Internal audit internship Review

I enjoyed the virtual experience to a large extent. Before completing it I was very worried both about how it would be run and about wether I thought I was doing the right role for me, especially as I had no banking experience. However everyone we interacted with were friendly and extremely helpful and I felt that everyone tried really hard to ensure the sessions put on were engaging, informative and interactive. By being able to not only find out more about banking, Natwest and my specific area as a whole, while interacting with other like-minded people like me was a completly new experience but one which I really valued and enjoyed.

I did feel very valued to some extent during my virtual experience. Everyone I spoke to from the very senior managers who gave us presentations to my own 'buddy' who was assigned to me to answer questions and help me out were really approachable, friendly and helpful and were willing to take as much time as they could to talk with us and answer all our questions. The only thing that I think could have made me feel more valued was if I had more of an actual role to do or perhaps some more jobs to complete as then I might have felt like a more key member of the company however given the current situation I completely understand how that was not possible and so do not feel they could have done this anyway.

I received lots of guidance and support. Everyone who took the time to talk to us gave us lots of great insight and useful tips as well as answering any of our questions as best they could. It really reassured me that NatWest Group would be a really supportive company to work for! I also really appreciated the fact that they gave us all a buddy to talk to as he was super friendly and helpful and I was able to easily contact him and regually have any questions answered.

I thought that the skills I developed will be really useful for a long time. the session focusing on building strong relationships, mindfulness and reflectiveness I found really interesting, particularly as I've never done anything like that before, and I feel will make a big difference when for me personally in my future career and life as a whole. I also think the information I received about banking as a whole as well as my individual section might all help with my future job prospects because I got a better idea as to what the industry was and if I would enjoy working within it.

The experience was really well structured. It was very clear what times and dates I was on calls and what events were being run. the meetings all worked really well and without many if any problems. there was great communication the whole way through.

Really inclusive, friendly and invested. I felt like everyone I spoke to really wanted to see me and the other interns succeed in our futures and would want to help us in any way they could. The other interns were also really friendly and the ability to talk over zoom and create our own groups was really nice and we managed to build friendships despite the physical distance. I felt like i was learning in a fun and interesting way and was very impressed with it as a whole

I feel that they have invested in me to some extent. They provided really useful sessions on things such as mindfulness and maximising our potential. these sessions were really useful and showed how much they wanted us to succeed. They also spent lots of time talking to us about the company, what potential roles we could have and often mentioned that they wanted us to succeed either with them or just by helping us. I felt like they tried to provide us with sessions that would help us in the future.

I felt like it did really help me to understand what it would be like to work there. being able to speak to various different people from graduates to managing directors gave us a really oversight as to the company as a whole and what day to day working life was like. They also explained the culture of the company really well. Obviously due to having to complete this online experience I feel like I didn't necessarily get a complete idea of the exact work I would be doing in my field as I never had any direct contact with specific day to day jobs but I don't think this could have been helped and so I still feel I got the best insight possible.

Really really well. Being able to talk to people at all different levels was really useful as they all spoke about different aspects of the culture yet all basically said the same things about how they really loved the culture. Also having the ability to partake in the fundraising opportunities even though it was virtual was both really enjoyable and fulfilling and also really highlighted how much the company strives to help everyone both inside and outside the company itself.

It was very useful to some extent. Before starting I was hesitant as I had never experienced the banking environment and didn't know anything really about my area. However over the course of the virtual internship I felt like I learnt a lot about banking, NatWest and what a potential career in this industry would be like and so I thought it was quite valuable. However I am still unsure wether the specific area I choose to do would be something I'm really interested in as i didn't get chance to do much actual work experience on that specific area.

We were very lucky that they kept the programme running and they paid us for the full 10 weeks we were originally supposed to do when the virtual experience only lasted for 4 weeks. I feel like they were very generous and it goes to show how much they care about us as people and potential future employees and how they are dedicated to helping us with our Career

There was plenty of opportunities for networking. Within the virtual internship itself they provided sessions by many people all of which said we could email and get in touch with them if we had any questions. My buddy that was assigned to me was also extremely useful as he was a graduate already and in the programme I potentially would be interested in so I got to ask lots of questions. He also often said that he could get my in contact with other people and have a chat with them so that defiantly was good.

Obviously as the experience was virtual it was perhaps harder to do social events then it would have been if it was online. However they did place a big emphasis on reaching out to other interns which we did on group chats and they also encouraged us to get involved with the corporate responsibility challenges. This meant they split us into smaller teams and we had to plan and organise fundraising opportunities which was really fun! However was difficult to have many social events virtually

I found out about a few activities outside of work including social events and fundraising. My buddy also mentioned how quite often teams would go for drinks and meet up outside of work which was nice to know that you'd make good friends. I think this was not easy to find out about if you're not within the company as especially at the moment eveyrhtings online. But I did get a good taster into some of the potential opportunities

I would definitely recommend this experience to a friend. I think the time and effort they spent talking to us, answering questions and creating fun sessions really highlights for me how NatWest wants us to do well and cares about me as an individual. Well it is not the same as the real in person experience, given the circumstances and COVID crisis I feel really lucky to have still had the opportunity to work with NatWest in some capacity and get a real insight to the business. Everyone I spoke to was really helpful and friendly and really supported me whenever I needed it.