Group Operations Intern Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my experience working for this company over the summer. I felt like I was trusted with significant responsibility, which whilst challenging, has developed my skills which I will be able to use at university and afterwards.

I did feel valued by the colleagues on my team. They really made an effort to help me get settled into my role at the beginning and tried to include me in team discussions as much as possible.

My line manager gave me a lot of useful advice throughout the internship and would give me constructive feedback.

It varied most days. Sometimes I would be very busy from the moment I got into the office in the morning and would stay that way all day. However other days I would find that I had very little to be getting on with.

I was given responsibility for an individual project that lasted the full 10 weeks. This was extremely interesting as most of my university assignments are completed in groups so it was a good challenge for me to take control of this on my own. I was given the responsibility of conducting my own research and reaching my own recommendations for a proposal. This was so much more than I expected I would get to do prior to the start of the internship.

I feel that I am now a much more organised person. I have had to be responsible for arranging meetings with colleagues to gain information I required for my project and build relations with others. This is something I can take forward for future projects at university. I also feel that drawing my own conclusions and recommendations for the project have built my analytical skills. I am still developing my confidence in approaching others for help, but I feel that it has improved since the start of the internship.

The office was fairly big and therefore there were usually different charity events and activities going on around it. It was never really quiet as a whole. However the area I sat in was fairly subdued and we all sat fairly spread out. However the people were still nice and made an effort to chat occassionally so there was a bit of a balance.

The only part of my placement which was not organised very well was the accommodation. I was not offered accommodation at first despite living 3 hours away from the office. Eventually through many emails it was decided that it would be better for me to live in the accommodation for the summer. Information about the accommodation was also given quite last minute and we were not informed until we arrived that we would need to move twice during the course of the 10 weeks. Nevertheless the accommodation was nice and was paid for by Lloyds so overall even though the organisation of it was not fantastic, it did still work out well. With regards to the actual work, everything was organised very well. My log in and email worked from the first attempt and I never had any problems in this area. My project was ready for me to start from the first working day and I was immediately trusted to get on with the work.

I was given access to the learning portal so I could enhance my knowledge in many areas across the 10 weeks of the internship. I also attended webinars with other Group Operations colleagues which gave banking basics information.

It is very appealing. There are so many more areas to the bank than I realised prior to working for Lloyds. The graduate scheme they offer has so many options and variety and it is very much encouraged across the bank to try out many areas to find what suits you the most.

There were many interns living in the same accommodation which meant there were always opportunities to socialise. Living in the city centre of Edinburgh meant that there were many different opportunities on our doorstep. The Fringe Festival also offered opportunities to socialise with interns and colleagues

As Edinburgh is a capital city, it was no surprise that it was very expensive. Accommodation was paid for by Lloyds so the only things that really needed to be paid for were food, transport and socialising. However none of these costs were particularly high as long as you stay away from the really expensive restaurants and bars in Edinburgh.

The area I worked in was outside Edinburgh and was quite residential so I cant imagine there is very much nightlife. However in the city centre the nightlife is very varied and there is definitely something to suit everyone. However as previously stated Edinburgh is quite expensive and the cost in bars and clubs can be particularly high.

There was a Charity Challenge for Children in Need which ran for the interns throughout the 10 weeks and gave us several opportunities outside of work to fundraise to build up our team total.