Intern in Trade Management Review

I enjoyed gaining leadership skills as part of being team leader for the charity challenge. I also enjoyed having the freedom to be able to shadow people and organise my time independently. Getting to know the group has been valuable to me, even though I know banking isn't my intended career route.

I was placed in my role last minute due to personal reasons, and so my line manager did not have sufficient time to prepare tasks for me to be able to be integrated into the team as much as would've been preferred. The few colleagues I did interact with treated my well and were very helpful.

My manager made sure he was available for me to discuss any concerns, providing support as required, but also gave me the much needed independence to let me get on with my work. I felt confident to complete tasks on my own, knowing I could speak to my manager at any time if I had any questions.

There were days where I was much busier than other days, due to the charity challenge. A few members of my time were less engaged in the challenge than they ought to have been, and so other team members, including myself, essentially had to pick up the slack to ensure tasks were completed efficiently. Overall, I felt like I had a good balance of work to be doing - although the commercial banking presentation did become a bit overwhelming in the couple of days before the presentation was due. Prior notice of commercial banking challenge, and a more hands-on mentor, would've helped a lot.

I was given a fair amount of responsibility, but I also took on a lot of responsibility myself (i.e. with the charity challenge and commercial banking challenge).

I gained a lot of transferrable skills e.g.: leadership teamwork communication and collaboration presentation skills business analysis fundraising skills All of these I can take on and use both in my degree and in future employment. Without this internship, I wouldn't have known how confident I am as a leader, as well as areas I need to improve.

The LBG office in Brindleyplace, Birmingham had quite a relaxed environment. The teams were quiet but still talkative and friendly with each other, and there was no sense of overwhelming urgency or stress, which was a very enjoyable environment to be in. There was always some kind of charity event, raffle, sale or food market going on in or around the office, which was also very enjoyable.

My internship was rather free-flowing: due to being placed with my line manager last minute (i.e. a few days before I started!), he was unable to prepare projects for me beforehand. Thus, on my arrival, I was tasked with independent and on-going projects that I could complete in my own time, in any order, which I very much preferred to the rigorous structured work my other fellow interns had.

I feel like LBG did invest a relatively large amount in my own personal development - but that is because of the degree of independence my line manager allowed me to have. I was able to dedicate my time to tasks that I want to complete and places I wanted to go, as and when suited me, which really allowed me to grow and develop professionally.

The future employment prospects I find appealing at LBG is in the Group Fraud and Financial Crime Prevention team. I am looking to work in crime investigation wih the police and the Naational Crime Agency - so working in this role could potentially interest me in future. But as of yet, I am not looking to directly begin working at LBG after I graduate.

There wasn't that much of a social scene between fellow interns in Birmingham. There were only 12 of us, and we all knew each other through the Charity Challenge, but there weren't any large events for us to attend in order to socialise with interns in surrounding areas or in other streams we're interested like there is in London intership placements.

I commuted from home so there was no living cost for myself. However socialising costs are relatively affordable.

I personally do not get involved in the nightlife in Birmingham however I have heard its pretty good!

Yes there are lots of opportunities such as volunteering, discussion groups, meet-up social events for any kinds of hobbies