Intern Review

I found the work challenging but I was not given any work that was too difficult for my level of knowledge. I had a lot of responsibility and was able to manage my time and my own work which I enjoyed. I worked with various different times who I got on with really well and this definitely helped my overall enjoyment of the placement.

I always felt valued by my colleagues as I was given plenty of responsibility so I felt as though my seniors trusted me with a lot of work. I often worked with less experienced members of my teams as well which helped me to feel valued because I could answer their questions and offer my help. I received good feedback from all of my managers which definitely made me feel as though my work was valued and appreciated.

I always felt that I could go to my seniors for help with my work and as long as I was not asking the same questions again, they were always happy to help. I felt very supported in my role and never felt that I couldn't approach my seniors and managers. I also felt that all team members were supportive of each other and shared the large workload where necessary.

Due to the fact that a large part of my placement was during busy season, I often felt that I was too busy and the workload was difficult to cope with. However, this is simply a reflection of the nature of the workload of an auditor rather than me being personally overloaded with work.

I was given a lot of responsibility during my placement in two forms. The first was my own work, where I had to manage all of my own work and time to ensure that all deadlines we're going to be met. If I had too much work, I was responsible for raising this with my seniors and ensuring that they knew if I was struggling. The second type of responsibility was for helping those younger or less experienced than me.

Due to the fact that we completed two professional exams whilst on placement, this will significantly help me in terms of qualifying as an accountant. Apart from that, there were lots of transferable skills that I learnt or built upon such as communication, time management, dealing with a client and working under pressure to meet tight deadlines.

The atmosphere in the office was fairly well balanced between work and play. Whilst there were often stressful days when everyone had a lot of work to complete, there was always a friendly atmosphere and the general consensus was that people could work the hours that suited them as long as the work was completed on time. We also enjoyed several social events to improve moral during busy season when we had very long hours!

As we have three placements as part of our degree, all of them have been very well organised and our teams were always expecting us. I always felt like a valued part of the team rather than someone that was only there temporarily. We had a good point of contact who was always available if we had any concerns.

We took 2 professional exams whilst on our placement which is a significant investment from the company as we spent a total of 8 weeks at college. We also had multiple training days which were very interesting and provided a break from work. I felt that our placement was particularly good for this compared to other placements.

The employment prospects are very appealing with EY because I have already been offered a graduate job and am going to take it due to the quick progression available within the company and the fact that I already have good relationships within the firm. This is made even better by the fact that I am being allowed to defer my graduate job in order to take a gap year which I have always wanted to do.

The social aspect of my placement that I enjoyed the most was definitely with my team members. There were some opportunities for socialising with other placement students but this was largely due to the fact that we already knew each other from university rather than because of EY involvement. The team often organised meals out or other actives such as bowling.

Due to the fact that I'm from London originally and this is where my placement was, I lived at home for the duration of my placement and therefore didn't incur any living costs. The cost of socialising was quite high, however not too high to make socialising unaffordable. In general I largely socialised with EY friends and often this was at work events.