlife with something for everyone to get involved with. The accommodation provided was quite far from the city centre which tended to limit how much you could do on the weekdays, however the weekends were great.

Most opportunities outside of work were independently set up with little set up by the company itself. There is a charity challenge that interns take part in (raising money for the company's charity) which does sometimes occur outside of work hours and the Bristol office holds a massive annual pub crawl for colleagues. Other than this, outside opportunities are something you set up for yourself