Financial Analyst Review

Really enjoyed my internship at LBG, the work was interesting and I learnt loads from the very first day.

Luckily, I was in a top team. Everyone made me feel very welcome from the offset and this continued throughout. Came to meet my manager and a few of the team a week prior to starting and this settled my nerves massively over a nice meal. Could ask anyone questions and we regularly did stuff after work ranging from 5-a-side football to pub quizzes.

My manager made it perfectly clear from the beginning that I was going to be thrown in at the deep end. I was immediately given work expected of a regular employee. At first this seemed daunting, but, I was encouraged to ask questions when I didn't understand. This, in my opinion, massively sped up my learning process. I asked many questions, made mistakes, asked for guidance, but, I learned many of the team's processes well in a very short period of time.

This is a difficult one to answer as this varied hugely with at which point of the month we were at, as was naturally to be expected in the world of finance, particularly in a role based around monthly reporting. The two weeks of the month tended to be quite intense, with deadlines for reports and queries coming constantly. Once these had been submitted, as the latter working days approached, things tended to calm down with more admin/project/model work taking place which was a little more flexible with deadlines and naturally made me less busy, however, there was at no point where I had nothing that I could be doing.

For an intern, I was given a huge amount of responsibility. I was shadowing an Analyst for the first month, learning the processes and reports by doing and asking questions. By the second month, I was actively producing, submitting and being accountable for some of the team's financial reports! I was often shocked at the amount of responsibility the team gave me, and, it really did give me experience about what financial reporting is all about.

I learnt a huge range of very applicable skills over the internship. These related to practical skills such as huge developments in my skills around Excel and Word. Also, I was lucky enough to go on an Aspiring Managers' Course which gave me great advice about progression, self-development and understanding. I also greatly improved my people and presenting skills through actively contacting collegaues regarding data queries/issues and by presenting numerous things to my team, all were given thorough feedback immediately after to aid my development.

Great atmosphere around the team and office, always lots of banter and talking. Made friends with people outside my team also.

Manager tended to treat me as an actual employee for the duration, which suited me, therefore I cannot award this category too highly as nothing was actively 'set up' for me as I was simply trained, drafted into the team and expected to bring about good results.

Sent me on an Aspiring Managers' Programme for potential future leaders which was absolutely excellent and taught me a lot about myself and made me extremely grateful that I had this level of information at such a young age so I could make use of it before even starting on my real career path.

The scheme is a direct flow into the Graduate Leadership Programme offered by the bank. I was scored at the end of the my internship over a variety of categories and if this exceeds a specific benchmark, you are offered a place, as well as your referral from your manager.

Played football twice a week, with social opportunities afterwards. Other than that, wide variedy of social events ranging from quizzes, drinks and general social occasions.

Normal standard prices in Leeds.

Leeds - enough said.

A charity challenge is given to a team of fellow interns which was enjoyable and gave us something different to do. Then, as mentioned earlier, the football and other social events were endless.