Insurance Finance Analyst Review

I enjoyed most of the work I was doing during my internship. However, I was never given enough work to keep me busy. More often than not I'd start the week with nothing to do and no place to sit (since our location is hot desked) and then be given work on the Friday. Furthermore, I had a line manager who was not supportive enough to my development, which resulted in little work and feeling of neglect. Most of my work was admin based.

The team that I was put in didn't make me feel welcome during my first week and many of the subsequent weeks. Since I had so little work, I would always ask for something to do, and the response I got was usually a short reply about how they were 'too busy' to find work. However, I did make friends elsewhere in my department who made me feel welcome and who treated me like an equal. They would often give me work to do because they trusted that I was smart enough to do it.

On my first day at Lloyds, I was given very little guidance. I wasn't shown the fire exits, canteen, or toilets. I was left alone for practically the entire day with no work to do. Things didn't change much after I started to ask for more work in the afternoon and in the subsequent days. My manager was always 'too busy' to find me work and could never fidn the time to have weekly meetings like he did with other members of the team. Overall, I felt neglected, stupid, and an outcast.

For approximately 30% of my placement, I was not very busy. As mentioned before, I wasn't given much work and then when I asked for work, I either wouldn't get any or I would have to wait for the next day or even the day after that to get work. I would usually get busy on a Friday and be given lots of work to finish that day. As the weeks went by, I started to get some bigger projects to work on, which made my days busier, but I was hardly ever rushed off my feet.

I wasn't given very much responsibility. I felt like most of the time my colleagues didn't trust me with the work, having an air of superiority as if I wasn't educated or smart enough to do the work. However, occasionally I would get some bigger projects to work on, which gave me more opportunity to be responsible, as they involved more risk.

This was my first experience of a professional environment, so I picked up a lot of skills including office etiquite. Furthermore, all projects that I've worked on have required me to have a proficiency with Microsoft Excel. Overall, it's been an invaluable internship because I've been able to develop my efficiency with Microsoft Excel (which I hadn't used since school), I was given the opportunity to do charity work and organise fundraising events, and I was able to learn how to behave properly in a professional environment.

The overall set up for the Lloyds Scholars internships were poorly done. We had to wait for many months after we submitted our applications to find out the details of where we were placed. This caused my parents problems as they couldn't get enough time off work to help me to move to my internship location. There was very little structure to my internship; no work had been laid out for my 10 weeks here and there was no plan on what I'd be doing within my team/department.

Generally, Lloyds is a good company to work for since they give you a lot of opportunities to develop, become qualified, and have a diverse work force which is supported by 'Diversity and Inclusion' initiatives. I would not consider working for my team again, but I am interested in pursuing an actuarial role within my department under a more competent line manager.

I couldn't ask for a better social life than I have now. Since we were placed in an internship because we're on the lloyds Scholars scheme, we all bonded very quickly. There aren't many days where I'm doing nothing or sitting at home bored and alone. Furthermore, I've been able to go to lunch with certain people in my department and there have been several social events that Lloyds has run which I could get involved in.

Since I am a Lloyds Scholar, I get my accommodation paid for under the scheme. Furthermore, I am placed within walking distance from work. Hence, I occur no rent costs. I am able to live and work quite comfortably and save money. The only reason I sometimes don't save money is because I'm socialising too much!