Business Analyst Review

I completed an industrial placement for 12 months and absolutely loved it. We are recommended to complete at least 2 different roles across our time there and I was able to complete a 9 month role in Financial Services, a 2 month role in Retail and 1 more month in Financial Services. This gave me the opportunity to work across different industries and learn about different corporate cultures as well as learning new skills in the particular role I was doing which was different with each project I did. We were assigned our first role but as you come to the end of a project, you are able to 'find' your next role which could be through contacts you had made over your internship or it could be from reaching out to an area that interests you. We were given a 'buddy' for our first project which meant that we could ask them anything about Accenture, or the current project you were on if you wanted to ask things to someone other than your team. Socially, we started with a group of other internship students and there were events throughout the year to meet up with them again. I thought this was good as it gave an opportunity to speak to other people who were in the same boat as you and also when you were coming to the end of your project and were looking for new roles, you could ask others what industry/roles they had been doing and what they thought about their experiences. We were given the same perks as a graduate analyst so get the opportunity to take a few days off for volunteering events. We did an event for the Princes Trust with other internship students, but you could also do different things with people on your project if you found something. There are other extra-curricular opportunities to get involved with, Accenture have societies like University so you can keep up sports.

As a whole felt valued by my colleagues. Sometimes it was a little stressful on some projects, but colleagues mostly understood that everything was new to us as interns and if we were given quite challenging work, it was easy to ask for help and I see the challenging times now as more of an experience, and I probably gained the most out of those times I found it difficult. Your team was always supportive, as you were working together to create pieces of work for the client, so if you didn't understand anything they were happy to show you and help.

My first project was really supportive of me as everything was new: working, my role and Accenture. When you join projects you are given lots of materials to absorb and get started and I was given real responsibility throughout my placement. If you got stuck there were people you could talk to and get help from. When you did good pieces of work you were praised and some of my managers would give you recognition by passing it onto their manager, or acknowledging you in a group meeting. You were given pieces of work from different people either directly in your team or from others. Your manager would be aware of all of the pieces of work you were doing and other analysts in the team would be there to help you with pieces if you got stuck, before asking managers.

In my experience, my managers were good at giving me the right amount of work and knowing how hard to push you. You are learning lots of new skills so it also depends on how quickly you pick up new things and as you progress through your placement, you don't need to check your work over with your supervisor as much. On the projects there are different stages of the project cycle, so some weeks there was more work than others depending on deadlines. Your placement is what you make of it so if you wanted to push yourself and if your work took less time than expected, it was easy to ask for more work, as there was always something you could help someone out with or something new you could start.

As an intern, they gave real responsibility from day one. We were treated as graduate analysts which made your work feel valued and important. The placement was a good representation of what real working life would be like, I had to work a weekend once coming up to a deadline - but it was all part of the parcel - and just added to your work experience.

I gained a lot of relevant and useful skills throughout my placement. From general working etiquette of sending emails, going to meetings and recording minutes, presenting to learning more about making presentations, using Powerpoint, Excel and formulas, etc. I also valued the opportunity to work with different levels of management, you gained some good exposure throughout your team, your project and also other business areas to different people so could therefore network with people you weren't directly working with and talk to them about their experience at Accenture and in Consultancy.

For consultancy, you are mainly based on your client site. Working is quite mobile and you get used to adapting to different work situations and work places. On my placement I got the opportunity to work both in London (where Accenture is based) and also on out-of-town projects. This was a great learning experience as you were travelling to a new city and working at their offices and staying out of town all week. You would go back to London Thursday and could work from Accenture offices on the Friday which was quite casual and was different to go into an office of just Accenture employees. At the beginning you are taught about client relationships and so it was interesting to work with different business and see how their culture varied. The office had a good atmosphere and was a mix between Accenture colleagues and your clients. You got to work daily with clients on some projects which was useful to learn how to work on client relations.

As a whole, the placement had many bases covered: good diverse opportunities of job roles and across industries, real responsibility, support from managers, networking with your internship peers, volunteering opportunities, a few check-up calls with your HR reps and all the other interns to check how your project was doing, a 'buddy' on your first project to help you settle in and to answer any questions. You had a few days at the start consisting of skills sessions which were useful for the rest of your placement. You also got mock tasks and activities to work with other interns to get your warmed up before you were assigned to your projects.

As you got further into your placement I feel there was slightly less support, but this combined with you settling in and having more experience didn't matter so much. The people at Accenture were great and if there were any issues you always knew the right people to contact. Sometimes I thought supervisors forgot you were an intern, which was good and bad - it gave you a way better experience and meant you learnt more, but sometimes was quite overwhelming to all the new things you were learning and the speed at which work needed to be completed sometimes gave less time to have full explanations of tasks and time was just spent showing you how to do that specific task, so you didn't learn as much.

I was offered a graduate job and have accepted. I also got the opportunity to differ my place, which meant I could take some time off after I graduate. I thought this was really good that they offered that as it allowed you to relax before starting work! I also think that their system off offer/no offer at the end of your placement beats any other placement scheme. A review based on your performance throughout your placement (by all of your managers) was fed back into HR who would either offer you a job at the end or not. I thought this is better than many other placement schemes that make you re-apply or only get to skip an application phase.

There was about 150 placement/internship students which were a mix of year in industry and gap year placements. We were put together at the beginning of our placement for a week of bonding, and there were 'intern events' throughout the year as a chance to catch up. During your placement there are times you are the only intern on the project, so it was good to have the opportunity to see others who were on the same scheme as you. There were also project networking events, which allowed you to meet other people beyond your team. Accenture has quite a young workforce so there were lots of analysts who were only a few years older than you. This was good for socialising and also asking them about their graduate experiences.

This was a mix! There is trying to live in London as a student, which is quite expensive, but it depends where you get a flat and on how much you go out. You can get various discounts like council tax breaks if you are a student, student oystercards and railcards. If you are working on out-of-town projects you get lots of perks. Your trains, hotels and dinners are paid for so it worked out quite cheap, but then you could equally be paying rent on a flat you aren't in that much. There were however, lots of socialising opportunities, whether with your direct work colleagues or with your intern cohort. Some networking events by Accenture were free which was always good to go along to!

If you were in central London there are many bars and restaurants around the office and places to go out. If you were out-of-town there would be many opportunities to go out for dinners or people's birthdays but you would tend to go out when you got back to London.

There were many societies at Accenture which you could get involved with, like Unviersity. There were also activities or sports games or matches on your project, and if there wasn't a team for something you wanted to do - you could always make one.