Tax Vacation Student Review

I highly enjoyed my internship - every day I was being found something new to help with and I have been given exposure to a large number of areas within corporate tax, from m&a to transfer pricing.

I was always being invited to networking events and there was always somebody on hand to ask any question (no matter how basic) I had. People from different departments were always asking me how my internship was going and willing to help me with practical things around the office such as printing.

I was assigned two buddies and they were my main point of contact throughout my internship. Both of them have been really helpful in identifying tasks around the department that i could help with but also in explaining how to approach them. I was also introduced to the People Leader in my department, who was very open and even invited me to a networking breakfast. I also had a Performance Manager with whom I had an appraisal and gave me advice not only for my internship, but for my degree and my whole career as well.

I was relatively busy compared to the other interns - I have only managed to take care of some administrative during my final week! Whenever I had finished all that i was being assigned, I was always found something else quickly, however i did not feel pressured by deadlines. My advice for the other interns is that this all is what you make out of it - if you want to be busy, you can easily ask around for something for you to do, you only have to keep an open mind and be prepared to do 'manual work' such as reformatting as well.

I was given responsibility in organising my time around my tasks, however all my work was all checked before being sent to a client/HMRC (something which happens when you are a first year graduate as well).

I am doing a languages degree, so there is not much scope for me to apply my tax technical skills, however some skills such as formal letter drafting, legal research or writing executive summaries will definitely come in handy.

Really depends on the team with some being a lot more relaxed than others - however, there is always somebody on hand to help out.

The initial training was good, however afterwards it did really depend on your team. Mine was really organised, kept me busy and planned for my arrival, however other interns were left without anything to do.

We all attended a general induction day in Leeds with all the North interns from Audit and Tax and then two days specifical technical training at the Tax Business in London - all expenses paid by the company with a nice hotel over the Thames from Canary Wharf to add to it.

Most of us had a final partner interview to let us know whether we will get an offer for a graduate position, however I had conversations with people around the firm, from graduates to partners, to discuss potential advantages/challenges of further opportunities and made me decide to take the offer in case I receive one, mainly taking into account the opportunity to attend the Tax Business and professional services qualifications team on hand to help me with any support I might need (lacking an academic background in accounting).

There was something going on each week, whether a bowling event organised by student recruitment or drinks with the team. We did not go out just with the interns, but they were all really nice and coming along if they were invited to anything which made it easier to organise good events.

I lived in student accommodation for a month which was good cost/quality as it was basically just down the road from the office and also surrounded by low cost bars/clubs as it was in a student area.

The office is at the junction of the student area and the city centre which offered something for everybody's tastes.

We all attended a CSR day but as a full time employee you get about a week to spend on CSR activities. Also, I attended a networking breakfast with the Women's network which was a really good opportunity to meet people of all ranks across the firm.