Business Analyst Review

Overall my placement did not stretch me and I felt that my time could have been better invested elsewhere, however the people where nice and I was able to live rent free in London for a whole summer.

My colleagues were all accepting of me in the workplace, many were interested in talking about my placement and offered to helo me where they could. However some colleagues did not reply to my emails and were not cooperative, perhaps because they were very busy - however this made me feel undervalued.

My manager was very supportive when I got the time to speak to her. However, I was based in an entirely different city to her and her job is extremely busy often with back to back meetings so it was hard to schedule times to talk. The people in my office tried to help but they had their own work to get on with also so couldn't dedicate much time to me.

Some days I would be really busy working on my own projects and I would spend hours at my computer focusing on specific tasks. However, this work often dried up after a few days as I waited for further instruction or feedback. This meant that a lot of the time I did not have a lot of work to do and found myself actively trying to seek more work, this was not very successful as my area of the bank relies on a lot of technical knowledge which I did not have due to it being an internship.

I was left to complete my own projects of which I had free reign and could manage my own time/direction. But the projects did not have a great impact upon my area and many seemed like menial time fillers. I was allowed to speak to managers by myself and organise my own meetings.

I have gained a lot of skills due to being in a workplace. It's easy to undervalue a lot of the skills you learn such as challenging a colleague, emailing a whole department etc, These are challenges that you do not come accross in university and have to learn on the job. In terms of any more specific skills, i do not believe I have gained any due o the nature of my work. I thought I owuld learn a lot about banking and finance but i have learnt nothing of the sort.

My office was very easy going and friendly. This was a great place to have my first internship as it was not too uptight and I could ease in. However, there was a lack of ambition amongst colleagues in the office which was not encouraging and did not drive me in the way I would have hoped.

The overall internship had a very rigid structure, however this was not properley communicated to my manager and for my personal internship the structure was not followed. I should have had weekly 1-1 meetings to discuss my goals and how I had achieved them so far. This did not happen and many of my meeting were short and more about the work I was producing than the goals I was working towards. Whilst this was also helpful it didnt follow the correct structure.

The company put on a large opening ceremony where they introduced us to our internships and to the bank. This was very lavish with lunch and a free bar provided. However, it was not as informative as I would have hoped and i learnt little about my area of the bank. We also had webinars over the course of the internship to teach us 'Banking Basics' these were also not very informative and often repetitive.

It would be realtively easy to get a job after a placement at the bank. You simply need a referral from your manager. However, you have to work in the same area in the bank as your internship so that narrows down the possibilities. You also enter onto a 2 year grad scheme before rolling off at managerial level. I am still unsure as to whether I woulkd take the job as I feel I could be more challenged elsewhere.

The colleagues in my office ran a lot of charity events in the office and went for drinks after work very occasionally. There were no other interns in my team or even near me in the office so I often felt a bit excluded from the team despite being invited. We had to take part in a charity challenge which meant meeting up with other interns to put on events, this was a great way to meet other interns in the bank and get to know them.

I am used to living in London so the prices were not a shock, however to socialise after work can be quite expensive if you do it regularly. I also walked to work and know of a few interns who cycled, this saved us over £300 on tube fares. Lloyds also provided us with free accomodation for the 10 weeks in the centre of London. This was a massive help as it cut my lovong costs drastically.

There are lots of bars in the City, they are very expensive but often full of people. In London there is loads to do after work but it can often be very expensive - many nightclubs have a £20 cover charge. Socialising with other interns is very lively as no one knows anyone else so it is like Freshers all over again.

I was able to get involved in a 'Day to Make a a Difference' this is a paid work day that you can take off to help at a charity event or do a days volunteering. I went with a colleague to Stratford to help with a sensory garden project. I also got very involved in the charity challenge and spent a lot of time fundraising with my team.