Female Insight Week (Data and Analytics) Review

I really enjoyed the week, the other people doing the insight week were very nice and I learnt a lot about RBS and if it was somewhere I could see myself working in the future. Even the assessment centre at the end was quite enjoyable and not stressful at all!

Obviously we were only shadowing staff members and taking part in organised sessions etc so it was difficult to feel valued as we weren't doing actual work. However, the employees we spoke to all seemed to enjoy their job and feel valued by the company, particulalry evident through the fact that many employees had been there for a large proportion of their career.

We received a lot of support and guidance from staff members, they were always happy to answer any questions we had and also supported us a lot during the assessment centre as they made the environment as relaxed as possible. I also received guidance in the form of advice about how to go into data and analytics as a career.

I developed skills in general areas like networking and although the area that my insight week was in (Data and Analytics) isn't directly relevant to my degree course, I learnt a lot about it as a potential career option. During the sessions on the first day we also developed presentation skills which will be useful in many ways in the future.

It was quite well structured, the first day was talks/workshops in areas like entreprensurship and leadership, then the next two data were mainly shadowing staff members and the final day was an assessment centre. There was enough to do without it being too busy/hectic, although it would have been better if there had been more variety within each day.

Most of the people doing the insight week stayed in the same hotel so by the end of the week we had become quite close and spent most meal times together. I also went out into Edinburgh town centre one of the evenings to go sightseeing which was also enjoyable.

Although it was only 4 days long, we didn't have time to take part in much personal training and development, but had sessions on areas like presentation skills. The employees we shadowed also mentioned the opportunities for development once a full time employee frequently and emphasised the fact that RBS are happy to train people to work in areas that they initally don't know much about.

They paid for our travel to Edinburgh (up to £100), the hotel stay (including the Sunday night for me as I had to fly there) and gave money for/provided breakfast, lunch and dinner (£5 breakfast and lunch, £15 dinner, although breakfast was included in my hotel booking). They also reimbursed our tram tickets to and from RBS each day.

I met roughly 12-15 different staff members in data and analytics who were in different areas and had varying levels of experience so it was intersting to see what people's career paths had been like. We had a lot of time with each one too so had the opportunity to ask them as many questions as we wanted.

Employees told us about councils they sat on (eg gender equality, LGBT, BME etc) and about things like sports leagues that staff can get involved with. There is also a gym onsite and also opportunities to be involved with fundrasing activities for charities and visiting local schools to teach them about money etc