This review was submitted over 4 years ago, so some of the information it contains may no longer be relevant.
Rating
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The Role
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The Company
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The Culture
- 1. To what extent did you enjoy your work placement or internship?
- 2. To what extent did you feel valued by your colleagues?
- 3. To what extent were you given support and guidance by management/your supervisor(s)?
- 4. How busy were you on a daily basis?
- 5. How much responsibility were you given during your placement?
- 6. To what extent did/will the skills you developed, and training you received, assist you in your degree studies and beyond?
- 7. What was the general atmosphere in your office?
- 8. How well organised was the overall work placement or internship set up?
- 9. In terms of personal training and development, to what extent did the company or firm invest in you?
- 10. What were the perks on your work placement?
- 11. How appealing are future employment prospects within the organisation?
- 12. Was there a good social scene amongst any fellow placement students/colleagues?
- 13. What was the cost of living and socialising in the area you worked in?
- 14. What was the Nightlife like in the area you worked?
- 15. Were there many opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work?
The Role
I really enjoyed working at my placement where I was placed in Edinburgh. I even walked to work for over half an hour everyday because it was a lovely city. Overall I learnt a lot, I believe I got a better understanding of the business and the banking industry as a whole.
My colleagues treated me really well during my time there, I felt very welcome. They always encourages and supported me when I needed it. They were all very patient with me as I was getting use to using their systems and different programmes. I was also invited by members if my tem to join in on the projects they were working on.
I was given a lot of support and guidance from my line manager as well as my other team members during my placement. During my time with Lloyds my manager and I went for weekly catch up meeting catch up where I received feedback for eth work I had been producing. It also helped me to see what I was doing using my colour coded.
Not every day was the same it would usually vary depending on how many projects I was working on and what my deadlines were. I was never bored there was always something I could work on or someone to speak to. Having said that there was too many long online training courses that I had to complete and they were not amazingly impressive.
During my placement I was responsible for writing up our weekly team meeting minutes to be distributed to all the members of my team. I was also responsible for organising invitation to mandatory training sessions. In addition I was responsible for doing research and creating recommendations for a report. I was also the team leader for my Charity Challenge and was responsible for organising fundraising.
The job I was placed in is quite different to my degree so it wasn't as helpful in that sense. However it did help me develop other functional skills for the working world. I became more comfortable using excel to create tables and spread sheets. It helped me to improve my soft skills such as communication, collaboration and organisation.
The Company
Most of the time it feels like an informal calm environment I rarely felt under pressure. I think it often depends on the people you are working with. When the "dress for your day" policy was introduced it felt a lot more informal as you could wear more casual comfortable clothes to work if you were not interacting with a client.
There were some projects I was meant to be on but they fell through. I would have liked a personal project to work like some of the other interns but I did enjoy most of the work I was given. Other than those few things I mentioned everything for me was organised well.
I was given a lot of online training to do as a new employee which helped me build my understanding of the business and how my role and work fit into the business. My line manger also invested a lot of time in helping my development not just in the work I was doing but in my broader skillset.
Subsidised Canteen
I did enjoy learning about the division I was placed in but I don't think that is the area I would like to work in if I was offered a job at Lloyds. At the start of the internship I was more interested in getting a job here than I am now just because I there are some changes happening that means I wouldn't e able to do the job I wanted if I applied for the graduate scheme.
The Culture
We all lived together in student halls accommodation so we were almost like a big family everyone was very friendly. We had our on group on Facebook where we all communicated outside of work. We would go out together during the world cup to go watch the football together. We would also go out and explore the city together as most of us were not from Edinburgh.
The nightlife was one of the highlights of the internship mainly because being in an environment where everyone is in the same position as you, you bond more. We went out almost once every weekend. There is a good variety of different clubs and bars you can go to s there is something suits everyone's tastes.
As I did my placement in Edinburgh during the summer there were many festivals on the main one being the fringe festival which was full of free comedy shows and plays. Another positive was that the centre of Edinburgh is a tourist area and most the interns on the programme were nee to the city so there was a lot of different activities we could do and sites we could visit.
Details
Internship (1 Month+)
Scotland
August 2018