Intern, Commercial Banking - Products Review

I enjoyed being treated on a par with grads and FTEs, getting given real jobs that would help the business and not just things to occupy me. I found the work quite demanding and the role was possibly not a perfect fit for me which did affect the enjoyability but doesn't take away from the placement being very productive and a great experience.

I felt very valued by my colleagues, they treated me like an equal member of the team despite being much younger and having no experience. I wasn't ever given any tasks just for their manual nature and my team were always happy to share their knowledge to help my work. By the end of the placement I was being invited to external client meetings relevant to my projects and being asked by colleagues to contribute.

I think I was given a very appropriate level of support. I was not micro-managed so had the opportunity to make decisions for myself but when I needed help people were always very willing to provide this, and often point me in the direction of other colleagues to talk to or documents to read.

At the beginning of the placement I only had short, small jobs so wasn't too busy but for most of the placement I had three major projects that I was working on concurrently so was very busy. Workload varied daily depending on meetings and deadlines but on average was spot on.

I was given a lot of responsibility with my projects. One of them was a solo piece of work to be presented back to the group which my manager let me do without any interjections. Some of my work required stakeholders to check the output on a regular basis but they always expected me to make the changes independently rather than do it themselves.

I don't think the placement will help me too much with my degree studies, as there was not much relevant content. The exposure to the business has definitely helped me get an idea of which areas I would and wouldn't like to work in on the grad scheme and beyond. The day-to-day skills will also be useful in any future job.

The atmosphere was professional but quite relaxed, most colleagues were very hard working. The office was open plan so there was quite a lot of interacting in the team albeit usually in a professional manner.

The placement was organised very well. I spoke to my manager briefly before arriving and on the first day my laptop was ready, I met the team and had some brief inductions to the business.

There wasn't any appropriate training for me to be doing so this wasn't too applicable, they ran some webinars and learning sessions that were quite useful.

Very appealing, I have been referred for a place on the graduate scheme.

I socialised quite a lot with the other interns on my floor. A lot of the interns were staying in accommodation together so there were lots of social events. Most of my colleagues were older and had families etc so didn't do too much socialising, we went out for drinks once or twice.

I was working in London so expensive, although this was expected. Drinks with work colleagues were often paid for by the business.

Central London so expensive and great!

As above, lots of social activities with other interns. Nothing organised by the business.