Summer Intern - Retail Banking Review

Before I started my internship, I was dreading it and really didn't want to give up 10 weeks of my summer to work. However moving to London for the Summer to work for Lloyds was one of the best decsisions ever! With the Lloyds placement it's more than just a job, there's a whole social aspect that comes with it. Lloyds put me up, along with around 50 other interns, in student accomodation in the centre of London. You meet so many new people , around the same age, and there's always something going on. The job was great and I loved my team - most interns I knew enjoyed their jobs too.

My office was quite small and the team was quite small too which I think made me feel more involved. As part of my role, my team went away together a couple of times and we went out for team dinner and drinks so I really got to know a lot of the properly. Sometimes I do feel I'm treated 'like an intern' by certain team members but in general, all colleagues were very welcoming and would always offer you support/ shadowing/ help if you needed it!

My line manager was fantastic! She worked at home so I'd only see her a couple of times a week, but most of the time she was on the other end of the phone or email if I ever needed to ask questions or ask for more work. She was really open to any new ideas I had and would always let me know what I'd done well/ what I could improve on. I could tell she really appreciated the work I did for her.

The majority of the time I had work to do but no set deadlines, so I felt relaxed at work - not too bored or too busy - which I really liked. There were some days where I had to get a lot done but I never felt like it was a ridiculous amount. Your line manager or other line managers are always happy to give you more work when you ask for it. I think I could've asked for more work than I did but that was my decision.

I felt like tasks varied - some projects I was completely responsible for the outcome and others were a lot less in important, such as putting notes together. I don't feel that I have a massive 'legacy' here but I do know my work has been valued! Some of the on-going projects I have started are being taken over by other colleagues as they want to continue with them.

I think this internship just taught me a lot of professional workplace skills that I wouldn't have known otherwise - such as the correct was to send emails/ organise meetings/ participate in conference calls/ talk to other colleauges. My internship won't help directly with my degree as they aren't related, but I think I've learnt to become more organised and more mature.

It varied, you didn't really know what to expect each day! Some days (normally towards the beginning of the week), the atmosphere would be quite tense as it the office would be full, lots of people would be busy, and you kind of felt like a burden asking for help/ questions. However some days (normally by Wednesday) it was a lot more calm, the office was less busy as more people worked from home. By Friday it was really chill. Only about 5 of us were in the office (3 of them interns) and the atmosphere was super relaxed and fun!

I have a Lloyds scholarship so I my application was quite simple. I only had to tell Lloyds the top 3 areas I wanted to work in and 2 location preferences and they sorted it all out for me. They sorted accomodation out too!

The company organised LiveMeets to teach us about Banking Basics which were actually really informative and helpful. They also organised a Charity Challenge where you were put in a team of 12 interns and had to raise as much money as you could for Children In Need. We were assigned a graduate to help us too - this was really fun and obviously great to support such a good cause. They also set up a Retail Banking challenge where we had to improve a product/ service Lloyds offered and provided us with a mentor to support us through this. I also was allowed to go on a branch visit to meet customers and learn about what went on in branches, and they organised an Intern Swap day where we could learn about another part of the Bank.

At the end of your internship you can be referred to the Graduate Programme (most people get onto this I believe) which lasts for 2 years, and then after the Grad Programme you can apply for a job and the chances of you securing a job within Lloyds after this are really high.

Yes, most definitely! All the interns that lived to far away to commute to offices in London were put up in student accomodation together - so it was kind of like being at uni! You meet loads of other people all doing the same thing as you which is great and there's a really supportive atmosphere. People were always going out for drinks/ food/ nights out etc. so if you wanted to get involved there was always something to do! There would always be a big group of us going out on Friday & Saturday nights - you can never get bored. Being in the centre of London was amazing too!

Central London so it was very expensive.... Lloyds pay for your accomodation and the offices are within walking distance (30-40mins) so you don't need to pay for travel if you don't want to but after work drinks, meals out and nights out all add up! Food wasn't actually too expensive if you looked about! Rough drinks costs: £10 for a double, minimum £10 to get into most clubs, happy hour cocktails can be reasonsable at about £4 each. If you get your 16-25 railcard added to your Oyster card you can get 1/3 off tubes and buses at off-peak times.

Central London so the nightlife is kind of self explanatory! Endless bars, pubs and clubs to go to but all pretty expensive especially at weekends which obviously were the main nights we went out. There's definitely something for all music tastes though - you can't go wrong (apart from pricewise....)

Yes. There weren't many opportnities to get involved with the team outside work (apart from after work drinks/ dinners) but there was a lot of opportunity with the interns. We had to do a Charity Challenge so there were always groups organising social events trying to raise money for this. There would always be people going for drinks or dinner after work etc.