Assurance Intern Review

Really enjoyed internship here. In the first week there were lots of socials/lunches with colleagues so got to know the team and my fellow interns. Then when we started on client sites and started doing the actual work, we were always welcomed into the team and people were really good at explaining tasks. When there was work to do, I always found it interesting and enjoyed developing lots of new skills (except for V-Lookups on Excel, those were created by the devil).

You are assigned a buddy (who is normally a first/second year) to help with any small questions you might have at any time in the placement (I asked about expense sheets at one point). As well as a counsellor who will represent you at the final review panel which decides whether you get the job or not. As well as these people who are formally assigned to you, everyone is very welcoming and happy to answer questions, it was repeated again and again in the induction week that you should ask loads of questions if ever you don't understand anything. A lot of companies say this and you don't really believe it, but here it really is true.

Since you are not expected to have any prior knowledge, everything you do has to be taught to you first, so there is a lot of guidance. Also that comes from everybody in the team, not just the managers. Most of the time we were shown things by second/third years.

Depended on the day and length I was at a client. When I was at a client for a longer period I was given more work to do as I would be there to follow up on it, also if my team were really busy there was less time for them to show me things so I would spend time doing the project we were given at the start (but it could get boring at some times when there wasn't much work to do!). Regular hours were 9-5:45 with no proper lunch break (although on some days it was 9-5, really depends on the client you're assigned to and what stage that audit is at!)

I had the opportunity to learn sampling tasks that are normally learned in second year, felt great to be given that kind of level of task. On an everyday level, we were given the same work as first years on the graduate scheme (it was like we were replacing them as they were away at college) so were given a similar level of responsibility as them (so not just making cups of tea!)

I will be finishing third year next year (as internship takes place after your penultimate year of study, whatever that may be), so I don't really know how it will help me in my degree studies. I don't think the practical skills I learned will translate to my degree, since I don't do accountancy, however the people/presentation skills I learned and how my confidence grew will definitely help.

Since we were on client sites after the first week, we were in a different office every week and usually with a completely different team (also it was very rare for two interns to be placed on the same job at the same time). So it's hard to say there was a 'general atmosphere', but I always found (since this wasn't busy season, which is Jan-March) there was a relatively calm atmosphere and people were always chatty which was nice.

Overall it was well organised, no one was left without being on a client site at any point in the internship. The only thing I found could have been organised better was the project we were given at the start, as there wasn't a whole lot of guidance on this. But that is a relatively small part of the internship and isn't directly relevant to the work (we were asked to give a presentation on a potential candidate for the EY Entrepreneur of the Year award). Also there was an induction session and leaving session in Manchester that were very well organised and enjoyable (especially the food....).

Since the application process to become an intern is exactly the same as for a graduate, it is very likely to receive a job (as you've already passed the process). We were told at the induction session on the first day that there is theoretically space for all of us so we weren't competing against each other for a limited number of spaces, it was purely based on our own talents from this point. This was backed up by the team when we got back to our local offices, everyone said how the majority of interns last year got jobs (apparently the main reason to not get an offer is if you misbehave on a social!)

We all kept up with each other and tried to have regular drinks, however as we were all on different client sites this was hard to do during the course of the internship. So we had quite a few in the first and last weeks, and made a group chat to talk in the other time- we were very social and definitely want to stay friends with all of them.

Since I was a student at UOB anyway, there were no extra living costs for me (note there is no accommodation for this internship provided!). Also Birmingham as a city is very cheap to live in as it is a student town, so would highly recommend. It has the same social scene as London for a tenth of the price!

Very good nightlife, Birmingham has many, many cocktail bars all with different happy hours! Also there are many different clubs (would recommend broad street which has about ten different clubs). Is exactly what you would expect from England's second largest city.

I think there were more opportunities in other offices. I would have liked to get involved with sport however at the Birmingham office there was no netball team, so at other offices it would be much easier!