Commercial Banking - Associate Relationship Manager Review

I interned in the Commercial Banking Division at LBG in a Relationship Management Role. I enjoyed my internship overall, however I wasn't able to get really stuck into the work because my role was so client focused. In the limited time and with no understanding of clients, I often was completing basic tasks and more administrative things than 'banking'.

I felt very valued by my colleagues, I worked with lots of different members of the team which was great in terms of getting more exposure. I helped lots of people with their workload. However, this did bring on the feeling of being 'passed' around the team and not having a defined role or contribution to the team. Thus the ability to take ownership of tasks lacked massively. All the work I helped with was valued and appreciation was shown by my colleagues.

I was given a moderate level of support throughout the programme. My line manager was often working outside of my office thus we didn't spend an awful l,ot of time together. Despite this we still met up on a weekly basis and reviewed my progress and addressed anything I needed for the week ahead. I was treated fairly amongst my colleagues and not having the support of my manager on a daily basis allowed me to get to know my team better and learn things for myself. The balance helped me develop throughout the internship.

I was relatively busy, sometimes I worked on more than one project at once. I had a few deadlines to meet which was great because I am a results driven person. I do believe that I could have been busier and I could have been challenged further. This depends on your line manager and your personal drive. I wanted to make myself busier so I started my own project.

I was given a reasonable amount of responsibility. As an intern you can't do things that are of great importance but relative to my level of experience I think I was given fair tasks. Some tasks were not as important as others, but there definitely were tasks that had a level of significance.

I believe I have become more confident in the workplace, i've understood how to be a professional young person which is something university doesn't teach you. I think the skills I gained from this internship were more personal than technical, thus I don't believe these will necessarily help my degree but they will in the working world. This is in particular regard to relationship management where the role is very subjective. In other areas of Commercial Banking you may gain a more technical skill set.

I am not prepared to disclose the location of my placement however I was based Regionally (not in London) and although in a City, it was a relatively small one. Location can make a huge difference on your overall experience, personally in my office there was only 1 graduate and 95% of the staff were not in my age bracket. There was also only 1 other intern in another team within my office so there were not many people to socialise with. Having said that I did enjoy the company of my older colleagues, it just couldn't be described as a 'fun' environment.

The internship was well organised on the Emerging Talent side (HR). We had a great induction event in ExCel and there were regular email updates and conference calls throughout the internship. However the actual internship content is totally dependent on your line manager. My line manager did not have a plan or a project for me to work on, whereas others had a 10 week schedule of things for their interns to do. I arrived into the office and the tasks I completed were set by myself and my line manager rather than what was described online/in the role memo. It will depend on your office's requirements and also how much your line manager has prepared for you before you have arrived.

Again there is no specific training, you just learn on the job and this will ultimately come down to your line manager. There were some discover learning modules to complete online (health and safety, fraud etc) but aside from this there was nothing technical to learn (relationship management). I was given the opportunity to develop in the sense that if there was something I was interested in, my line manager and I worked together to make it happen. I definitely had to research and come up with these ideas to then approach my manager, they weren't necessarily handed to me. You can make what you want out of the internship!

I am yet to find out if I have been offered a job or not, however the employment prospects are great at LBG. There are lots of different divisions in so many parts of banking. It is a great place to begin your career and there is a LOT of flexibility internally if you want to change jobs. The culture is great, friendly people. All interns had to sit an interview for the Graduate Scheme at the end (in your internship's division), so there is the chance that you could get a job out of the internship. There are lots of equal opportunities networks (ethnic minority, LGBTQ etc) who hold events as well.

As mentioned, I was only with 1 other intern in my office so there wasn't an opportunity to socialise which is something I looked forward to a lot. I didn't get my choice of location however those who were in London and Edinburgh for example often had socials after work and some even lived in accommodation together. There were a couple of intern-wide events held which was good (boat party, networking drinks).

Due to not getting my choice of location and being put somewhere that I couldn't commute to, LBG provided accommodation free of charge for the 10 weeks! This included rent, bills, internet basically everything. I only had to pay for my own personal living costs (food, shopping etc). This was a great bonus, I was put somewhere close to work (only 30 min bus journey) and could save money. The city I lived in had a good social scene and was within commutable distance to London if I really wanted to go somewhere busy. NOT EVERYONE got accommodation, so don't just apply for that reason. Also I was luckily put in superb accommodation, I know others who weren't living as well as me.

No idea, I didn't go out in the city. However it is a massive student city so I wouldn't say it would have been awful.

Not really, not much else was going on that I was aware of. Only the activities I listed above.