Intern - Treasury technology Review

I was given real responsibility from day one, thrown in at the deep end which was great. I was given my own project to work on for the 7 weeks I worked in Treasury, which was explained to me over the first few days, after which my boss, his boss and everyone above me who I'd met went away on business trips andor holiday. Because I'd been left on my own, the tasks given to me couldn't exactly be front-line mission critical work, but it was an interesting insight to finance and an amazing opportunity to meet and network with huge numbers of people.

The team I sat with were very helpful. Pointing me in the right direction of people who could help me with documentation tasks. We went on several after work pub trips too, I felt like my presence there was really noticed. - Especially when people actually brought ME coffee :-D

I asked for help if I needed it and it was given without problems. Everyone was really happy to help me the whole time, but at the same time I was left to my work and given a lot of independance.

My job consisted mainly of meeting with people around Treasury. Which meant fitting a lot of meetings in around other people's schedules, so some days were manic where I was due to prep for and meet 10-15 people accross different floors and areas. Other days, (when everyone else in the office was really busy) could occasionally be quite relaxed. But there was always something to do. (And that doesn't include facebook)

I was given my own project. Not some rubbish thing that will never be touched again, but documenting the treasury's systems for auditmanagement purposes. I feel like my project actually has some value.

I managed to secure this internship in my first year summer, but I learned a HUGE amount about how real world systems work (and go wrong). Which has made me think more about my course and just how different academia is from real life. But, invaluable skills I feel were developed in my time: - People skills - How to get on the bosses good side with a beer - How to manage my time around somebody else - How to get on the bosses good side with teacoffee - How to hassle an HR girl for my expense claim because I'm skint and can't afford next weeks train fare, while I still keep a smile on my face. - How to network with people from other organisations simply by having a City company's @name.com email address!

After my first week, we were moved up to the newly renovated top-floor of the building, which was lovely. All new desks, paint, kitchens, toilets. Staff morale is also really high. A lot of water-cooler chat goes on, particularly among techies. Being sat right next to the water cooler most of the time (I stole my bosses desk most of the time he was away), it was an opportunity to network with a lot of people.

It's not an officially run scheme. The grad recruitment girls email out offers to certain university careers services', and we're were employedpaidtaxed through temp agencies. But it worked reasonably well. - We were more like very cheap temps than interns though.

I was only there for a very short term. The courses they wanted to get me on weren't running during my internship. So, they didn't really invest much, but they would have done - So I've given them a few brownie points here.

I've been offered a place on their Graduate scheme starting next year already. As for summer work, we'll see how their share price and budget goes.

The HR team didn't exactly tell us we weren't alone. All of us initially thought that we were alone, or just two interns in BoSTreasury. But when we found each other, things went great. I've met people I'll be in touch with for years.

Lived at home, so very cheap. - I would have been significantly financially damaged if I'd even tried to live in London. London City: £5 a pint.... not so cheap.

On the money we saw after Tax, NI, the Temp Agency taking their cut, food, expenses..... *cough*

Everything was very informal, and organised by employees interns in small groups. But, if you're willing to put the work in, everyone was happy to come out and play!