Savings finance business partnering Review

I have enjoyed my internship with Lloyds banking Group. I have done my internship in finance and in the savings business partnering team. The atmosphere in the office has been great and I have been given some real responsibility to do some really interesting things. It has been challenging and interesting

I felt really valued by my colleagues. I was working in a team of 10 where there were some quite senior level people in the team but everyone made me feel very welcome and part of the team. I felt valued because I was trusted with work not just by my line manager but by other members of the team.

I was given good support and guidance by my manager. I had weekly 1 on 1's to talk about how the internship was going, what I was doing well and what could be improved, which was very helpful. I also had 1 on 1 talks about their jobs and careers with a number of high level, senior managers around finance.

I have had busy days and quiet days. Some days have been great with lots to do and I have felt challenged and really enjoyed the things I have been doing but there have also been a number of quiet days when not much is going on and I have had very little to do. This has been a little boring.

I have been given quite a large amount of responsibility. I have been in charge of producing the weekly trading report which is used at a weekly trading meeting for all of savings. I have also been trusted with some important ad hoc work for my managers manager, working out the numbers and producing the powerpoint which was going to some very senior figures.

I have improved my presentation skills which will help massively in my degree. My attention to detail has improved which will be important in tackling my dissertation. I have also got into a better working routine which I havent had in my first two years at university. My internship will definitely help me in my degree to take in some real world examples of theory into the modules (economics) I do.

The general atmosphere in the office has been really good. The team has been really easy to get along with and have all been very welcoming to me when I first arrived. We have had some good laughs both in and out the office with evening drinks and going out for lunch being very enjoyable.

The placement has been very organised with the line managers having a lot of training in being a line manager for an intern. They (and us) have been given a lot of material to read through and help with running the internship. There could be more orgainsed movement between teams, so for example doing a day in another team in another area of the business.

For my internship the company havent done much in terms of training but quite a lot in terms of development with lots of 1 to 1 sessions to go through my development through the internship, highlighting things I have done well and where I could improve. There hasn't been much training, with a little excel training and a few powerpoints on my specific team.

My future employment prospects within the organisation are very high. The company has a fanatastic graduate scheme with lots of places. So hopefully I will get on to that graduate scheme and continue to move up the buisness. Around 70% of interns get offered a place on the graduate scheme so I am confident of getting offered a place.

There has been a good social scene amoung the other interns although this has all been organised by the interns and not by the company itself. There was an induction day on the first day with all the interns around the country which was very well run but since then all social stuff has been organised by the interns.

The cost of living and socialising is large as the office is in the centre of London so you would expect prices to be high. I have been living at home during my intership so the cost of living has been tiny for me. But the company has offered free accomodation to interns in local univeristy accomodation.

The nightlife in the centre of London is fantastic with huge numbers of options, with hundreds of bars, pubs and clubs everywhere. I have had a number of events after work at local bars which have been very enjoyable, with lots of interns or members of my team coming along getting to know everyone better.

There havent been massive of opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work. Unlike in other companies that friends have been working at there is no company sport such as football to get involved in (or at least to my knowledge) which has been sad and there have been social events such as drinks but not many phsyical activities.