Milestone Year Support Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my work placement. Being in GCA is an innovative area, with a kind and thoughtful team, who considered my aims throughout the ten weeks I was with Lloyds. I was able to stretch myself as widely as I wanted across the team, taking the time to see what different areas of GCA did. It was made sure that there was enough work for me and that it was of benefit to the rest of the team, rather than small tasks that were not as important.

They involved me in the workload and daily discussions, so I felt like a valued member. We also had work socials where we could catch up properly. This really helped us gel as a team and learn more about each other. My colleagues would go to me for answers on specific projects I was leading, showing they had trust in the work I was completing.

I was given the initial guidance and was shown how to undertake specific tasks. However, after this point I was given the independence to lead the tasks myself, as a full-time colleague rather than just an intern. If I had questions along the way, I was able to talk to my colleagues or the graduate who worked closely with my line manager. My line manager was extremely busy so I did not get to see her often, but I still felt I had the relevant support and guidance.

There were peaks and trophs in my workload. Early on, I did not have as much work on, but as my internship progressed I picked up two other projects alongside my main project, which increased my workload. This was a challenge but it was manageable and made me feel like a valued member of the team, as I was interacting with many people who were involved in the projects.

I was given a fair amount of responsibility. At first, there was a lull in this, because my line manager was on holiday for a while, but as the internship progressed, I was given more roles and led a number of elements on my projects. The testing point was on my last week, where I was handing over my projects to be taken over my another employee. I had to pass over a fair bit and provide significant amounts of information, which shows that I had a lot of tasks to lead during my time with the Group. However, more responsibility in terms of tasks would always have been useful.

The time management, confidence and leadership skills I gained during my ten weeks will aid in my degree with presentations and other assessments. These skills are transferable, so I believe I'll use them in later life, with any job I choose to pursue. I was fairly shy before I started the role, but now I feel like I can take on many leadership roles and put my ideas and thinking behind it. The internship was a brilliant way for me to develop and truly hone in on these skills.

It was fairly upbeat and, at times, talkative. My team could talk and work, make jokes and generally were not strict about the workplace environment being quiet and serious. We all got on really well, especially as there were monthly socials, birthday events, leaving dos, etc. There were other interns in GCA too, and as it was a fairly young team, we all had similar experiences we could talk about. Saying that, however, there was a range of age ranges in the team, who all added to make an enjoyable work environment.

It was fairly organised, in that I knew what had been planned for me. However, I would have liked to have been involved in more conference calls about my main project so I had a better understanding of where I stood with it. This was because it was difficult to get the project started initially because of issues with planning and emails not being sent. As the time went on, I picked up more projects but this was not planned in advance and I took on the work on my own initiative largely. Despite this, though, I still had a brilliant time interning.

I had one- to- ones with colleagues about their job role and the projects they were involved in. I was able to learn about their experiences and how they got to where they were now, which was useful to me as I'm about to move into third year at University. They also provided me with IT equipment, that being a laptop and an email address. I also signed up for their internal areas to get access to forums and share points. Furthermore, there were opportunities for networking set up specifically to meet other interns, so we could meet up, with drinks and food provided. We had online health and safety briefings to complete too, which made me feel like a member of the team. However, I would have liked to have met the other GCA teams in Bristol and Edinburgh, to widen my networks, but this was not possible unfortunately, due to funding.

As a full employee, it would be really interesting to be given more responsibility and if I could have continued to work in the team from this summer, it would have been brilliant. I was based in London, so there was always something to do, but aside from the social side, the work I was given involved event planning, project plans and briefing packs which was exciting and made me feel like I was an important member.

There were many interns in London so there was always something to do. We lived in a flat of six, so there was always a good social circle to go out with. After work drinks/ dinners were common and socials with the team were really fun. I found that I had groups of friends I could go out with- work and flat mates- both of which involved interns in the same age range, or around the same age as me.

As it was London it was quite expensive, but Lloyds paid me more weekly due to living in the capital. Despite having a good social life, I still managed to save money and afford food, etc. The accommodation was provided for by Lloyds and travel on the tube was about 20 minutes to work, so I only paid for the travel.

There were many clubs and bars to go to. Although they could get quite expensive, some interns went out often, because it was manageable. We went out almost every Friday as a group.

Socials after work were common. As it was a city, there was always something to do. Sometimes, just sitting in and watching TV with my flatmates was a great way to just hang out after work.