Innovation and Strategy Intern Review

I really enjoyed my placement, my team were great and were very willing to involve me in several projects and get me experience in other areas of the business. The work was interesting and different every day and I was working on the Innovation and Strategy team, I got exposure to some of the new advanced fintech startups and the interesting products they were developing.

I felt very valued by my team, they often gave me great feedback and really appreciated the work I was doing. They would also invite me to join further stages of the projects they were working on, as they valued the work I was doing. I had regular weekly one to ones with my line manager where I received positive feedback and was told how useful the work I did was.

My manager was always available to give me advice and support and to answer any questions I had. I also received a mentor within my team who I had weekly catchups with, to make sure I was enjoying the internship and to help if there was anything I still wanted to do on the internship. We were also given buddys that we could ask advice and support from in regards to anything on the internship.

Each day is different and sometimes you can find yourself with less work to do. I got involved with several projects and so my days were often busy with plenty of work to do. If ever I felt like I didn't have much to do, I would ask my manager or other team members if there was anything I could do or would complete the intern discover learning activities.

I was given a lot of responsibility and left to complete the tasks they had set me as I wished. I would send these to the relevant team members for review and they could add their feedback on if they would like the work to be presented differently. But you are largely given a lot of freedom to go about your day however you decide.

The skills I received will help me on a more personal level, in terms of communicating with team members, senior members of staff and building friendships within the workplace. I also developed networking skills, organisational and presentations skills. This will assist me in interacting with lecturers and staff in university, presenting research findings etc. But in terms of the technical knowledge it will not really assist me in my degree.

The atmosphere in my office was very chilled and laid back, which I was surprised about coming to a bank. You are generally given freedom to get on with your work and all my team members were keen to have a balance between completing your work, while also having fun at the same time.

Overall the internship was organised quite well, there were several resources for the interns to connect and communicate with each other as well as development training activities for us to complete as interns. However, there was some disorganisation at the beginning in terms of the background checks, internship pay details, holiday and for the grad scheme referral process.

Lloyds Banking Group provided a lot of opportunities for personal training and development through online learning activities. There were also weekly development themes, videos and activities that were set and that we were encouraged to share. However, I would have liked to see the opportunity for more in-person training and the chance to complete these together to get to know some of the other interns better.

Lloyds felt like a great company to work for and speaking with some of those on the graduate scheme, they all recommended that we apply too. There also seems like a lot of opportunities for you to move around different teams in the business, to really get a feel for the area and type of role that you would enjoy and wish to pursue in the future.

A lot of the interns lived in accommodation provided for by Lloyds, but for those of us that did not live there it was quite difficult to interact and socialise with the interns, as we were all spread out in different teams and offices and so would not see each other on a regular basis. With the other colleagues, my team would sometimes have after work drinks or team offsite days which gave us the chance to socialise outside of work.

It is London and so as expected can be very expensive. Accommodation costs are reduced if you stay in the paid for provided accommodation, but travel to work is expensive. As well as paying for food. Buying lunch in London can get very expensive, so I would advise bringing in food. There are a lot of fun things to do after work but in London this can build up and get quite expensive.

The nightlife in London is great. There are some great clubs/bars to go to and lot of places where you can go to get cool cocktails and drinks. There are also different things like games nights, museums, paint workshops, jazz cafes that you can find for reasonable prices. As well as the fine dining experiences that can be found all around London.

Lloyds places heavy emphasis on charity and helping our local communities and so there a lot of activities that you can get involved in. There are also sports clubs/societies and for all sorts of activities that you can join in with. A lot of people would arrange activities and send this around to people to get involved with.