Internal Audit Intern Review

In terms of the structure, 2 days were devoted to functional placements within your allocated team and 3 days were allocated for cohort wide activities. During periods of functional activities, you would be expected to work closely with your line manager and other relevant stakeholders to deliver on the tasks you were allocated. Tasks could be both collaborative or independent, and there was a comprehensive range of functional projects and activities to get involved in. On days that included cohort wide activities, this would include listening to speakers from the business, structured learning and development activities and opportunity to work on both the CSR and business line specific projects allocated during the internship. There were great opportunities to interact with other interns and senior business stakeholders, and the involvement and opinion of the interns was actively sought at all times.

The program was well structured to put skill development and learning at the heart of everything you do. Comprehensive internal training and development opportunities were offered by early careers - through mandatory development sessions such as Confidence, Self Awareness and Presentation Skills. There was also considerable emphasis on the Natwest CPCs and understanding how your skills align to the purpose of the bank. I felt that in particular I developed my Presentation and Confidence, through supported participation in development sessions and opportunities within my functional team. Additionally, I feel I developed my approach to taking ownership on my own learning and development - and that I now have sufficient awareness to see where I can improve and to develop a PDP accordingly.

Everybody I met was very keen to get the interns involved in the same projects and opportunities that they were involved in. The views of interns were actively sought and there was great emphasis placed on the diversity of opinion and fresh insight that we brought to the Bank, which was a great approach and allowed us to have a meaningful impact on business activities. You had the opportunity to dive into as much technical detail as you wanted, while still being actively encouraged to make connections across the bank and understand other business areas. At all times you were able to see how you would be able to align to a graduate role, and there were several sessions discussing the structure and progression to the graduate scheme which gave clear oversight of the process and what you needed to do.

Great atmosphere and it was clear that colleagues, right through from grads to senior stakeholders were excited to see the intern cohort come through and were keen to support them at all stages. The Natwest purpose and CPCs were emphasised at every stage and it is clear that this is something that the business places at front and centre of everything it does. Senior leaders in particular were very accessible and devoted considerable time to the intern program and answering any questions we had.

I think the virtual experience was very well structured under what was difficult circumstances. The structure worked well to give some direction and flow to the internship and I felt that everyone had clear expectations of what they had to do. I felt that engaging virtually was something that I found challenging, and that my participation in the scheme was not as extensive as I would have expected from myself. That said, the virtual nature of the internship meant there was the opportunity to connect with interns regardless of location and to gain access to a variety of stakeholders and functional opportunities that may not otherwise have been possible.

Yes

I think the best advice I could give would be to read up on the Natwest Purpose and CPCs, align this to your experiences and put it front and centre of everything they do. The Bank very much lives its purpose and they are keen to assess how you could fit into this, and if you do join the bank you will be heavily involved in this - so it is advisable to assess your fit with these areas.