Technology and Operations - Middle office Review

I enjoyed my placement but more because of the freedom I was given to develop my project. I was able to create it in my own way which in turn made it more interesting and challenging. Problem to do with the organisation of the team meant that a lot of problems occured during the project which made it more interesting, if it had been well planned it wouldn't have been enjoyable as it would have been 90% admin and data entry.

I was immediately valued as the excel person which meant my abiities in this context were appreciated, however, due to the size of the department and lack of project I didn't have any work which didn't involve spreadsheets or powerpoint to show my abilities.

I was seated with my management team and my buddy which meant I had guidance and support whenever I needed it. My buddy in particular was a very positive and supportive person who helped me a lot.

Should the project have been well planned before I started it I would have spent most days with absolutely no work to do. Due to changes being needed to be implemented in later stages I then became quite busy trying to teach myself new techniques to solve the problems now and for the future.

I was given responsibility over a simple project but I was given the freedom to develop this as I saw fit and make it more complex.

I received no training. I have mainly developed coding skills which might be useful in future placements. Work experience in terms of dealing with bosses and colleague will be very useful.

Very quiet. My particular department weren't very social but the corporate and commercial departments were. However, the department did welcome me very well, I was always given time. The only thing is that they didn't socialise very much outside the office you to personal commitments.

Not amazingly, at the beginning I was waiting several weeks for employees to return from holiday so that I could start my project and i wasn't given any other work to do in the meantime. When the project did start it wasn't planned well and I was unsure on who to report to on a lot of things as the managers weren't sure either. The disorganisation made my project more interesting as otherwise it wouldn't have lasted more than a few weeks.

We were sent on training days for the interns which gave us an overview of the company. Interns can't do many of the schemes offered due to time constraints but they do exist. I was allowed to visit a day of meetings which gave me an insight into new projects. I was given the opportunity to organise days and meetings in other departments but this have to be looked for, if you do not organise them yourself you won't get them but the team was more than happy to give me all the time I wanted to spend talking with other managers.

Within the company yes, you can tell it is a good place to work, the managers are nice and look after you were possible. I would say that I am pretty certain the department I worked in is not for me but the company is definitely a place I would like to work in. On the last day of our internship we were told whether or not we have been given a place on the Graduate scheme so you can go back to university feeling good and without the stress of job hunting.

No, not in my department. I was never invited out by anyone in my department for an afterwork drink. I did become good friends with my buddy and we hung out, as did us group of interns. Other departments (those with corporate cards) often had social events and drinks and I was more than welcome to join them. On my last day however, all of staff did give me a present and offer their best wishes which was a very nice gesture.

Being in Manchester you can always find accomodation very cheaply, but due to the low wage offered to the interns it is a choice between living far away in worse conditions and having more disposable income or spending more money to live somewhere nice and more central but sacrificing other things. The Spinningfields area can be quite expensive so it is good when you can go out with an work event and it get for free, but the wage doesn't really allow for any lavish spending or wild nights, especially not if you decide to live in a nice place.

The bank is situated right next to a Spinningfields and Castlefield which means you are never far from a place to have a drink or dinner and a dance as the night pushes on. Manchester is a very social city and the office is ideally located to take advantage of this.

We were given a CSR project which meant we had to hold an event after work. One colleague asked me to play football with them. At an induction day for my department we were told about a lot of activities that they offer, a lot of charity events, pub nights, etc. but this office did not seem to offer any of the sort.