Financial Services Assurance Summer Intern Review

What makes EY special is the people. The hiring practice, which focusses on bringing in people based on their personability and soft skills, means that the vast majority of your colleagues are incredibly helpful and friendly. This makes for a very positive working culture and made the internship really special. The work they give the interns is pretty much all billable client-facing work, which differs from most other firms

Extremely valued. I was put with another intern on a client that had multiple signing deadlines a couple of weeks after we arrived. The team integrated us and trained us really well and it was apparent that they regarded the work we did as absolutely necessary in delivering the quality that EY expects to the client. By the end of the internship I really felt like my contribution was valued, especially as the quality of the interns' work improved.

Support and guidance was always available, even in the most busy of times. My supervisors always had the time to explain not just how to complete tasks, but what the various risks were in the process and why the task was necessary in the bigger picture, even when it meant taking a big chunk of time out of their own days. HR and grad rec were also always on standby if the need was there.

Variable, especially as for most clients in Audit, the summer is not a busy period (the main busy period usually being Jan-Apr). I would say that I was on one of the busier clients and probably left the office at an average time of 6-7 o clock. During the day, my supervisors always made sure I was doing something and there were very very few moments when I had nothing to do. If it got to the end of the day and I had completed all my tasks my supervisor was very happy for me to leave.

95% of the work I did was all client work. The work was reviewed by seniors as part of general practice but I'd say that 80% of my work, given a few amendments, was all work that would be directly delivered to the client. Right from the off, the interns have a lot of responsibility put on them but that means that the learning curve is generally steeper, and massively more rewarding.

Regardless of what I want to do in later life, this internship has given me invaluable skills relating to understanding the mechanisms of business and financial institutions that will be helpful in any financial or professional services career. It has also helped me to develop my business knowledge and useful hard skills such as data analytics and excel.

The firm invests a huge amount in its interns as a fairly significant proportion of its graduate intake comes from the internship and the placement year scheme. There were weekly training sessions, alongside 3 days worth of inductions. There was also a mandatory partner shadowing day which was incredibly useful. The firm also provides up-to-date technology for all interns, including a latest model touchscreen HP laptop, conference calling gear and secure ID tags.

EY future employment prospects and career progression is taken quite seriously. There is always a worry in a firm that employs over 250,000 people globally about career direction, but that is something that cannot (to an extent) be avoided. If you seize the initiative, build your networks and get involved with the firm, then your future employment prospects are really good.

The social scene amongst the interns varied because a lot of us were client-site rather than in the office for a lot of time. At the beginning and towards the end of the internship there was a lot of socializing. Sometimes it was just logistically difficult for all the interns to meet up as a lot of us were either in the city or canary wharf. We'd always go to lunch with other interns every day however.

Unfortunately, London is pretty expensive, and not just for students. That's the cost of being in one of the best cities in the world, working for the firm's biggest and most dynamic office. It's not all bad though, and your compensation reflects that as London interns are generally paid more.

EY has multiple networks around sport and activities that you can get involved in from day 1. Later on becoming a full time employee, there are also incredible opportunities for everyone to travel or do volunteering work. There were also a bunch of organized activities for the interns to get involved in.