Commercial Banking Intern Review

I have enjoyed my placement and have learned a lot. I have been given increasingly more responsibility week on week which has been great for my development. It has been well-organised and interesting. I have gotten on very well with my colleagues who have all been great at providing support and guidance in the office.

I have worked closely alongside people with many different positions within the organisation. I have been trusted to complete independent tasks with customers and work on various projects. Colleagues have always made time for me and I have felt valued. many have put aside time to have meetings with me or give me feedback on work I have done.

I have worked closely with my line manager's assistant. She has always made sure I had plenty to do and that I am learning and developing. We have weekly catch-up sessions to review my internship and the work I am doing. We often worked on projects together so that I could learn how to deal with certain tasks in real life.

At the beginning I did not have many tasks but by the third week I had plenty to do and lots of little projects to work on. It was a good amount as it pushed me, though was not overwhelming. Having lots to do helped me develop me time management skills.

I was given an appropriate amount of responsibility. I was able to talk with customers on the phone and solve their queries, but was not given anything I would be unable to do. I was able to solve queries for customers by getting in contact with relevant teams, and was able to do this independently.

This helped me be more aware of what it is like to work in an office and of the industry. It gave me many valuable and transferable skills. It has given me a lot of technical knowledge about banking which I could only have gained through working here. It also showed me how to work with people in teams.

I really liked the atmosphere in the office. It was quite calm and laid-back but you could tell everyone was working hard. People of all ranks sit together in the office, which is great because it means no one feels superior to you, and helps you work with lots of people on important tasks.

It was very well organised. We had a two day induction at the beginning on the placement to introduce us to RBS, and then we went to meet our line managers. I can tell that this is very well organised and we have many check-ups to make sure all is well. I knew that if I'd had any problems I could have gotten in touch with HR.

I think they invested in me well. They provided training material that was necessary. But just working with other people in my team was a great way to learn the daily tasks in the office. This was the best way to learn because I saw how different processes are carried out and how best to react to different situations.

On the graduate scheme you spend two years rotating through different departments. This is interesting because you can see a lot of different elements of Commercial Banking and the different teams within the Bank. This is very appealing because it would be a great learning opportunity. You interview for this as part of the internship.

Yes, the interns were all very active socially both through independent and work-organised events. This was great because we all moved to a new city and the ability to be able to get to know a new group of like-minded people was very valuable. There were a few Bank organised events throughout the summer.

I was living in Edinburgh. It is generally quite an expensive city, but I didn't find it too bad. I found a good deal for rent which made a big difference and was able to enjoy myself with the salary I was earning. It was not prohibitively expensive and much cheaper than London.

Edinburgh is a very vibrant city. The nightlife was very fun and the other interns were very willing to socialise. There was a lot of varied things to do, like music, bars, comedy and nightclubs. It is a city with a lot of events, so it's always easy to find something to do.

Yes, there were a few opportunities. I think in Edinburgh it is quite easy to find things to do. I would say I organised a lot of events myself, however and not many were provided by the Bank. It was easy to find things to do with other interns though because everyone was up for doing things.