Kirsty Garrett
Corporate Banking
My Dad used to work here and he had such a positive experience that when I started looking into banking he was the first to suggest Lloyds Banking Group. When I looked on their website I was pleasantly surprised to see that they had a strong presence in Wholesale Markets – which was what I was most interested in. I wasn't completely sure which area within that though, so the opportunity to spend six months in four very different areas over the two year programme sold Lloyds Banking Group over any other bank for me.
At the moment I'm working in our Major Corporates business area managing Utilities sector customers with £500m+ turnover. I'm co-ordinating internal stakeholder approval for a unique deal we're doing and, as my line manager is on annual leave, I've also been entrusted with the signing of loan documents before the deadline. It's a huge responsibility but I'm really enjoying it!
Working with Lloyds Banking Group has been even better than I anticipated, as all my colleagues were extremely welcoming and supportive from day one. After a tour of the office and introductions to my team, I immediately felt at ease and ready to start work. Our managers are keen to ensure we get the most out of our placements by identifying targets and development needs and having regular one-to-ones. I've been really inspired by my line managers too. They've shown me the positive impact that graduates can have on the business – as well as the opportunity for early career progression. I definitely see Lloyds Banking Group playing a prominent role in my future career.
For me, 360º of opportunity means having the chance to work in many areas of the bank and getting involved in some really great work. It allows you to learn more about what you're good at, and what you enjoy doing the most.
Sam Holley
General Management
I originally trained to be a solicitor but I wanted to do something that offered more variety in a career. Working in banking and finance seemed to fit that bill – you could do anything! Looking at the Lloyds Banking Group General Management scheme it was clear that you had an opportunity to move about the business, do various roles, meet a lot of people and have the opportunity to keep learning. All of which interested me, so I applied!
The culture here is great. It's not overly corporate like some of the other banks, but still maintains the right amount of professionalism. You're pushed hard to perform, and maintain the high standards set by the Group, but you're given the right amount of support and guidance in order to meet those goals. I've been surprised by how much exposure you get to senior people in the business. I've worked closely with members of the Senior Exec teams - which was daunting, but I've always felt my contribution was valuable.
My current role is Protection Product Manager. Essentially it involves working in a team who're responsible for managing and driving the performance of the Protection products – life insurance, critical illness, income protection and so on - sold by our financial advisers in the branch. I enjoy the variety and the fast paced “fire fighting” that can go on. I can be helping to deal with a high profile complaint one day, writing a paper for the exec another or presenting a paper on the latest developments in protection to our distribution colleagues. No one day is the same, so you have to be very ruthless with your time management to get things done – something I was not always great at! But I'm learning quickly!
I'm always learning something new in this role, and I plan to stay with Lloyds Banking Group for as long as I continue to learn. Bearing in mind the size of the organisation and the wide range of roles you can do, it's likely to be for a fair amount of time yet. There are opportunities all around you here.
Nicola Sime
Graduate Resourcing Manager
I never knew what career I would follow after university. I studied Psychology and Business Management to keep my options open and because I enjoyed learning how businesses and people operate.
It was during my third year at university I decided to undertake an internship and applied for a place at Lloyds Banking Group. Both my parents worked here, and there were so many iconic brands. I was intrigued whether or not I was suited to a career in financial services. And that's exactly what the internships and graduate programmes offer – a chance for you to decide if we're right for you and if you're right for us.
After finishing my final year at university, I completed the Lloyds Banking Group graduate programme – which cemented my desire to build a lasting career within financial services. Now my job is to recruit fresh talent into the organisation.
The graduate leadership programme provides the opportunity to experience a variety of important and exciting roles, whilst gaining exposure to senior management – regardless of which programme you apply for. We offer rotational programmes in Corporate Banking, Finance, Wholesale Markets, Treasury and Trading, General Management, Business Technology and HR. For undergraduates we also offer five internship opportunities that closely align to our graduate programmes. Each programme, ultimately, is about making a difference to our customers, the community and our colleagues.
Whilst completing one of our programmes, in addition to your team and day-to-day manager, the Emerging Talent team are there for you every step of the way. We can advise you on the most appropriate development, organise networking opportunities for you and offer support in undertaking a professional qualification. It doesn't stop there though – by driving your own personal development and looking for further opportunities outside the programme, you'll set yourself up to have a long and successful career within the organisation.
In exchange, we're looking for passionate and driven individuals with a real desire to work with Lloyds Banking Group. Individuals who'll make the most of the 360º of opportunity that Lloyds Banking Group has to offer.
Rhian Woodward
Finance
I decided I wanted to join the fast paced business world after two years of Maths teaching. Before I joined, my perceptions of Lloyds Banking Group were of iconic high-street brands - and I'd always received great customer service. Once I decided that I wanted to work for them, I looked on the website for job opportunities and found the Graduate site. I liked the structured three-year rotational programme and the fact that I'd be sponsored to do the CIMA qualification.
Talking to people at the assessment centre, the more I got to know about Lloyds Banking Group – the community work, the charity donations and all the development opportunities open to you - the more I wanted to work here.
Coming from teaching into the banking world was a big change for me, but the team of people that I was working with in my first placement were all really helpful and made an effort to help me settle in. My manager was very flexible too. He ensured I had the time off I needed to complete my CIMA qualification and attend graduate development events.
It was a steep learning curve understanding the budgeting process and getting to grips with the journal postings I was responsible for. I've also learnt how Finance interact with the rest of the business, which helped me develop my ability to communicate financials to business people who don't always have a finance background. I've grown my own financial knowledge considerably too, from both my CIMA studies and the tasks I've performed in different roles.
It's been even better than I expected. There have been some memorable experiences too. For example, I became a charity champion and I organised a charity quiz which involved various people from across the business. We raised over £3,000 for the British Heart Foundation.
After the graduate scheme I'm going into the Finance Strategic Initiatives team. From there my next ideal role would be Finance Business Partner and, in the long term, my plans are to become an Executive Assistant to an Executive Director. Do I see LBG playing a prominent role in my future career? Absolutely!
Eric Roest
I chose to join Lloyds Banking Group after doing an Internship here. After gaining an insight into the organisation's global capabilities and footprint, I felt they could offer future opportunities in line with my aspiration to pursue an international banking career.
My Customer placement in the Commercial Bank was particularly memorable. I was required to quickly establish command over the production and analysis of sales reporting for the Midlands & North Regional Director's team. This helped me gain a broad understanding of the Group as a whole, particularly in view of cross sales activity in the Commercial space. Furthermore, I was regularly able to contribute to discussion at Regional board level. I've personally found that senior colleagues make a lot of time for you and take a keen interest in your development, which is extremely positive.
Over the next few months I'll be completing my second placement in the Bank as an Auditor in Group Audit. My third and fourth placement roles haven't been established yet, but I'm actively seeking opportunities in the Wealth area. In the short to medium term, I'll be stretching myself by completing an Adult Financial Capability qualification as part in the Group's Money for Life community investment pilot that looks to provide and embed personal money management and financial capability skills. In addition, I'm eager to enhance my transferability and add value for Lloyds Banking Group by pursuing a CFA or an MBA.
Joining the graduate scheme with an organisation of Lloyds Banking Group's calibre is the ultimate 360° opportunity. The challenge is deciding what to do with it. Your personal aspirations to see and experience as many things as possible have to be balanced with your day-to-day responsibilities and the Bank's expectation that you're sufficiently knowledgeable and prepared to roll off into your desired area of interest. It's important to make as much of the opportunity as early on as possible to be able to establish a focus in final placements and post-scheme. Depending on which scheme you join, the two or three years, I guarantee, will go by a lot faster than you think.
Tom Graham
Wholesale Markets and Trading
Although I was interested in pursuing a career in Wholesale Markets, I wasn’t sure which area within Financial Services I wanted to specialise in. I was particularly drawn to the flexibility of this programme, and the opportunity to develop a wide variety of skill sets that would be useful in other roles within the Bank.
My first placement was in Major Corporates in the Consumer Industries and Healthcare team providing banking products and services to companies with £500m+ turnover. This gave me a broad overview of Wholesale Markets and a deeper understanding of how the Corporate Banking division interacts with Wholesale Market Product Partners to provide financial solutions for corporate customers.
After that I joined the Structured Securitisation Group (SSG), where I was involved in creating internal and external pitch books, analysing loan level data, researching and performing analysis on financial institutions as well as wider team projects. Next I’ll be working in Major Corporate Solutions on the Wholesale Markets trading floor, structuring and selling interest rate derivative products such as Interest Rate Swaps and Cross Currency Swaps to Major Corporate clients. I’m looking forward to this role as it will require the use of the technical skills I developed in SSG, along with the relationship skills I built in Major Corporates.
As a graduate you’re responsible for your own development, which involves e-learning, attending seminars and training towards a professional qualification. I recently completed my FSA qualifications and received approval to be a recognised professional. I’ll also be completing CFA level 1. Lloyds Banking Group offers a variety of study options for this, whether that’s through online training, additional study materials or attending evening classes. I’ve found that the programme very much encourages your ambition to perform well and develop into a future leader.
At the moment Wholesale Markets is a growth area for Lloyds Banking Group, and I’m enjoying the work and the environment. I’m continually developing my knowledge of Banking and Finance – and laying important foundations for my career ahead with Lloyds Banking Group.”
Peter O'Hanlon
Business Technology
My first and foremost priority was building experience within a leading financial services organisation. There were a few to choose from, but I was looking for a programme that could propel me as fast as possible up a steep learning curve. The Lloyds Banking Group programme ticked all of my boxes.
At the moment I'm an Integration Change Manager within Wholesale IT, focussing on managing projects that will deliver a single IT suite of applications for the Wholesale businesses of HBOS and Lloyds TSB. I spend the majority of my time working alongside both business and IT teams to ensure we meet business requirements. This also involves a significant amount of senior executive engagement to align priorities and steer the direction of projects.
It was quite a daunting prospect taking on this role after the amount of support and career advice offered on the graduate programme. But a key aspect of what makes this such an effective programme is that it teaches you how to step out of your comfort zone, learn what you can while your comfort zone expands and develop your skills to be productive in that new environment. I knew this role would be a great learning opportunity – and now I'm working on the biggest IT integration in history!
Being part of Lloyds Banking Group is surprisingly rewarding for me. I hadn't expected such flexibility and variety in my work and, from very early on, I was given responsibility far beyond my ability at the time. Throughout the course of the programme, each placement added to my core skills set and allowed me to add more value to each subsequent role and team. And, to encourage development and growth, I was given free rein to take the lead in multi-million pound initiatives and really shape the strategy for Lloyds Banking Group IT.
Lloyds Banking Group has a great culture for support and assisted progression. There are always opportunities to discuss my personal development and career progression with senior leaders and take advice from mentors. Due to this support and the many opportunities for interesting and challenging roles I can't see myself leaving LBG anytime soon.
Karen Lilley
HR
The main thing that attracted me to Lloyds Banking Group was the scale of opportunity with regards to career progression. In particular I was attracted to the structure of the HR graduate scheme which allows you to engage in generalist and specialist work. A real highlight and unique selling point is the opportunity to complete a business placement, which not only allows you to experience HR from the perspective of the business but also gives you real credibility when later supporting clients.
I'm currently working as an HR Manager for the Wholesale Banking and Markets business. During this placement I've had the opportunity to lead two projects. The first involved designing and implementing a talent retention programme for colleagues, and the second conducting a Diversity and Inclusion review of over 2000 colleagues. One of the most important lessons I've learnt from this placement is the importance of fully understanding your clients in each of the different areas of the bank that you work. Good communication and relationship building skills are crucial for this role, as is the ability to be highly adaptable and quick to respond to rapid change.
Culturally I'd say that the organisation is extremely people-focused with a strong and consistent recognition across the organisation that our people really are the key to our success. There's a genuine understanding that each and every colleague should be supported and encouraged to achieve their best. Personally, I experienced this right from the outset when I attended the graduate assessment centre. As I'm dyslexic I'd informed one of the HR talent team that I may need slight adjustments on the day to allow me to perform at my best. The response I received from the team was extremely positive, and the sensitive yet inclusive manner in which they liaised with me on this issue instantly put me at ease.
The graduate programme is a huge platform to launch your career at Lloyds Banking Group. Each graduate is challenged, stretched, supported and encouraged – so you'll be given extensive opportunities to develop, add value and make your mark right from the start. Good luck and enjoy it!