Summer Intern - Assurance UK&I Review

It was really enjoyable, everyone was really friendly and there was a good positive atmosphere. The work was challenging and pushed me to learn new things and go out of my comfort zone, but not so challenging that I felt out of my depth. I enjoyed the responsibility and trust that was given by most colleagues from day one.

It depended what team you were working on. My first team I felt so valued, and made some really strong friends and connections. However at times if the teams were busy you felt a bit like you were in the way. When I did good work I got praised and any mistakes I made were explained to me through feedback. This positive feedback made me feel very valued.

I had a really great senior who I worked with over a month and developed a really strong friendship with, giving me the opportunity to ask honest questions. My counsellor was also excellent and kept in regular contact with me, the recruitment team were also really helpful and had regular catchups with me. I had a three formal meetings with my counsellor and one formal meeting with the recruitment team. I got informal support throughout the whole experience.

On some jobs I was busy all day non stop and stayed late. On some jobs the other staff were reluctant to give me anything to do, most likely because the audits were at a critical point so there wasn't always appropriate work for me to do. Some days it was very hard to find work to do so had to do web learning modules instead. It depended what clients you were assigned to.

On some jobs I was given a lot of trust and responsibility, on others I was given none. (other than buying everyone's lunch and coffee...) I got significantly more responsibility when on a small audit with a small team, but when working with a large team on a complicated audit there was little to no responsibility given to interns, try and get on small clients is my advice.

What I have learnt is invaluable. Coming from a none accounting background this 6 weeks will give me a huge head-start when I begin my career in accounting next year and has helped me to understand exactly what EY assurance does, and how they approach audits. It's also given me a chance to overcome some of my personal weaknesses, as I outlined them with my counsellor in the first week and he gave me tasks to help me improve in the areas I identified.

Very relaxed and positive atmosphere, everyone seemed quite positive to be working there. The new office really added to this positive vibe, everyone was working hard but there was still time to ask questions or ask for help from colleagues. There were multiple areas catering to different work styles, from more relaxed working areas to standing desks, so everyone was catered for and I think this boosted the atmosphere.

The summer internship program team were fantastically organized and great with communication. They kept in regular contact with any information you might need, and equally replied to any emails or questions immediately. They were always on hand and could not have been organized better. My only negative feedback is that there was not a great plan of what clients the interns were going to be sent to after the first couple of weeks, and it felt as though they had maybe taken on too many interns.

We had a whole day induction in the first week which covered lots of areas from how to interact with clients to explaining the vision of the company. Then throughout the internship there were weekly webinars on a variety of development topics which were really valuable and you could tell a lot of thought and effort had gone in to planning them. There was also a plethora of online web learning courses to complete during the internship. I definitely felt invested in!

I really want to work for EY. They are a fantastic team of people, very professional yet approachable and friendly. They seem to be an amazing graduate employer which offer their graduates a huge range of opportunities and tailor your career to follow you personal goals and aspirations. I am very excited to hopefully have a future with EY and recommend the internship to everyone with an interest in accounting and finance.

We went for drinks multiple times a week and had a group chat with all the interns from the office. We all got on really well and I made some good friends. We have gone for drinks, dinners and lunches and on the last day we are going bowling followed by drinks. Everyone is very like-minded and easy to get on with.

I worked in Manchester where the public transport is very cheap, there are plenty of cheap shops/supermarkets and for a large city the rent is very reasonable, especially compared to London. There is a large student population during term time so it was easy to find accommodation for the internship as this was during the summer holidays so there were lots of empty student halls and flats.

The nightlife was so amazing. The Manchester music scene is amazing and I got to see some really cool bands. There are hundreds of clubs and bars so plenty of choice. We went to some very nice, but more pricey cocktail bars but also managed to find lots of cheaper bars with free entry and good djs. I recommend Manchester nightlife to anyone!

I personally tried to get involved with a few outside of work opportunities, but other than an invitation to join the football team I struggled to find anything.