Intern Review

The experience could have been better, my team was welcoming however it felt as though the internship program was a bit of an afterthought after the first week. There wasn't much structure and no organised events after the first week. I felt a bit disappointed to have chosen this internship over the other offers I received.

I was given tedious and little work for the first few weeks, this was partly down to the fact it took almost 2 weeks to gain access to the drives. Whilst I felt respected, the work I was undertaking for the first while was basic admin work, this did improve somewhat as the experience went on.

For the first half of the internship it seemed as though my manager had little interest in what I was doing and there was little involvement in the weekly 1-2-1's. After speaking about this, there was more involvement going forward. My team were happy to assist with any question s I had and were helpful.

Up until the last few weeks I found myself having completed all my work by lunch time at the latest, I had asked for additional work but often there was nothing meaningful for me to be getting on with, this meant days dragged in. However this did mean I had time to network with other people from the bank

I was fully responsible for some daily processes and this soon expanded to some other processes as I became more familiar with the work I was doing. Work was usually checked over by other colleagues which helped me learn how to complete this work better and ensure it was completed to the standard expected

There was little to no crossover between the work I was doing and what I am studying in my degree. This was largely because the work I was doing was in excel, there weren't many opportunities to carry out analysis on the data I was working with. However I did develop my soft skills and IT skills as I worked with excel a lot and learnt how to conduct myself in the workplace.

I wasn't a fan of the big floor layouts, people could often feel unapproachable as it felt like many others could hear your conversations. People were friendly and courteous but there wasn't much of a team atmosphere and it often felt a bit dull. In fairness my team were lovely and made me feel very welcomed in the office

This was my biggest fault of the internship. Firstly there were numerous problems when starting - it took over two weeks to get network logins, drive access and building access, very basic requirements. There were no organised events apart from 3 webinars which felt like an afterthought. The last week was extremely lackluster with no lunches, events, drinks or send off events apart from another webinar - it felt as though little time/money was invested in the internship program. Whilst it is expected to set up your own networking opportunities, it would have been nice to have perhaps an hour a week were a graduate or someone from a different part of the bank talked to the cohort. More structured events throughout the course of the internship would have also made the interns feel more valued.

There was access to online courses as standard however that was the best it got. Tutorials/talks on important skills like coding and how to use certain software would have been useful. It also would have been useful for a talk to be held on the qualifications you can study for whilst working as a graduate.

I feel frustrated as I feel as though the bank could be a great company to work for however the internship has left me with mixed emotions. More investment in employees and improved benefits in line with other banks could perhaps improve this. As the internship improved towards the end I feel that by spending more time with the company I would feel more inclined to stay.

There was zero organised social events however the other interns were very easy to get on with and we quickly formed good friendships with each other. There was never after work drinks with the team which I felt made it hard to better these relationships, some more after work socializing/lunch time events could have improved this

Being based in London this was as costly as you would expect, remuneration could have better reflected this.

London nightlife is the best!

The Charity Project was a real highlight of the internship and allowed us to get to know more of our fellow interns. It was fun and rewarding raising money for Santanders charity partners.