Relationship manager Review

I really enjoyed my placement. As a scholar, the referral process is slightly different to interns but I feel the emerging talent team really listened to my application. I felt challenged by the job in a way I could develop my skills and really enjoyed the experience as a whole. In general, I have no complaints.

By the end of the first week, I already felt valued by the team. I was trusted to join very high level meetings with clients and other colleagues, despite my lack of knowledge. Their trust in me with these situations put me at ease of feeling uninvolved. A friendly team, the SME Central London Property team are great to work with as they have such a long history at LBG.

My line manager, Nathan Whitaker, has been incredible over the past ten weeks. A month before my placement, he had already got in contact and found out exactly what I wanted to get out of the internship. Regular informal meetings to assess my development and reaching out to various parts of the bank on my behalf, Nathan was a line manager like no other! It was his enthusiasm and drive that gave me the reassurance to try my hardest and get stuck in with SME.

This varied week to week, on average I was set 4-5 hours of work by my team per day and the other 3 hours I filled with charity work, intern challenge tasks and sourcing work from other departments. I really enjoyed this set up as I was never over worked and always had the opportunity to ask for more. I cannot say this is the same across the bank but within SME this was the case.

The department I worked in was responsible for lending money so it was difficult to give certain responsibilities to the intern. Instead, I was given tasks that the whole team would put their names to so it was a form of responsibility. The placement focused more on learning rather than taking on unnecessary responsibility and I could see the future progression in which my role would take on more ownership.

Quite a lot! I learnt how to conduct myself in a client facing environment and identify key information from a casual conversation. The training taught me lots about the banking world and day to day accounting information. Being SME, the skills I developed are far more general and transferrable so will help greatly with any future career I have.

Very friendly, open and inviting. The desk banks of each team within SME sat next to eachother, furthering the idea to blend and mix with as many sectors as possible. Importantly, the esteemed colleagues of the department sat in the same bank of desks as everyone else, ridding the office of a hierarchal atmosphere.

Very well organised, once again down to my line manager. There was a clear progression timeline set out for me to achieve and with each stage came specific tasks or objectives. This gave an excellent framework to develop on and day to day, I always had something worthwhile to complete.

I was sent to various offices around the country to learn about the comprehensive process of SME lending. I also received regular training exercises, both general LBG and specific to lending. I was also invited to training sessions held for the accredited property lenders. There was much investment into my development, this included informal 'training' with members of the team day to day, teaching me how to use the softwares and formats.

I would very much like to continue my relationship wit LBG. Their standards and ethos follow closely the type of business I would like to work for. I have lots of respect for the emphasis put on charity and helping Britain prosper- I want to work for a company who's footprint is far greater than simply offering a 9-5. The agile working option is another desirable feature, paired with the returners programme it makes LBG stand out as an employer I could work for in the long run. I believe they would invest in me for both parties' benefit.

Excellent. I commuted from home each day but even so, I still found the social scene to be vibrant. The team tasks offered to interns were where most of my friendships were made, being based in London I found many interns so I cannot comment on internships outside of the M25.

Travel was very expensive, around £13 a day, which adds up quickly. Socialising across London has a large range of prices so that was not an issue amongst interns.

Living in London already, I was familiar with the nightlife but I can assume interns enjoyed it also. There is much to do in London so choice for everyone. For those who don't enjoy going out (clubs/bars eg), there are plenty of sober activities to do also. A great city to work in.

Plenty- it was what you made of the ten weeks. Sports, sightseeing, even simply hanging out after work- there was much to get involved in. The best part was the opportunity to arrange it yourself- a groupchat of the London interns meant should you want to organise something, you had 150 people in one place to do so.