Intern Review

I absolutely loved the internship, especially because of the people I worked with. My team were really welcoming and I made some great friends who I’ve since seen! Sometimes there wasn’t quite enough to do hence only 9/10 but I think that varied from intern to intern, as I know some people who almost felt they had too much to do!

I definitely felt valued by my colleagues. Especially within my immediate team, the Mortgages and Savings team, myself and my intern partner were constantly involved in proceedings, with our colleagues asking for our opinion and continuing to make sure we felt involved and part of the team. Even with other interns it was a very good experience!

My manager sometimes didn’t give support, but that was on both myself and her, as sometimes I didn’t ask for support. As quite an independent worker, I really didn’t mind this, but thought that somebody else might be affected differently. Overall, I was massively supported by the surrounding team, and believe I could’ve got even more support from my manager had I asked.

Generally I felt relatively busy, but that was mainly due to my own time management and asking for more work from my team. We were encouraged to do this throughout the internship, and the projects we were given did take up the majority of our time. I think others may have felt a bit overwhelmed as they were given extra by their teams, so communication with teams may need to be improved.

I felt like actual responsibility was slightly limited during the internship. This is because even with our main projects, it didn’t truly feel like anything would be carried forward from the work we were doing. The group projects felt as if there was more responsibility to them, as when we completed our presentations we could see that our contributions would help.

I think most importantly the confidence aspect will help me a massive amount beyond the degree level. Knowing how to manage my time will massively help at university and I am thankful for that. Some of the more banking related skills will help with my Economics degree as well, but I don’t think Retail Banking is covered as much, so will help more with the Grad scheme than with my degree

The working atmosphere was honestly fantastic. 99% of people working in the office seemed to be happy coming into work. Multiple people in the team would take time out of their day to help out others and there was a massive charity focus in the office as well, which generally lifted the mood and made me excited to go into work everyday.

Generally the internship was set up really well, however at times there seemed to be repetition in what we were learning. Some of our induction days seemed to overlap massively meaning we were doing similar things each time we all got together. A bit more variety in that would’ve made the setup basically perfect!

A hell of a lot. It felt like we were being constantly focused on and invested in. Not just by the intern team either, there were plenty of stakeholders who were willing to share experiences and knowledge. On top of that, the gala dinner and hotel stays were the icing on the top of the cake and proved how much the company wanted us!

Massively Appealing. Once I finished the internship I missed it almost immediately. The people involved in the organisation mostly had the right attitude and it really made me want to come back. On top of that, due to the friends I made on the internship, I wanted to come back especially to see them again and work with them!

It was generally good, but some of the organised events seemed slightly forced at times. Lots of people tended to form their own friendship groups and so would do things together socially. This meant the events organised by the social secs often felt forced and over the top, which they didn’t need to be.

In Birmingham, the cost of living and socialising is relatively cheap, however I was already paying rent in Birmingham for university so that may seem like it was cheaper. There’s always a spoons you can go to, and nights out are cheap if you can control your spending when you’ve had a drink!

The nightlife in Birmingham is really good, there’s plenty of pubs, bars and clubs as well as some decent themed bars. We went on a few nights out during the internship and they tended to be fun and relatively busy, but I’d recommend a Friday or Saturday night out as there are no students around during the placement.

There were a few opportunities, I know a few people who joined up to gyms and went to fitness classes, however sometimes I feel like the 8 weeks isn’t quite long enough to get properly involved in activities outside of work. I also know people who used to commute in from different cities, meaning it’s more difficult to get involved.