Tax Intern Review

I really enjoyed my time with EY, the people I worked with made the internship. The other interns alongside my team bonded really well and I will definitely keep in touch with several people in the foreseeable future. As with any internship there were ups and downs however I knew I was surrounded by a great network of people that could support me or provide advice.

I felt very valued by my colleagues and this was highlighted in the feedback I received from everyone I worked with at the end of the internship. Towards the middle and definitely the end I was contributing to real life projects with tangible results that I could see, and they were very thankful for the hard work I put in.

From Day 1 I was assigned a 'counsellor' who was a manager as well as a buddy who was more junior who could relate more to the position I was in. As a result I always felt like I could turn to someone for help and support. Throughout my time, I spoke with Partners and Senior Managers about my progress, and they seemed genuinely interested in my future and gave me some impartial advice that I am very thankful for.

You were as busy as you wanted to be - it was up to you initially to throw yourself into the work. I certainly took full advantage of the opportunity and consequently I was always very busy. I cannot think of a day where I had nothing to do. I would also add that once your seniors had faith in the fact that you could communicate and work to a high enough standard they would come to you and give you work. That level of trust was very satisfying.

At the beginning, the team gave quite simple tasks that didn't quite contribute to much, but once we were able to build a rapport and a certain about of trust, I was given more and more responsibility to the point where I was going to client meetings and giving my opinion to senior managers about the goings on.

I developed a huge range of skills that I know will be transferable to my future career. They included surprisingly my skills in MS Word, PowerPoint and Excel which I though I had a good handle of but this was proved wrong quite early on. I know that I am a confident user of these from now on. Additionally, communicating with clients and seniors in an appropriate way.

Training and development wasn't a crucial aspect of the internship - I would say there were far more opportunities to learn as you were going and learn from your team on a day-to-day basis. We were expected to complete 5 or 6 learning modules during our time at the firm however these were quite generic and kind of boring.

Future employment prospects are very positive - the firm is growing and looking to take on more people every year. The possibility of career progression within the firm is definitely there as long as you have completed the necessary qualifications that you are tasked with taking.

In the first half of the internship the social scene between the interns was particularly good. We bonded really well which at first was facilitated through an EY social but then left to ourselves. I would say EY had little to do with the social aspect of the internship after the first week as no real social party ot event was organised for the interns throughout the internship.

Living, commuting and working in London is expensive and I think it is obvious why. You are working in one of the biggest financial hubs and the capital city and so everything is more expensive. Canary Wharf is not a cheap place to buy lunch every day, even in the canteen area at work. On the other hand, as a result of being in London there are so many things you can do and become a part of.