Intern Review

The work I was given to do was fairly varied - I worked on a couple of presentations, some research based tasks, and some more long-term projects among other things. Everyone in my team was extremely helpful, always taking the time to explain tasks thoroughly. The atmosphere in the team and office as a whole was great.

Different members of the team would give me tasks to do, not just my manager. This definitely helped me feel as though I was making a worthwhile contribution to the team. Any work I did do was always attributed to me rather than my manager as well, which made me feel valued.

There was plenty of support available. I had a direct line manager, but it also felt as though everyone else in the team was there to support me too. What was also good was that there was all the support and guidance I could need available, but if I didn't feel as though I needed much on any task, I was allowed to just get on with it myself.

As you would expect, how busy I was on a daily basis varied. The fact I did this internship over summer, when things tend to slow down due to people being away on holiday etc. meant everyone in the office was less busy than usual. However, I had plenty to get on with, and had between two and five tasks to be getting on with in any given day.

I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of responsibility I was given during the placement. Although my team had limited client contact, there were some pieces of work that I helped with that were presented directly to a clients, including a published report and letters that were sent to clients.

My degree is unrelated to finance so the knowledge I gained during my internship will be of limited use. Equally, some of the more specific skills I gained won't be of much use either (e.g. how to use some of the software or researching clients). The 'soft' skills I gained will be very useful, and the chance to see how a large company operates is very useful.

The office had a great atmosphere. Everyone was very friendly and happy to chat, and you could see that people genuinely got along with and valued their colleagues. People often went for drinks after work, or took part in other social activities like playing football or rounders. Overall it felt very inclusive.

The internship was set up fairly well. There were a few minor IT issues for a couple of the interns at the beginning, but other than this it was well organised. There were plenty of meetings/presentations etc. that were organised for the whole intern cohort, as well as the different teams organising things for the interns in their own team.

There were lots of opportunities to attend extra workshops or training sessions, and people from other teams within the office were also very happy to sit down with you and chat about what they and their team did. I feel as though you could learn as much as you wanted, and the more you put in the more you got out.

Overall, I'd say employment prospects are fairly appealing. The bank had a great culture, which I imagine is better than that at a lot of other banks. While the salaries aren't as high as you'd find at investment banks, the hours are much better so in all honesty, the hourly rate is probably not all that different.

The social scene amongst the interns was very good. This was helped by the fact that there were over 50 interns across the two London offices, and that Lloyds provided accommodation to those that didn't already have it in London. Staying in a large accommodation block together meant it was easy to socialise outside of work.

Being in London meant eating out and going out could be fairly expensive. However, there are also cheap places to eat and drink, so I think you could make socialising as expensive as you wanted it to be. Despite the cost, the number of options available meant it could be done cheaply too.

Given that the area where the office was was mainly other offices, there weren't many clubs very close by. There were loads of pubs and bars, and there were always busy after work, especially when it got to Thursday and Friday. Shoreditch was pretty close so it was easy and fun to go clubbing there.

There were a few informally organised activities available, such as playing football or a game of rounders. There weren't any that were formally organised by Lloyds as far as I'm aware. The main socialising people did outside of work was going for drinks together at nearby bars or pubs once the day's work was over.