Assurance Intern Review

I found that my internship was a good experience and a good insight into working life. I enjoyed the work that I had to do and I liked meeting new people and everyone was very friendly. On the other hand, I struggled to find work throughout my internship and was often bored. This significantly impacted my enjoyment of the placement.

I was assigned a buddy and a counsellor. I met with my counsellor 3 times during my placement and he helped me to set and achieve goals as well as to process feedback that I received from my supervisors. As well as this I felt that I could reach out to either my buddy or my counsellor for support at any stage during my internship. Additionally, all my supervisors were very supportive and helped me to learn, explaining each task in lots of detail.

I had a few stages throughout my internship when I had a good stream of work but largely I struggled to find work and often had long periods even entire days with nothing to do. I actively looked for work but I was very under utilized and this was incredibly frustrating. There was a poor distribution of work among the interns, with some of us being overworked while others were under utilized.

I was given very little responsibility during my placement. The tasks I was given to do were all low priority tasks and I was given minimal client facing work. I was responsible for ensuring that I communicated with my team and completed the tasks that I was given to the best of my ability but aside from that I was no put in a position of responsibility.

I gained a greater understanding of professionalism and the importance of confidentiality and risk management in the work place. I also developed my time management, communication and task management skills. Further, it has improved my self confidence. I feel that all these skills will help me be successful in future work roles as well as in my final year at university .

The general atmosphere in the office was good. There was always a buzz and everyone was very friendly. There were lots of different workspaces, breakout areas and booths suited to different working needs and in general the atmosphere was quite relaxed. The office is open planned and EY has a hot desking policy which means every one moves around the office and makes it easier to approach more senior colleagues.

We were given a reasonable amount of training and development. Most of this was learnt from the work we were given, however there were also other personal development sessions. We had a webinar once a week covering different aspects of our personal development such as business writing and personal brand. We were also encouraged to set SMART goals and ask for feedback on a regular basis throughout the internship.

If I am offered a grad job here, I would strongly consider it as an option. The firm has a good ethos and will be a fantastic place to train. I feel that while my experience as an intern could have been better I still would like to work here as I like the values of the company and the work that I have done.

There was a good social scene among fellow placement students and there were a large number of us to socialize with. There was an organized social at the end of the placement but other than that we were left to organize any social events ourselves. There were always other interns around to socialize with in the office and we would go to lunch together regularly.