HR intern Review

It was great to learn more about the inner workings of the bank and a lot of the different roles. Most of the sessions were very engaging and offered valuable insights into the bank's purpose, the different teams, goals etc. Some of the sessions did feel like they were there simply to fill a space/take up time, however I understand that only so much can be done virtually and I think the team did a great job at delivering a valuable experience considering the circumstances

Even from the assessment day I got the impression that RBS/NWG has a great corporate culture. Throughout the internship it was evident that the bank wants us to fulfill our full potential and wants to help us in any way they can. Being able to hear from Alison Rose and colleagues at the top of the bank reinforced the idea that interns and grads are well valued and I am sure this would have been just the case had we been at the internship in person as well

The onboarding portal was a great way to provide information and connect interns. My buddy was also great at communicating throughout the month. We would have regular catch ups, chat through certain areas which i was interested in or had questions about, and she was also able to connect me with others within the bank to find out more. Had i needed further support I am confident that i would have easily been able to get in touch with someone from early careers as well

Some of the skills from the development sessions will definitely stay with me. The mental wellbeing and meditation session was also a good introduction to meditation and was delivered very effectively even over zoom! It would have been nice to do more programme specific sessions and maybe even some small projects, however i appreciate that this may be difficult to facilitate virtually. I also found the session we had on financial wellbeing a little patronising

Beginning with a general welcome week was definitely valuable as I learned a lot about the bank's overall purpose and some of the key colleagues within the bank. The programme specific sessions in week 2 were the most valuable for me and i wish we could have had more than one week of these. It might have been good to continue with the programme specific sessions and have some of the development sessions mixed in rather than an entire week dedicated to them

Everyone I had contact with was extremely friendly and gave the impression that they were happy to be speaking with us. Having so many opportunities to ask questions also helped create a more friendly, informal atmosphere. The sessions on a Friday also helped to create a friendly atmosphere and allowed for us to interact with more interns. Also having sessions with grads consolidated this friendly atmosphere as they spoke about how much they enjoyed working at the bank

It seems like the bank had spent a lot of time and effort creating a valuable virtual internship for us. However a lot of the sessions were like one off development sessions with no follow through or opportunity to put skills into practice

Week 2 was helpful for gaining an understanding of what HR consists of and it was great to hear from so many different teams. A lot of the speakers offered a good account of their day to day activities. We were also offered a detailed insight into life as a grad student and the Q&A sessions with grads were certainly valuable

Very early on I understood that NWG has a very positive and friendly company culture. This was also evident throughout the experience when speaking to colleagues from many areas throughout the bank as well as grads. Every encounter I had with a colleague from NWG was positive and definitely gave the impression of a friendly working atmosphere within the bank

The content in week 2 was helpful for gaining an insight into HR. I was introduced to many roles which i didn't even realise existed beforehand which definitely made me begin to question some new options for my career path

Considering that the length and content of the internship was considerably cut I was very happy to learn that I would still be paid the same salary.

All speakers were happy to answer questions and some offered their email addresses or linked in to contact them further. My buddy was also more than willing to put me in contact with people from business areas I was interested in. It was more difficult to network with colleagues and interns outside of our own programmes but certainly still possible. The more interactive sessions with break out rooms were helpful for connecting with interns from other programmes

We heard from the grads about a lot of the graduate councils which we could get involved with. There was also mention of other social events, councils and groups which colleagues could be involved in but we weren't given many details

If lockdown restrictions were still in place i would definitely recommend this experience to a friend. NWG provided an all around great experience given the current circumstances. However, if in-person internships were available i would probably recommend them over this virtual experience as i think time working in the company would be more valuable