Project Manager Review

As an overall experience, the internship was a lot of fun. As with any internship (form what i hear from friends who have done others) there were ups and downs, but the combination of the work, extra activities and colleague social life made it a fun place to be.

Right from the start my colleagues (including ones that were not involved in my project) gave me various tasks to do that, while not necessarily being overly important, still helped them get their tasks finished quicker. As the internship progressed a lot more important work was placed on my desk, and by the midway point, I felt like I was valued as any other member of the team.

I feel like I was given just the right amount of support and guidance to stretch me, while also ensure I did not feel too out of my depth. In the first week, my task manager and project manager were very clear on the tasks I had to complete and how to do them, and I felt like I could go to them with any questions. My task manager had produced a timeline of the ten weeks that I would be working, with the first five weeks having specific deliverables and activites that I had/should complete. The further along the timeline, however, there were fewer tasks for each week, until the last 5 weeks simply stated "continue with day-to-day project management activites" and any other essential events. The above was extremely appropriate, as the project I was working on would have made it incredibly hard to judge what tasks would be needed, and also it gave me more independance which I feel helped me grow into a better project manager. I always felt comfortable to ask my managers for guidance.

This varied a lot, depending on the progress of the project, and any other activities. On days that my project was running slowly (generally due to waiting for responses from other people), I filled up my time with tasks for the intern Charity Challenge.

As explained above in the "valued" question, I was given more and more responsibility as time went on, and as I was able to prove to my team members that I was capable of carrying out certain tasks. Again, while I did not carry out any tasks that would have major impacts to the company, I did carry out tasks that would influence the success of the overall project I was working on, which I feel was the right amount considering my experience.

The skills I learnt are incredibly transferrable. Project management skills are in constant demand, as are the associated skills such as stakeholder management, time management, negotiation, etc. I study a business degree, and while I dont feel that anything I have learnt will necessarily help me with the technical knowledge needed in exams; I feel that the commercial awareness I have gained will help in my understanding of various theories.

Very collaborative, lively but with work getting done by everyone. I was particularly impressed with how, while professional, the interactions between people were friendly and open, which, in my opinion, really allowed people to feel comfortable in asking for help from various people, including those outside their team.

It was very well set up. There have been various company wide intern events, as well as events, placements and workshops that are more specific to my department. There is a plethora of useful information on varied subjects. I have not had any issues with the organisation of the internship.

LBG encourages a huge amount of personal development, with a massive variety of opportunities available. When there have been skills that I have wanted to improve on (i.e. use of microsoft office applications), we have only had to ask and various workshops have been set up. (I would like to specifically praise Rachel Wheeldin on how much help she has been with this for all the interns within Group Operations Customer Change Management).

Lloyds' graduate scheme is very impressive, with the opportunity to try out a variety of roles within your chosen business area (i.e. operations, retail, hr, finance, etc). This is particularly helpful for someone like me, as i dont have a solid idea of what I want to do, so the variety will help me have a better idea when I finish the scheme (I hope). Thereafter the grad scheme, there are endles sopportunities to move upwards and well as sideways through the company, with most of the team I work with, having been in varied roles before such as Consumer Finance, Risk and Mortgages.

There werent too many social events organised by the company, but plenty organised (and not so organised) amoungst the interns. Because I was not able to live at home (Kent) or my uni house (Nottingham) as my placmenet was in Leeds, LBG provided self-catered accomodatin (university halls of residence) for all the invoices. There were 30+ interns all living in these halls, so the social scene was always buzzing, in the week and on the weekend. Even the interns that did not live with us, regularly joined us on nights out or drinks after work. If you're in this situation, remember to make the effort! Amoungst my colleagues, there were not that many social events outside of work, but this was more due to the fact that people lived all over Yorkshire and commuted. We have planned dinner and drinks the day before I leave, however.

The accomodation was provided by LBG, so that was a big cut in living costs. Weekly shops seemed to cost the same as national average (everywhere except greater London), you can easily get by on the salary you get. In terms of going out, Leeds isn't as expensive as places like London, Kent or Surrey, but for a Northern city I found drinks/club entries weren't as cheap as I was expecting. We managed to eat out quite a bit, so it clearly wasnt too expensive.

Leeds nightlife is mad. Even though there aren't university students, there is still a lot happening. Loads of clubs and bars with loads of different vibes. Even if you don't end up doing an internship here, I would definitely recommend trying out the nightlife. Obviously not as much variety as London, but also much cheaper and a lot less travel involved in gettin between home, bars and clubs (normally a 15 min walk at most).

There were a few. Carious charity events were happening, and I have seen posters for people to join a five-a-side football tournament, a pool tournament and fantasy football team. LBG also places a lot of emphasis on Diversity and Inclusion, and as Leeds Pride happened while the interns were here, a fair few got involved in joining the the procession with Lloyds. As I've said above, a fair few drinks events.