Operational Risk Control Intern Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Santander in second line risk defence and was pleased that they gave me meaningful work to do from the first week. I was treated as one of the team who had worked there many years and very hard to get to where they were. I had plenty of chance to properly prove myself and leave my own legacy and I thought it was a great representation of working for a worldwide financial institution.

I felt very valued by my colleagues and treated as if I was their age with their experience and fully involved in everything that went on. I never felt left out and was told when I had performed good work. I didn't once feel like a bit on the side and was treated with the highest respect and no different to everyone else in the office.

Whenever I was unsure of what was going on, there was a number of people there and willing to help. People that set time aside out of their own work in order that I was on track and knew what was happening. During the first week especially my supervisor ensured I knew what was going on so I had a firm understanding of what went on and what was expected

Throughout the whole ten weeks, there was never a moment when I didn't have something to do which is the way I wanted it and the way I like work. There were many tasks I could get on with and my supervisors ensured that I was always busy with meaningful work. I have managed to achieve a broad scope of my business area and have even do work for a couple of my managers peers, giving me a greater chance to network etc..

As previously mentioned, I was given great responsibility within the team and had to produce pieces of work to present to many stakeholders that are very high up in SantanderUK. I had great exposure to different people due to this and Santander went above and beyond my expectations with the degree of work I was given to complete. I certainly never expected to produce a capability template for our software/hardware producers within week two of the internship - of course with guidance and help and many versions along the way!

The skills I developed in terms of prioritisation and time management will be greatly valued and forever remembered going forward. I think I will do very well at university now after having so many “balls to juggle” here at work and the hours I have put in. I believe it will also give me a reason to want to complete the rest of my degree and motivate me going forward. Also being an Accounting and Finance student, this means that the type of work completed here at Santander will certainly directly assist my study because I will be able to see what I have done in the classroom and apply it to the “real world”.

The general atmosphere in the office was that it was a very hard working environment yet there was certainly room for characters and it was a place you didn't mind coming back to day after day. You had your own personal space and were able to get along with your own work very well, but you were never far away from help if it was required. Everything I was needed was around my desk, the team made sure I was well equipped before I started and seemed very organised.

The internship was set up well once you got past the application stage and contract etc at the beginning which was a bit of a struggle! However I would argue that the hard work certainly was worth it and the team had set up the internship very well, Unfortunately when all interns had a conference call technology let us down, which didn't seem too professional.. But that was only minor in the grand scheme of the placement.

There was a few training sessions that I went on where the firm invested in me. For example I did the operational risk training course that all leaders of various business areas have to complete. I also was one of the lucky few to be trained on the new Santander (UK) Heracles system which is being used to log Risk Control Self Assessments (RCSAs) – this was well before the system went live!

The future employment prospects with this company are very appealing. For starters, there are a high number of interns that get offered a graduate role and then there is much scope for moving around the business and trying different areas of fancy. The only downside to the Santander is that the Graduate pay isn’t completely competitive just yet, but I hear that this is likely to change soon?!

Being in the Leicester branch there was a few less interns around than elsewhere, however we had a great group and there was still enough of us. We managed to go out for drinks a few times and regularly met to have lunch together. The offices in London were livelier when I travelled to them however the interns didn’t really know each other as well as we did in Leicester.

The benefit of being in Leicester in comparison to London was that living costs are a lot cheaper and socialising as well. There is more than enough to do in Leicester also if you are willing to travel a little distance and I felt that this time travelling well outweighed the cost of living in London or down south. You can find a descent house to rent for yourself for a cheaper price than boarding a room in London!

There are a few descent pubs and clubs around Leicester especially towards the weekends, but to be honest I didn’t really feel like going out too much after a full week of work! I found there are more opportunities to do other events in Leicester than to go out clubbing! But I guess that’s just personal taste!

There was always people advertising sports and social clubs outside the café giving you plenty of opportunity to get involved outside of the working hours. Santander are also very good on their community side of things, giving you the chance to help the area around yourself and give something back to those around you.