Operations & Business Services Review

I found this a great experience to meet new people and have real responsibilities within a global company. The culture and work ethic was impressive. Social events were planned to help us to network with the other interns and graduates such as a boat party and bowling. We also had the opportunity to go on a corporate responsibility trip, have contact with senior management and teleconferences with senior management across the globe.

The role I was given truly integrated me into the team, and at the end I helped to train a new member. I hosted the morning fast meetings which gave me an insight into the other roles within the team. Additionally I was trained on some of the same processes as my colleagues so could help when they were busy.

This placement was well structured with regular feedback with my manager highlighting positives and areas of development. A wide support network was also provided including a personal buddy (a graduate) and mentor (another intern's manager) to guide and advise on any issues or queries that might arise. Furthermore the graduate development team provided a further contact and reference point, holding sessions to improve professionally and personally such as competency workshops.

The workload was enough to be busy but to stretch my abilities to, alongside my main role I had meetings, presentations and group work to schedule which developed my time management and prioritisation skills.

After thorough training I was given the some of the same responsibilities as the other team members in my role, it was great to have a real work life experience. I really felt like my work was valued and that I could help out other team members.

I development my presentation skills thoroughly including giving a presentation to both my manager and his manager. There were team work opportunities with the other interns, which will help with my team based roles within university and also leadership opportunities.

It was a large open plan office that was always busy, teams were in groups of about 10 desks and daily morning meetings provided a chance for everyone to talk about issues. The members of staff were friendly and were always willing to help with any questions I had.

The internship organisation was excellent including pre-internship contact one example would be a chance to talk to your manager through a telephone call a few weeks before. Personal objectives were set for both personal and professional development at the begging to create a learning framework for the rest of the duration.

On-line training sessions were available on all areas of the company. At the beginning we were given introductory presentations from managers from different departments, additionally several lunch and learns were provided alongside competency development sessions. Constant feedback allowed for continual development, furthermore networking opportunities within other areas of the company gave me a greater understanding of the organisation and the banking industry.

This was a great opportunity for me to get an insight into the company and for the company to assess my qualities and suitability for a role. I am very excited with the prospect of working with the company in the future.

The first week we were all staying in hotel accommodation provided by the company, this allowed for initial friendships to be made. Throughout the internship we went for meals, nights out, cinema trips and beach barbecues, it was a great atmosphere. The social parties and events put on by the company were a fantastic opportunity to meet more of the interns and graduates and included a varied range of events from a pub quiz to a boat party to a Mexican themed night. I have made great long term friends and look forward to working with some of them in the future.

I lived in the student accommodation during my internship which was very cheap and included bills, I was also staying with 10 of the other interns which created a good atmosphere and chance to do shared cooking. The accommodation was 10mins away from the beach so beach bbq's were a cheap socialising option and the clubs and pubs were fairly inexpensive.

There were a variety of clubs and bars for any taste, including cocktail bars on the seafront, a karaoke bar and various nightclubs with different types of music.

I joined a club that helped to develop presentation skills. We went on a corporate social responsibility event and built a boardwalk in a part of a forest. There were also the 'Summer Games' which allowed people to join teams to play football, sailing, athletics etc.