Diary Of Internship Essay

My first day at work, on practice, to be more accurate, was mainly about getting familiar with the staff I will be working with. When I first got contacted from the UniCredit bank, I was told to go to business office of this bank that was located in street Zelenih beretki 24, and to talk with the person that was in charge of this business office, Mrs. Suzana Krajina Jusupović. I spoke with her, and she immediately introduced me to the staff, first with the people that have been working in section Payment operations, and then with other staff. People from the Payment operations section were my co-workers for that week. I taught were highly of these people, because I could see how much business are they doing. Monday was usually a day when a lot of business was done, since people accumulated their bills and obligations on weekends. I used this day to see how are the things done, since they gave me no responsibilities. Tuesday was the day in which I was introduced to the business of Payment operations and I have immediately begun to clarify the credit transfers, bills and to make stamps, because they couldn’t give me more authorities and power. I was in some way disappointed with this, because I wanted to prove that I can do more and help them in more ways than this. The thing I liked is that I had a contact with the people that were coming in the bank, and I could see how does it look to be on the other side. Day after that, I continued doing the same thing, and I was getting pretty good at communicating with people that were coming. My co-workers also explained me the division between the bills that we were getting. We were dividing them into the inner ones- the ones that had the sender account and the receiver account from UniCredit, the ones that were going from UniCredit bank to other banks, and the ones that had a connection with income. My job was to divide the accounts into these three categories, and then to give them to the next office, where these accounts were sent to further arrangement. Thursday was the day that I changed my workplace. They have sent me to the next office where I could see the next part of the process of the Payment operations. This was the part in which we were to scan all the accounts and then send them, in groups that are called batches, to Mostar, because the main UniCredit bank is located there. Then the people from Mostar would send us via mail the announcement if any of these batches had a mistake in it or were bad in any way. Batches were sent through very complex but yet easy to use application, that has been made by the IT support in Split. Batches were also divided in the same manner as accounts. In Friday, they have allowed me to work with scanner and I have pretty much enjoyed in this area, because all business was done with the computer, and I like this, because the possibility of error is minimal, and doing business is easier and faster. This was a very interesting job, although I had a feeling that I would be annoyed doing the same thing all over again. That is the thing I didn’t like in this job. I spend only a week in this section, and I could immediately know almost everything there is to know, and the job was the same from day to day, with a little possibility that something different will happen. Second week 19.-23. March When I came to a job on 19th March, I was immediately informed that I will be working on cashier that week. This branch of UniCredit bank was consisted of four cashiers, and one of them was in some way special, since it was a cashier for legal persons. Other three were regular cashiers. This special cashier had a special office, and the person working here, Sanjin, was separated from other cashiers and he was in contact with legal persons only. He was in contact with other cashiers though, since they were all connected in a case of, for example, lack of money. I was sent in this office, and since it was separate, I could do some things and make mistakes without of risk of being seen by other staff or by the clients. All the employees were working with the same software, and they called it Core. Basically, the persons with the bigger knowledge and skills had access to more applications in this program. Sanjin gave me a big responsibility from day one. My first assignment for that day was to input and register the transactions of one big client that was operating with the bank on daily basis. I couldn’t make a mistake, since I had a supervisor, and I wasn’t in a direct contact with the client, everything was done electronically. At the end of the day, we had to check if our balance of payments was zero, and to check if we have as much money in our cashier, as we have in our computer database. Tuesday was also very exciting day. I had a lot of job, and I was getting to know more about the cashier and the business related to it. Then, one big client came, and we had to give him a lot of money that we didn’t have in the cashier. I wasn’t aware of the fact that the money was sent to the vault that was in the building. I was given that privilege to go there, and I was very pleased with this, since they have told me that I was a first student that has been given this chance. I was impressed by the amount of money there- I thought that I have to go to a movie theatre to see that. The vault had about eight men employed there, and they were counting the money. The whole sight was impressive. After all this, I came back to office and continued with regular activities. The next day, nothing excited happened really, I was just given some more responsibilities since I was allowed to do transactions with clients that came in (this also had to be done electronically). I could also count the money on those awesome machines, and I was pretty satisfied because I always had a desire to do that . Thursday was the day I found out that Sanjin was in charge of cash dispenser machines, and he was ought to keep them full of money. He would send an e-mail to persons that could check the status of these machines with the computer, and they would say if there is a need for a refill. I was very pleased when I found out that we have to go and place the money in those machines, because I was interested to see how it works. We first put the money in boxes that were made to be placed in the machines. We went to those machines, locked the door so nobody could come in, and replaced those boxes full of money with the empty ones. It wasn’t complex machine at all, inside of it there was a keyboard similar to the one that you can see on the computer, and with the keyboard we could insert the amount of money that we have put there in the computer memory. Friday was the day when I continued doing business with regular clients, and I felt so natural in doing this, I could almost see myself doing this for the rest of my life. This job was very unpredictable and full of action, and that is what attracted me. Third week 26.-30. March Since there was obviously my goal to find out more about this job, because I can really see myself doing some of this work, Suzana wanted me to go to the retailing sector for two remaining weeks. As I knew from before, banks have a problem of tangibility of their business, since all the services have that problem. Banks decided to represent some of their services as products, so the people could see these tangible parts, such are credit cards or cash machines. They also represent their credit loans as products, and I was sent to the retailing sector to see how are credit loans actually sold. These credits can be divided into mortgage credit, cash/money credit, bilateral credit etc. During my work in UniCredit I have only been introduced to cash credits. This branch, its retailing sector to be more precise, was segmented into two parts: in one part family bankers were employed, and in other part these bankers were called personal bankers. The difference was not actually in the number of the people who were operating with bankers, but in the income of the people. If someone had an income of 2000 KM or more, he would be assigned to the personal banker. If not, they would be assigned to family banker. There are four family bankers, and two personal bankers employed in that branch currently. I was given the freedom of choice to go where ever I want, and to watch who ever I want while doing business. Monday was the day when I was introduced with the meaning of the credits and with the way in which these bankers were communicating with people. I immediately saw that this part of work is a lot harder that all the others I have seen so far, since these people had enormous amount of work. They had to prepare the credits, to form a map and a plan of credit, to validate it, to send it to approval, and in the same time, they had to communicate and encourage other people to „buyâ€Å" credits. I didn’t have much to do, since I was asked just to watch and listen them doing work. Next day was a little bit more interesting. I had an opportunity to see software designed for credits. This application was pretty complex, but just like everything based on computer, it had a possibility of correcting any possible mistakes. The thing is that this application had numerous steps and fields you need to fill in order to make a credit map. This map is a foundation of credit, and the map is sent to the Board of Credit Risks, when finished, and this Board then makes the decision whether to approve this credit or not, based on information from the map. In Wednesday I was getting some more information about credit. For the first time, I’ve watched credit development from the start. When client came, he wanted to know if he can get a cash credit in 10,000 KM amount. First thing that had to be done was that the banker had to check if he had any other credits and debits in other banks. Banker could automatically see whether or not the client has some credits and debits in UniCredit bank from the database. Only way in which the banker could find out about the full list of obligations of the client was to send an e-mail to Central bank register, and to get this information from the people employed in Central bank. Then, when given this information, the employee could see if the client is in a possibility to get a loan. After this step, the banker needs some additional information, such as if the person needs a guarantor or not, his ID number, his credit card status etc. After this, the banker is making credit map. I also learned how to scan all the files necessary for the credit, how to separate them, and how to index those files. I was asked the same day when I have learned this to track this new scanning program, and to inform the IT support if I had any problems. Thursday was very interesting because I could speak to the clients now, since I already had some knowledge about credits. I was, of course, constantly mentored by other bankers, and I have tried to prove myself as much as possible. I have soon realized that it is not easy communicating with people on a daily basis, since they sometimes don’t have patience and understanding of delays and possible mistakes. I have continued scanning all the credits, and then sending them to further editing. These credits were then sent to a segment that is called Credit administration, and then to Board of Credit Risks. Next day I have been granted with more opportunities of proving myself since they let me input client information and data in the computer. I was a little bit scared, since I knew how big responsibility this was and how one wrong click can slow things down, but I did just fine. It was the end of the month, and all of the credits were ought to be send in order to be approved, so everybody was pretty nervous. I had a lot of obligations and tasks, since they all needed help to catch up and to finish their business. I continued with scanning the files, and with sending them to Credit administration. Deadline and its influence could be seen on these employees, and I felt a need to help them as much as I could. Fourth week 2.-6. April My final week of the practice started at the same place as the third one. First day of this week was regular one, since I continued doing my job with the credits. I was spending more time with personal bankers, who were doing the business with the clients who had income of 2000 KM or more. They, of course, had a smaller number of clients, but these clients were very rich and they were bringing more money to the bank, so the bankers that are in contact with these clients need to have a good communication skills. Tuesday was the day when I was assigned with the most boring job I’ve done there. I had to go to the archive and find some old credits and database. This wasn’t the thing I was hoping to do, but I realized that this is also the way in which I can contribute. I’ve looked through these old files, and I had opportunity to compare old and new way of making credit maps. Next day, when I came, I was told that I have already done on every job they have planned me to work on, so I had a full freedom of doing whatever I want. I have decided to stay in the retail sector that day, since it was the place in which I had the best connection and communication with the people, and it was the most dynamic place. I have also been asked to help with the cash dispenser machines, and I did that again. I have given my report to the IT sector regarding the scanning software, and they were pretty satisfied with my results. In Thursday I have decided to go back to the cashier, since I have enjoyed there very much. I counted the money again, and got the opportunity to see all the foreign currencies, like Canadian dollar, Australian dollars, and others, which was great. I’ve met a lot of interesting people that day, and since we finished with all legal persons, we could invite and do transactions for other people as well. My last day at work was 6th April. I was disappointed by this, since I had really liked spending time here and learning new things. I spend the whole day in retail sector, and I was once again looking at credits and loans. At the end of the day, I’ve gave my evaluation sheets to Suzana and asked her to fill it. I finished with all the best marks, and she told me I left a strong impression on her. She also wished me to be her co-worker one day. I was very happy about this, since I had a desire to satisfy all the expectations and to do my practice in a fine manner. Before leaving, I’ve said goodbyes to everyone and thanked them for their faith in me.