Young people given the opportunity to shine

As the political debate over interns rages on, Nadia, who is currently studying finance and economics at the University of Southampton shares her thoughts on the benefits of work placements for young people:

What do you think about Nick Clegg's comments about opening up internships?
I think it's really good what he is trying to do.  If you don't have family and friends who work in the City it's really hard.  There's lots of people that don't have opportunities like this, or family that can help.  I'd decided I wanted a career in finance but I didn't know any people working in finance jobs in the City.

So how did you get your internship at Lloyd's?
Lloyd's Community Programme work with a programme called the City Traineeship Scheme run by the City of London Corporation, which offers paid summer internships in City firms to local students.  I heard a presentation at my school in Tower Hamlets about the scheme when I was in the final year of A levels and decided to apply.  They gave me some pointers on my CV and did a mock interview with me.  I got an interview for an internship at Lloyd's and got the position!

How did you find your internship at Lloyd's last summer?  Was it what you expected?
I really enjoyed my time here. I thought it would be really strict but everyone here was so friendly - it was much nicer than I expected.  Some of my friends managed to get internships in other City firms but didn't enjoy it as much as I did here.

What did you learn through your internship?
I feel like I now know what it's like to work in a big firm.  I learnt loads about how to conduct yourself in an office environment, including the little things that don't seem important but are really helpful like learning how to deal with the phone system.  It's given me a taste of what it's like to work in the City and I would love to work here in the future.

What did you know about insurance and the Lloyd's market before you applied for the internship?
I'd never really even heard of the Lloyd's market.  We hear loads at school about careers in investment banks and retail banks but we never heard anything about insurance.  I'm studying finance and economics now at university and everyone on my course is talking about wanting to work at investment banks - but I now know that there are other routes and I am interested in a career in insurance.

Have you found that the internship at Lloyd's has helped you at university at all?
Definitely.  Whilst I was at Lloyd's last summer I had some meetings with Abdul and Michael in the Finance teams.  From meeting with them it meant that I could relate to things that we're now covering in our accounting class such as looking through annual reports - it's all correlating with things I'd actually seen and heard about at Lloyd's. 

We're already hearing a lot at uni about thinking about our CVs and thinking about getting internships - I feel like I'm one step ahead already.  I hear people at university saying things like 'it doesn't matter too much what you put on your CV' and 'it's not too bad if you make some things up because employers don't really look at CVs and take them seriously'. 

I can tell them from my experience that is not true!  When I was interviewed to do my internship here, loads of questions were centred around my CV.  I now really appreciate the importance of building up a strong CV and this opportunity at Lloyd's will be a great part of that.

And if you had to describe Lloyd's and your experience here in a few words....?
Busy and really enjoyable.  Oh - and an amazing building!

The City of London’s City Business Traineeship (CBT) Programme, supported by Lloyd’s Community Programme and the London market, places A-Level leavers from surrounding City boroughs in paid work placements over the summer. 

Over the last four years 25 companies in the Lloyd's insurance market have offered paid internships to 49 local students.

Could you offer a work placement to a local student? For more information contact: Natalie Tickle (020 7327 6144)

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