Summer internship Review

An internship scheme, shadowing all of the major roles within the branch. Also had projects to complete, including a project with interns from other branches. Daily tasks included a certain level of admin but not very much and the internship was much more tailored to what I wanted to get out of it. Also had external interactions with customer meetings and networking events.

My level of knowledge of the banking sector has certainly increased. Being able to increase my personal skills with customers in a professional setting has also been a very big advantage of the internship. There were also courses available in such areas as financial crime and capital markets.

Within the bank there is a very high level of responsibility within all of roles, and the internship role is included within this. Although there is always support available, you are a given a certain level of trust that you can complete your tasks. This can be the tasks within the branch or the projects externally. The tasks also felt meaningful, with many focused on the different areas in which the bank can progress.

The level of support was extremely high with many structures in place to help this. Within the branch there is the branch manager and also a designated buddy. All interns also have a mentor from another branch and the HR team are very supportive with any further queries. This support was also very accessible, with the ability to directly contact any of these people with quite quick responses to any questions I had.

The company culture is a key selling point of the bank as a whole and most certainly differentiates it from other banks. The whole company revolves around the customer and this is certainly felt throughout the bank with anyone that you may talk to. The level of such things as social events, diversity initiatives, and voluntary initiatives is perhaps lower than it could be. However, the bank is very aware of this and are trying to improve these initiatives.

The internship certainly exceeded my expectations. There was a good level of structure within the internship program in order to keep the working day quite varied without being overwhelming. The team and the company culture were excellent and certainly differ to the stereotypical outlook on bankers. This has meant that having been quite hesitant when first starting my internship, I would certainly go back.

Yes

There is a very large emphasis on company culture within the bank. This has meant that when applying there wasn't the sense that they were necessarily simply looking for applicants with the most qualifications, rather applicants that adhere to their values. Customer interaction is key for applicants and they are perhaps looking for applicants with a good mindset and are proactively looking to learn.