This review was submitted over 4 years ago, so some of the information it contains may no longer be relevant.
Rating
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The Role
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The Company
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The Culture
- 1. To what extent did you enjoy your work placement or internship?
- 2. To what extent did you feel valued by your colleagues?
- 3. To what extent were you given support and guidance by management/your supervisor(s)?
- 4. How busy were you on a daily basis?
- 5. How much responsibility were you given during your placement?
- 6. To what extent did/will the skills you developed, and training you received, assist you in your degree studies and beyond?
- 7. What was the general atmosphere in your office?
- 8. How well organised was the overall work placement or internship set up?
- 9. In terms of personal training and development, to what extent did the company or firm invest in you?
- 10. What were the perks on your work placement?
- 11. How appealing are future employment prospects within the organisation?
- 12. Was there a good social scene amongst any fellow placement students/colleagues?
- 13. What was the cost of living and socialising in the area you worked in?
- 14. What was the Nightlife like in the area you worked?
- 15. Were there many opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work?
The Role
Studying Physics and Chemistry, I was worried that I woud struggle as I was not undertaking a financial degree. Couldn't have been more wrong. Working in the environment you pick it up very quickly and, in all honesty, the majority is not very difficult to understand. Anybody who will work hard and is willing to learn would be able to learn it.
I was one of only two interns staying in accomodation in a city on the other side of the country to where I lived. The office understood the lack of people my age and were happy to take me out with them, helping me settle into the city. Obviously there were a few jokes about me being an intern but it was all banter and part of the office environment. They wouldn't joke with you if they didn't like yuo.
To an extent I was advised but the majority of the time they wanted to see how I reacted to situations and made my own solutions. After all, the whole point of the internhip is to see if you are good enough to get onto the graduate scheme, if they tell you how to do everything they aren't really able to assess you so this should be expected.
It depended on the week. While I was there, a couple of the weeks there was a severe shortage of staff as many were on holiday. As a result, I was pretty busy in these weeks (about 8am-7pm). However, when all the staff were present I had pretty benign hours (8:30am - 5:30pm).
I pretty much fulfilled the role of an associate relationship manager in the period where there was a severe shortage of staff. As a result I was talking directly to financial directors and chief executive officers. I also worked on multimillion pound refinancings and deals, however I was never asked my opinion on how we should structure the deal.
Truthfully, there was little overlap between what I do in Physics and Chemistry at university and the actions I undertook in this internship. Skills which I carried over from my degree into banking were analytical skills, which I used to analyse and spot problems in company accounts, and scientific knowledge, which I used to understand companies in the energy, oil & gas and technology industries.
The Company
National Travel
Company Parties/Events
The Culture
Accomodation came to £2,000 while I stayed in the city which Lloyds fully paid for.
Details
Internship (1 Month+)
Accounting, Commercial Banking, Banking
North East
August 2015