Change and Business Solutions Review

The internship was an enjoyable experience and I gained useful knowledge and insights that can further assist me in the future. I was given the opportunity to gain exposure to different areas in the bank to guide my career decision making My line manager always attempted to maximise my work load. Unfortunately, there was on occasions minimal work load and not much useful exercises completed. This minimised my opportunity to show my full potential. However, All-in-all it was a very good experience.

I worked on a team of only 2 people and I do believe we had a positive work colleague connection. The other member of my team was also my line manager and he dictated a somewhat challenging work load that I enjoyed. The only issue would be, when my manager was out of office for any specific reason there was nobody else to dictate any work for me.

Following on from the previous point, I can only give this question 10/10. My line manager always offered guidance when required, took phone calls when he was out of office when necessary. He ensured we had a weekly meeting to focus on positives and potential improvements. He provided the opportunity to meet wide scale people around the bank.

To determine how busy I was on a daily basis would involve a different review every day. There were times when I had a decent amount of constructive workload but on most occasions there was limited work. We did have a project to complete that took up any spare time but I would have hoped to be busy on a general basis.

I was actually quite impressed at how much responsibility I was given. I conducted a full campaign on my own accord and only had managerial discussion when reviewing what I had done. My manager had asked me to continue on with the campaign even when he was on holiday leave which I was impressed by.

It would have been my hope to do more analytical research as my Economics Major degree is predominately analytical based. However, I have improved general skills such as structured note taking. The internship did provide the opportunity to improve communication skills and was given a good understanding of hierarchy within a large company.

I found it difficult to integrate into the office, it was a very formal work setting and I felt uncomfortable speaking up at times. An issue I would like to comment on is the 'hot desking' campaign. This was brought in on week 8 of my internship and a mail was sent out to all employees to provide them with the opportunity to allocate themselves a seat. I was never sent this mail so I would always be required to wait until approx. 15 minutes after start time to securely choose a seat. I would like to say the people that I did get to know were extremely friendly people.

RBS were the organisers of the internship but the dealings of most aspects of my internship were involved with Ulster Bank. RBS organised a CSR charity event day and I felt being based in Ireland left me at an inherent disadvantage when being considered for the CSR day and the End of internship event. There were difficulties for my intern colleague and I to organise going to Edinburgh for the event so we organised our own event in Dublin (Very separated from the overall group).

I felt the GPL training modules were not specifically directed at me so did not assist with personal development. The training modules were centred predominantly around regulations and rules rather than improvements and development. Other graduates in the bank have mentioned that there are opportunities to enrol in banking exams. This benefit definitely improves my overall grading.

RBS would be a place I would enjoy working in. My line manager would be a major factor behind returning to the bank. He has an incredible work ethic that he passes onto me. The company offers banking exam capabilities which does increase my incentive to further my employment here. However, overall personal development and career opportunities would not be what I perceive as the optimal level.

It must be consistently mentioned that while being the Dublin interns, we were extremely dethatched from the overall group of interns. We are attending the end of year event that will give us the opportunity to meet other interns but unfortunately that will be the only occasion that I will get the chance to meet and network with these people. However, we as the two interns did grow quite close and would look forward to working with him in the future.

The cost of living in Dublin is known for the high level of expense. I am fortunate enough that my family home is only 10km from the Dublin City Centre so I have the opportunity to commute. The socialising aspect is very expensive but it coincides with all major cities.

The nightlife in general in Dublin is quite good. The prices vary from very expensive to options cheap as chips. Dublin is renowned for the nightlife and it definitely lives up to the name. Unfortunately, the other Dublin intern and I did not have much opportunities to socialise but in general the nightlife is very good.

Not really, the activities for the interns were generally based in London and Edinburgh which did not provide much opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work.