FSO Tax Intern Review

I found the whole experience thoroughly enjoyable, working in a an office environment was a first and the work itself was quite interesting. Overall I have had a very good time here and found it very useful.

Colleagues here regularly provide feedback for one another and as an intern we are no different. We also were invited to numerous events from day 1, including office five-a-side football, LCASS events and month end drinks. We were invited to so many events sometimes we couldn't even turn up!

I was given a buddy and a counsellor, the latter more senior and more invested in my development. A buddy allowed me to receive work and ask small questions whilst having a counsellor allowed for guidance and support. Other management was also very supportive.

There was almost always something to do though my workload was always a key concern of individuals passing work to me. The type of work tended to define how busy I was, certain work was much longer-term and as such more high priority work could be done first.

I had access to numerous systems and client files which allowed us to access almost as much as a graduate employee. I often found that the only restriction was the use of programmes with licencing fees and as such I cannot fault the amount of responsibility given to us.

A number of skills in the areas of teaming, quality, impact and operational excellence have been developed throughout my time here and as such I will utilise them in the rest of my life. Most of these were developed in doing the work rather than specified training.

The office was always lively and interesting, the open nature of the office meant that discussions were regular and individuals were positive. The work itself does require high levels of concentration and as such sometimes the office could be a little quiet but with communal areas and shared study spaces there was always a place to enjoy the atmosphere.

The organisation was very good, with even an app coming into play on the first day of the internship. The beginning of the internship was more structured than the end but this is due to the nature of being treated more like a graduate employee once a few weeks in rather than just a temporary intern in the office.

The firm offered plenty of online training services and allowed me to shadow employees across the whole spectrum of management levels and as such invested lots of time and money into my own personal training and development. Other than not paying some licence fees for software everything else that could've been invested in me was.

I would love to work with the company again and am in the process of hopefully receiving a job offer from them. There is significant room for growth in the company and the 3 year graduate scheme to chartered accountancy is very appealing both from a personal standpoint and a career standpoint.

Yes there was. We banded a Facebook group together within hours of meeting each other for the first time and went for dinner and drinks together as placement students in the office on multiple occasions. Some of us knew each other from before the internship so we already had strong connections anyway.

Because I lived at home during the internship and commuted into Leeds, I did not receive much exposure to the cost of living though eating out was reasonably priced. Socialising was a little more expensive though much cheaper than other cities in the UK.

Leeds' nightlife is world renowned for being fantastic and it has a little something for everyone. We attended numerous bars and pubs out of hours on the internship and so I got a good feel for the area. Staying over after a night is a little more expensive that I would have liked though.

Yes. I got involved in numerous out of office activities because the opportunities were there. Football, charitable events, pride and watching the T20 cricket are just a sample of the numerous opportunities we had to get involved with other activities after work.