Business Management, Commercial Banking Intern Review

I enjoyed the internship as it allowed me to experience various areas within the bank, therefore giving me an overview of the different sectors that are available within the business. I found it an insightful and exciting internship where I was able to do different things every week.

I felt very included by my colleagues, they would ask my opinion and get me to help on projects they were completing. I felt as if they wanted to know my ideas and opinions whilst trusting me with the responsibility to carry out certain projects.

My line manager and the rest of my team have been very helpful, letting me ask as many questions as I wanted and explaining clearly what the task required me to do. If I was stuck on any aspects of work I was given they were always willing to help me.

There were days where I didn't get given much work to do and it could get a little boring. However there were some days that were extremely busy and I had lots of projects to get on with and complete. There was no steady stream of work that was planned to give me throughout the internship which could be improved on for next time so interns do not get bored at times or overwhelmed.

My team gave me duties where it required careful handling of confidential data which shows that they trusted me to carry out these tasks with the utmost care. They also gave me projects to complete that were of high importance and needed to be done to a good standard which allowed me to feel a valued member of the team as they gave me some responsibility within the team.

The skills I learnt were very useful for the future as I now know what it is like to work in a large organisation and in an office of people. Some of the skills I was able to learn such as how to talk to people in a professional environment in order to find out information I need to complete a task will be useful for my degree studies and future careers.

Within my office there was an atmosphere of professionalism as well as being welcoming. Whenever I needed to talk to someone outside of my team most people were friendly and willing to help assist me find out any information that I needed.

Overall the internship was set up quite well. I feel there could have been more structure with regards to tasks we were set within our teams as some days it felt as if there was nothing to do whilst other days there were a lot of tasks. If there had been a set project that we had to work towards over the course of our internship or a few projects set aside for us every week that would have spread the workload out a little better so there were no moments where you felt bored or overwhelmed.

There was an online development programme which you could access but the programmes didn't seem very useful or interesting. At the beginning of the internship there was a banking basics conference call which was interesting and did help improve our knowledge of how banks run. However, apart from that conference call there were not very many seminars set up or training courses to help us grow or improve our skills.

Lloyds Banking Group is a great brand to work for and employment prospects within this organisation are appealing. However, it appears that this year they have made the graduate scheme more specific to certain areas within the bank rather than allowing you to transfer between divisions and get an overview of different areas to work which makes the graduate scheme less appealing to apply to.

I socialised within my charity group which we were put into on our first day at the induction event which comprised of people who worked in our office or nearby. However I have not been out after work with many colleagues from the office or felt like there was a good social scene available to mix with other Lloyds collegaues. I did not use the accomodation provided to me by Lloyds and I felt as if these interns were able to do things together however there was not a conscious effort by Lloyds to do events for all interns or interns within the same office to ensure everyone was included and able to network together.

The cost of living and socialising is expensive and has taken up all of the salary that I have been paid during the internship but that is what I expected from living and working in the centre of London.

I did not experience the nightlife in the area that I worked in.

I did not see any opportunities to get involved in extra activities that Lloyds Banking Group set up for colleagues. I did do activities myself with other friends I knew who were living and working in London, however outside of the office I did not see the opportunity to do anything with other colleagues.