Technology and Operations Intern Review

I enjoyed my placement at Santander. Having never worked in a corporate environment before it was all very new and I had to learn a lot in a short space of time. However, I found it interesting to learn about how the bank worked and the role that I played in keeping it running.

I felt quite valued as I was given a fair amount of responsibility quite early on and for the duration of the placement. They taught me a lot and didn’t expect me to know anything which helped with a lot of things I was learning! They made me feel comfortable within the team straight away.

I was given support and guidance whenever I asked for it. Also, within the first couple of weeks I was given a lot of support with getting to learn new things. Everyone in my team was happy to ask any questions that I had about the work I was doing.

I was fairly busy for the majority of the internship. Obviously within the first few weeks I had less to do as I was having to learn so many new things. But after about a month I was given a lot more responsibility and became more busy. However there were still times, particularly in the afternoons, where I found myself with not much to do.

I was given a lot of responsibility, some of which was almost straight away. I was responsible for monitoring large amounts of money within my first few days. After a few weeks I took on some of the tasks that my colleague would normally complete and was therefore contributing to the team just as much as anyone else.

The experience of working in a corporate environment will definitely benefit me when it comes to future jobs. I also knew nothing about banking beforehand, so the knowledge and skills I have learnt will be applicable in potential future applications and jobs.

The atmosphere was very friendly and welcoming. Within my first few days everyone made me feel very comfortable and I felt like I fitted into the team. Everyone else within the office was also very friendly and everyone got on well which made it a much nicer environment to work in.

With regards to my line manager and manger, it was very well organised. They had set work that they wanted me to do for them over the time period, and when I had spare time they thought of other things for me to do. In general however, it was sometimes poorly organised. Within the first few days there was a lot of important information that I was missing such as logins to get on to the internet.

We were given little personal training and development. I had weekly 121s with my manager which were very helpful as we discussed how things were going and how I planned to progress. Outside of this however we were only given three webinars that taught us about different aspects of the bank. I had a lot of network issues with these and didn’t find them very useful.

The internship potentially leads to an offer for the graduate scheme which would be great if I manage to get the offer. This gives you the opportunity to try more departments within Santander which is great for me as I am still unsure what I want to do.

The social scene was great. I made good friends with a group of other interns and we went out regularly, at least once or twice a week. This included pub quizzes and nights out. We weren’t introduced to each other though, which I feel would have helped, as it was only near the end of our first week that we met. I also went for drinks with my team which helped me to get to know them.

I was living and working in London which was very expensive, but I chose this and expected it to be. The money I earned was enough to cover my living costs and go out once or twice a week, depending on what I was doing. Although I saved no money, it was worth it for the experience.

There are hundreds of bars and clubs to choose from, so the nightlife is great. Myself and the other interns explored and tried out many different restaurants, pubs and clubs and had a great time. It was possible to find cheaper places that were still really good. I would definitely recommend living in London whilst you’re young.

I wasn’t given any opportunities to do activities outside of work. However, I did receive an email near the end of my placement notifying me of weekly sports events, but this was after I left.