Analyst Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my placement. IT was slow to set me up with a computer (1-2 weeks), but after this I was given plenty of work, with a couple projects that felt like important pieces of work, giving me a sense of accomplishment - feeling that I had helped the business. It was hard to settle down at first, especially with a difficult desk like Credit, but everyone was available to answer any questions I had.

They trusted me with work that was sent to clients and had a lot of time to sit down and talk with me, with some giving advise on subjects outside of the workplace, including my dissertation. As an intern you expect to be given hundreds of pages of notes to simply edit and comment on, yet at Lloyds I was given brand new projects to work on with supervisors, giving a more explorative feel to my time there.

My actual line manager was quite busy most of the time, but the person he allocated as my supervisor guided me almost daily, giving me a strong sense of support. I definitely felt comfortable in my role, knowing they would both guide me if I needed. When my actual line manager gave me a project he would always make sure he could fit time in his diary to sit down with me if I had any issues.

As it was summer the Credit desk I was on got fairly quiet for a couple weeks. However, this gave me a chance to explore the business, sitting on other desks on my floor (Commodities, FX and Econommics etc) and even spending a few days with the legal teams. There is work set aside for when you arrive, but they expect you to want to explore other areas of the business and find work too.

As an intern you will find some basic tasks thrown your way, especially for the first few weeks. Once you settle in you will start to see your tasks increase in difficulty and importance (for example, after a couple weeks I was given the responsibility of a daily report of market trades for GB, Euro and US). I was on a data team which often leads you chasing through data, not often finding anything of importance, but once you find something important your supervisor will often let you continue with the project to completion, giving you a great sense of responsibility.

I study Accounting and Finance with Law, therefore it was great to see what I have learnt at uni in practise. I was also given a lot of time with managers and directors who sat me down to discuss various aspects of my uni studies, including my dissertations. My IT skills (coding, professional level of Excel skills etc) have also improved greatly, something I believe is important in the modern work environment. I also feel that the work-life balance has prepared me well for my final year of uni, with a structured summer and a new found work ethic.

It was an abnormally quiet summer as liquidity dropped in the market due to greece, china and the oil glut. Everyone tried to remain upbeat, helped by repo doing well in the market. It is interesting to see how the atmosphere changes very rapidly in line with market conditions in credit. The same was not quite as evident in FX or Commodities, although you can still see it at times.

Slow to begin with, especially with the lack of IT response. My line manager was also often busy and so missed some emails sent to supervisors from the intern team, leaving us with short deadlines for important work/admin. Overall it felt like they simply used me when they could, but there was definitely time spent before I arrived where they sat down to plan out work I would do throughout the 10 weeks.

I did not receive much in the way of training, yet some interns did. However, this was mostly at the start of the internship and was mostly for the benefit of non Finance/Business students. I gained a lot of support on new software such as Tableau and SQL, plus an expansion of my Excel knowledge and general knowledge of each type of product (credit/bonds, Foreign Exchange, rates etc) which I feel the company has invested so that, if I gain a graduate placement offer, I can hit the ground running next year.

I am currently awaiting a job offer (end of the week!). If I get the offer I will most likely be taking it

Very good social scene to be found with Lloyds. The placement students are all put into a block of student halls if they do not live within commuting distance (leading to 100 lloyds students in the same halls) and the colleagues organise regular social events where they book out areas of expensive pubs, with the night often leading to an MD taking a couple of you for a nice meal and more cocktails if you get on well! (found myself at Sushi samba and City Social a few times)

Living in London is never cheap, yet it was made much easier by Lloyds. Accomodation was paid for and the salary you receive is easily enough to cover other living and socialising costs. I would often eat out and still see myself saving at least 1/4 of my weekly salary. The fact that reed (on behalf of Lloyds) pays you on a weekly basis is also very convenient for budgeting.

It's London... There isn't a single night where you don't have 5 options for a fantastic night out. Rooftop bars, classy clubs, student bars, evening entertainment (1 or 2 trips to the theatre etc is highly recommended) - you can find anything you want in London. The one issue is the price, yet we all still found the time and money to go out at least once or twice a week.

There is a structured Intern Charity Challenge which gives you an excuse to go out and do things with a team of other student (I highly recommend hiring out a pudsey costume (often a 1 month waiting list), it's a lot of fun for an afternoon. There didn't seem to be many activities by Lloyds, but if you get talking to people you will find that people have got groups together for weekly football matches/golf weekends etc.