Commercial Banking Finance Intern Review

I enjoyed my internship to some extent. I really enjoyed being in London and being in the LBG headquarters. Having that experience was great and gave me a great insight into working in London and LBG. Although, I was not given enough work or responsibility, which was a significant negative factor of my internship. I also found it hard to get any extra work as well.

I did not feel valued or unvalued by my colleagues. They were busy but did not make time to give me work, where I could provide value. This meant that it was difficult to feel valued. But most of the work that I did complete, did make me feel somewhat valued.

I did have some support and guidance from management at certain periods. But management were often very busy and did not make the time to give me enough guidance. There were a few periods where I received plenty of guidance and support, but this was not the majority of my internship.

On average of my whole internship, on a daily basis, I was not busy at all. Consecutive whole weeks would pass where I feel like I have not developed or achieved much. There were 3 weeks of my 10 where I could say I was quite busy almost everyday. But for 7 weeks, I was not at all busy.

I was not given much responsibility during my placement. I cannot say that anything of good significance was given to me. I could not take ownership of any work of great value. At most, during one of my few busy weeks, I had some responsibility of a small part of some work that was important. But, even in these cases, I cannot say that I was given much responsibility. Although, I do totally understand why I was not given much responsibility. Being in Finance, everyone around me is a qualified accountant and has years of experience. So, it's difficult to give much responsibility to someone new and only there for 10 weeks. Nonetheless, I feel that I could have been given some more responsibility, even if it is not much.

To a good extent, the skills/training I received will assist me in my career. I properly used excel for the first time and it taught me how to navigate it well. I also learnt excel etiquette. I am sure that these will be critical to my future career, if it requires excel.

General atmosphere in my office was quite quiet. People seemed to just get on with their work. Everyone was professional but there did not seem to be any friendships outside of the office. This varied between team to team. But generally the atmosphere seemed just professional, and not much else.

The organisation of the internship was poor. The intern/graduate HR did a poor job. Communications were poor. For example, they said that they would communicate the referral process onto the grad scheme by mid July. They communicated this information in late August, 1.5 weeks before the internship ended. All managers and interns were left in the unknown.

To some extent did the company invest in me. Some companies offer pre-internship training then a week of training at the start of the internship. LBG has a very learn on the job culture, which is understandable and not necessarily bad. LBG does offer platforms to do online courses like excel and coding for all colleagues. But they do not really offer anything specifically for interns

Future prospects at LBG are somewhat appealing. Some grad schemes offer a higher salary than others, which is appealing for those who pursue those schemes. Career progression is typical of any company i.e. 2-3 years before the first promotion. In terms of career changes or moving company, LBG is okay at providing this potential.

The social scene amongst interns is okay. It's not as strong or collegiate as I had previously experienced in Edinburgh. For example, there is only a small group of interns who go out together every week. Everyone is welcome to join, but many just don't. Between colleagues, the social scene is also okay. There are occasional drinks (every 2-4 weeks).

The cost of living and socialising in Central London is expensive. But with the salary LBG pay and them paying for accommodation, you are able to enjoy the perks of working in Central London. You can even save some money whilst enjoying being in the City. Of course, this depends on how you spend your money. The cost of living and socialising is high, as expected, but is not too high.

The nightlife in Central London is great, as expected. Anything you could want is offered, as long as you are willing to spend the money. The vast variety of pubs, bars and clubs is great and travelling around is not a problem either. The nightlife in London is what you make of it.

There were some opportunities but not many. Someone in my team organises 5 a side. There are some events like charity walks or team challenges to get involved with outside of work, but not many. There are also some volunteering opportunities but they are largely during work. I don't believe that I was able to get involved with more than 2 outside of work activities.