Intern, Best Bank for Customers Programme Review

I really enjoyed this internship in Retail COO at Lloyds Banking Group. I found the work extremely interesting and stimulating, particularly because this was the area I hoped to be placed in. It gave me a great oversight of Retail as a whole.

Considering that I was working in a remote team (i.e., I worked in a central office but none of my direct team members were in that office), I felt unbelievably valued. I was constantly given positive feedback and had shout outs in team meetings about how well I was doing. In a senior managers meeting it was brought up that I really wasn't an intern, I was another colleague which was a great thing to hear,

I was given plenty of support and guidance from my manager and team, but by working in a remote team this made it more difficult. Although every best effort was made to assist me, occasionally due to holidays/work schedules, I couldn't always get through to people to get the help/advice needed.

It really varied - I found that some days I had very little work whereas others I was completely rushed off of my feet. Having spoken with colleagues this seems to be fairly normal though.

Plenty of responsibility - it was mentioned many times in meetings how I was a colleague not an intern, and therefore was given the workload and responsibility to reflect that

I'd say the skills I developed won't assist me greatly in terms of my degree (as I study music), but outside of it they'll be massively helpful. Whether I go on to work for Lloyds or somewhere else entirely, the skills I've developed means I can go into a role and be much better at it from the off. I feel confident that I could easily fit in and manage a workload

While I thoroughly enjoyed my placement, I found working remotely difficult. Having no direct team members around me made me feel quite isolated in the office, and although the atmosphere around me felt lively and happy, I wasn't directly a part of it

I thought it was very well set up. I was in a position that things had changed for my team just as I started, so I think that made the start of it slightly more fragmented than expected, but overall it was really good.

My manager explicitly stated to me that my personal development over the course of the internship was key, and they would do anything they could to assist me with it. Any opportunities I wanted to shadow were accommodated and I had frequent conversations about relevant development opportunities

In terms of my experience here, I would really like to them. Although over this internship I've not been able to have the same benefits as a full employee would have, having seen the benefits that you can get - particularly around flexible working - I think it's an extremely positive and forward thinking place to work.

I think it was good, but as I was living from home that made it harder to socialise with everyone else as I wasn't part of the accommodation. However I did make good friends with interns within my charity challenge team and usually had lunch with them which was good.

London is a really expensive place and there's not much you can do about that. I found the cost of travelling to the office particularly high, but again what do you expect from london

Nightlife is great in London but it is expensive and you can't get round that.

Around my team and colleagues, there was nothing - but again, as I worked remotely from my team that was inevitable. I did do things outside of work with interns however