Every day is a learning day in Internal Audit

Mention the concept of being audited to most, and they would look back at you with wide eyes. But this preconception is wrong, at least when it comes to working in our Internal Audit team. To help explain why, think of a handful of characters from films if you would. Characters that first arrive with an air of mystery and strictness around them. They give off a sense of uncertainty to those who don’t yet understand them. But as the narrative unfolds, we learn they’ve had our best interest at heart the entire time.

From Snape to Kevin’s elderly neighbour, one thing will almost always turn out to be true with these characters – they’ve always been the OG good guys. And by having a better understanding of why that character was there, and why they behave the way they did, we’re now able to see the support they’ve been providing all along. Spoiler alert, Internal Audit are our OG good guys, and they provide us, and our customers, with the confidence in what we’re doing.

What makes Internal Audit great?

To find out more about Internal Audit, I chatted with Evelyn Chan, one of our Internal Audit graduates. Firstly, I asked her to help me get my base level knowledge up to scratch. In short, Internal Audit is there for us, and our customers, by making sure we’re operating in a safe way. Evelyn added, ‘if we see something that doesn't look right, it’s our job to call that out.’ Internal Audit spans the entire bank, so it could be making sure that our systems are as secure as they can be, or that we're considering customers in vulnerable situations when we're designing our products.

An exciting part of working in Internal Audit for Evelyn, is just how much of the bank she gets to see, and the impact that she can have on it. ‘Your job can have a massive impact on how the bank works across so many different areas. You get a huge amount of insight into so many different parts of the bank. It means you get a great overview of how the bank works overall and how everything fits together’. Internal Audit is a place to explore your investigative skills, and where you can really expand your experience and your knowledge.

Bringing the best out of you

After finding out Evelyn studied Marine Biology at university, I wanted to find out how she had found the transition onto our Internal Audit graduate programme. Evelyn had worked in Financial Services previously and didn’t know in which of these directions she wanted to take her career. She explained to me that she thinks of the graduate programme as a transition period, a way to continue studying while working, but in a structured way that works for both her and us, as a bank.

And like Evelyn previously studying Marine Biology, you can come into a graduate programme from any area. ‘If you studied marketing then maybe you can bring in your communications angle, or if you studied languages, you could bring that into your report writing’, Evelyn added. You'll have a great support network, so you’ll never have a need to worry, and never be alone. There’s plenty of support to make sure that you are enjoying and making the most out of your experiences on the program.

As a graduate, you’re partnered with a grad coach, who looks after your development for the duration of the program. You’ll also have your grad buddy, another graduate who's a great person to confide in and learn from their experiences. We also have our Early Careers team, who set up a range of workshops to fuel your learning and development.

How to beat application nerves

Applying for a new role can be scary, so it’s totally normal to feel nervous. Evelyn knows what it’s like to apply for a graduate programme, and one of the ways we talked about tackling nerves was to embrace them. To Evelyn, ‘nerves mean that you're excited and motivated, and that you care about the impact you’ll make on people. I think those are all really positive attributes.’

Always showcase your true personality and competency when applying for any graduate programme. We’re far more interested in the characteristics that you have than the hard skills you may not. ‘It's more important to have an open mindset and a willingness to learn’, says Evelyn. Try to keep this in mind for your application – have a think about where you’ve shown this kind of growth mindset, and what sort of opportunities excite you the most.

And if you get nervous on your first day, take confidence in the fact that you've made it this far. You’ve passed the interviews and we’ve hired you into the role. We know you’re going to rock it by being you.