Customer Advisor Review

Enjoyed the placement throroughly, although there are some areas which could have been further improved. Would reccomend people doing an internship with lloyds banking group as I was looked after properly and given actual work. Though you do have to admit there were downpoints, the customer facing nature of the role meant that experience could be vastly different each day. Althiough that was a down point, it did mean that I had absolutely fantastic days aswell.

Almost all colloeagues helped me to seamless enter into the team without any trouble at all, to this extent I felt valued. By the end of the placement many of them were even asking me for advice as we all learnt so much while there.

There wasn't much support given, but in the environment not much support was actually needed. Where I did require help this was sorted immedietely and effectively by the management in order to help my experience and for me to get the most out of it.

The nature of the area I was working in was exceptionally busy, so there was never any time to relax over my ten week placement, although it was tiring it did give a realistic view of the working world, whereas other placements would not have done. Some days were much quieter than others, so I did still get time to do my persobnal development and all of the work which I did need to do. There were also a couple of training days which allowed for a break fromk the office environment.

There was a lot of responsibility given to me, when I did take a day off from work, you could see the difference in the queue times and the service given to customers, so this did demonstrate to me that I was making a difference. It could depend upon the day on how much responsibility I have. Sometimes I was expected to work with other members of staff, which required less responsibility as there were two of us, and sometimes I had to work independently interacting with customers which was a lot of responsibility.

I have learnt a lot of skills to do with communication and making myself understood, as I study languages at university this was excellent for me, as experiencing a language barrier first hand showed me how people may view me on my year abroad! The placement vastly increased my confidence and knowledge, which would make me more comfortable to work in the future, and to function in a business environment, something of which I had absolutely no rpevious experience!

The general atomosphere was amazing, It was clean, open, and bright, so I couldn't really complain about anything on that front! There were also regular chyances for me to visit other offices, all of which felt equally ciomfortable and good to work in. The staff were almost all exceptionally welcoming and polite to me, most of them legitimately did want to help me integrate into the team and become a more effective member of staff. This felt absolutely great, and contributed to us all getting on well!

Once again I couldn't really fault the group on this front. we were invited to conference calls before the placement started, and we were sent to London on the first day of our placement to make sure we were up to date with all of the information that we would need,. There was only one fault on my integration, due to a line managers holiday there was a bit of misinformation on the starting date, but this was an exceptional case and was immedietely rectified, so it didn't cause an issue for me at all.

There was an intial training day in London, with all expenses paid and food provided, and two further training days in my host city, with the same providence given. This was excellent and did make me feel like an actual valued member of the company.

The employment prospects look good, especially with this provider actually giving a dedicated graduate scheme which I could look at in future. It is also a vast organisation so there are plenty of placements looking around. Although the prospects do look excellent, personally I do not believe that I would want to take part in them.

There was an excellent social scene in the offices, with them regularly going on nights out, or meals out earlier in the evening when it was appropriate. If yoi wanted to do something, there would be something to do, which was amazing when you are part of a very small team! We regularly had to meet the other interns in the area, and some of us went out to chat and socialise together when we were all available to do it. There are lots of opportunities in Birmingham, and some of the non-locals were very interested in them.

Living and Socialising were naturally more expensive in birmingham than they may have been in other areas of the country, although this been said, the internshipn provided a generous wage so the cost did not overly get in the way of day to day socialising.

Though it isn't something I invested much time in myself (As I lived in Birmingham anyway!) it has one of the best nightlife scenes in the country, so I couldn't fault my host city. Some people from smaller places could feel intimiated by it possibly, although I don't see it as a massive issue. There is something for everyone in Birmingham!

For me there were hundreds, but I did live in the city, and have lived very close by my entire life, so it could seem a tad biased on that front. Although that being said, with Birmingham being so large and having a large range of things which tourists would find interesting I would say that there would be no issues in getting involved with plenty of activities.