Summer Intern Review

I really enjoyed my time at Deloitte in their London office. The summer vacation scheme was very well organised from day 1, where we had some ice-breaking session, IT training and our own departmental training. You can simply see how much time and resources the company had invested us, with plenty of lunch and networking dinners organised for interns to meet employees in the company. And as for the role itself, you were given plenty of responsibilities and interns get to get involved in high-profile client projects, including many from the FTSE100 companies.

Everyone there was so friendly to my surprise. They always wanted to help you and get the best out of you. They are very friendly bunch to work with, and they are very good in motivating their peers. If I had encountered any problems, I know that they are always there to help, from senior consultants to managers or even partner. Everyone will take a time to pause on what they are doing just to help you. It felt like home and everyone is just so helpful.

The support and training development were amazing. We had IT training on the first day of our arrival after lunch, upon our laptops collection. They gave us a very good insight to the SAP system and resources they used within the company. On Day 2, we had our own departmental training and had lunch with fellow graduates who just joined the firm last September. It was important as it connects us with the employees. In terms of support, we are always assigned to a senior or manager within each engagement , and they will always pinpoint the guidance when needed. We were also assigned a buddy throughout the scheme and that was extremely helpful.

It really depends on the engagement or sub-divisions that you were in. As it was in the summer period, most clients and employees had went on holiday, so there is more down time at times. However, there were several engagements that I had worked for that was very busy, where I had to constantly support the team as the deadline was tight. Despite the busyness, it actually equipped me with plenty of insightful knowledge and skills. I enjoy being busy, but I never had to work over time which is always a great thing, especially as an intern. You surely want a good work-life balance

This is the best part of Deloitte. As an intern, I was already given the role and responsibility of what a graduate consultant does. The managers and seniors had so much faith on interns that they became very motivating. I had the opportunity to attend client meetings, involved in bidding projects, talk to clients and assist in their C-suite presentation work. It was simply the best internship that I have done by far.

The skills you learnt were very valuable. I developed so much from teamwork, communication skills to time management and IT skills. It is amazing to see how much you had learnt in the short duration of 6 weeks. They were very good hands on experience and something that you would never get to learn from your uni textbooks. They also do not expect you to know everything before joining, and they do invest a vast majority of time training you before giving you the role. As far as I am aware, they invest even more time in training you before you join as a graduate. And they train you to do the ACA qualification too.

The atmosphere in the office was great. Firstly, it is a hot-desk system, meaning you will be rotating desks almost each day, depending on its availability. However, you will most likely, sit within your sub-divisions. The system also allows you to network and talk to more people in your department. However, seating could be a problem when everyone comes to the office, especially on Fridays. People in the office are generally pretty laid-back, but when it comes to work, it meant hard work. Good differentiation in when you should be serious and when you should have fun. I really like the working culture there.

The scheme was very well-managed by the HR and SVS Champions and his/her fellow coordinators. On the first day of my arrival, I already received a timetable from the SVS champion on all the possible engagements or projects that I will be involved in over the next 6 weeks of my time here at Deloitte. I even had senior manager, director and partner shadowing day. They were very insightful as they gave me a good understanding of what people from the top management does on a day to day basis, allowing me to think about my long term goal. Also, if they were any chances to my projects, I will receive an email from my SVS champion in a very timely-manner. They were superb in terms of organisational skills.

As mentioned earlier, you can really tell and see the difference whether the firm had invested in you. At Deloitte, you can just tell how much money and time they have invested, just looking at the amount of luncheons and cocktails that they had paid just for SVS networking sessions. In terms of training and development, I received so much support from my buddy and senior, and they will constantly invest their time in scheduling a meeting with me to see how I have progressed on despite their busy schedule. At the same time, they also give you compliance and training materials online in order for you to understand the company policy and dos and donts. You generally learnt a lot in the SVS scheme.

Progression at Deloitte is very equal and fair. Most people will get promoted each day unless you performed very badly. However, at managerial level, you will be benchmarked against certain KPIs measures and as well as how client project performances. In order to climb up the corporate ladder, you will need to find an industry and market that you want to specialise in too. The company is really fair and if you have the desire and drive, you will always have a place. And everyone has equal opportunities to reach the partner level.

At Deloitte, it's all about fun and social too ! It's not a boring auditing or accounting firms. We were brought out to so many fun social, such as posh dinner near the Thames River, cocktail parties, and urban golf social. They even had like weekly football or sports session for their employees, and had a mini-Olympics games at Hyde Park. They are very friendly people and great people to work with. Some consultants from one of the sub-divisions even organised a tour to Portugal.

Cost of living is extremely high compared to other places in the UK, something everyone worldwide are aware of. The main expenditure would come from your accommodation, which will cost you a bomb. Commuting in London is also not cheap, considering the fare you had to pay to get on the tube to and fro work each day. Staying outside central London would be cheaper, but it will take you a longer time to get to the city. There is plenty of social life in London if you have the money and time.

Nightlife in my area is great. The city never goes to sleep. There are plenty of bars and pubs around my areas, and there are usually still plenty of people when I get back from work. As interns, we even went out with our fellow interns after one of our socials. So there is definitely good work-life balance in London.

As mentioned earlier, there are plenty of opportunities for you to get involved in activities outside of work. You can volunteer to help organise the SVS scheme for your department, as an example, or get involved in some CSR programmes for your company. There are also charity and volunteering opportunities. There is also plenty of sports clubs that you can join and there is heavily subsidised gym in the building that employees can access,