ITRA Intern Review

I found my internship really enjoyable and I honestly have no aspects of the placement to complain about. From start to finish everyone on my team was lovely and I was provided with new experiences to participate in. Furthermore, there were lots of opportunities to get involved with when on inevitable downtime from approved tasks. By the end I feel like I was a member of the team and I really hope to come back if offered the final position. Overall, the experience was highly enjoyable and I believe that will be the case for any intern giving they are willing to put the effort in as well.

All my colleagues valued me as if I was a new graduate joining the team. Nobody viewed the short term of my placement (4 weeks) as an excuse not to provide me with their time and care. I was provided with real work to do and with enough support to help me complete it. Furthermore, I was allowed to visit offices in other cities to mine and be trusted and valued enough to attend client meetings. Overall, my team and the whole firm really valued me and were incredibly thankful whenever I completed a task for them.

My support structure included my being allocated a buddy and counselor. My buddy was a go to member of the team I was working in who would answer any questions and look after you on a day to day basis. My buddy was fantastic, she introduced me to everyone in the office and made sure to keep an eye out for me at all times. I had multiple counselor meetings for tea and coffee and he was great at allocating tasks and arranging to fulfill all the goals in my internship checklist. Overall, the allocated support system was great but the reality was that I could ask anybody in the office for help at anytime.

I was busy everyday that I was in the office. With regards to the workload I was provided with a few pieces of client work during my first two weeks but unfortunately another member of staff was busy for the third and fourth. This meant I had to take it upon myself to get involved in other projects that had been provided to us as optional extras. These included creating PowerPoint slides on technological advancements and new rules and regulations regarding payment systems. Overall, I never felt like the lack of client work during the second half of the internship was an issue for me. By taking the initiative and being keen to sign up for optional work I was kept more than busy and got to experience different people and teams within the business.

During my placement I was entrusted with the responsibility of attending client workplaces to gather evidence, attending client meetings, running a team for a internal training project, travelling alone under company expenses and completing walkthroughs on client IT controls. Overall, I really do feel like the company had a lot of trust in me due to the rigorous interview process to secure the placement.

In the case that I am (hopefully!) offered the position to return as a graduate at the firm then the skills I developed when completing client work will be incredibly useful. However, outside of line specific work I do still feel like I developed skills and helpful knowledge. Whether it was developing my usage of business speak and clarity when performing IT audit walkthroughs to participating in networking events with new people within the firm these skills will be useful wherever I may decide to work in the future.

The atmosphere in my office was great. This was mostly due to the fact I had a very sociable team where there were lots of events to get involved in. During my four week stay at the firm we had 3 nights out organised with which I was able to attend two. One of these was a Edinburgh fringe night out which had been paid for by the company. Due to this social nature everybody really got on well at the firm and there was a fantastic atmosphere on a day to day basis.

The internship was really well organised but not overly controlling to the point where you couldn't explore areas of the company you wanted to. There were certain structured points which had been organised for you but outwith these you had to take the initiative and engage with your peers. When joining you were provided with an internship checklist of tasks and activities you needed to complete before you were finished and some of these would require you to reach out and organise things yourself.

The company have definitely invested a lot in me during my short time here. Every person in the office was willing to give up time to help you or provide you with insights as to their role. Furthermore, there was an allocated afternoon with the partner in your department which is incredibly valuable time with a highly knowledge individual. Overall, the company was not afraid to invest time and money into our personal training or development.

As a company the future employment prospects are some of the best in the market. The firm is growing at one of the fastest rates in the business so there is a real push for more employment. For every intern (within my department) there was a position at the end for them if they performed well enough to deserve it. I have not heard back yet on whether I will be offered the position but this process is completed a few weeks after the internship is completed.

As said above, there were multiple social events within the office to participate in. Another example would be the Social committee running a drinks trolley that comes around the office on a Friday afternoon with cold beverages for all the staff. I had the opportunity to get involved with this and it was not surprising how much happier people are to see you when you have the trolley in tow! Apart from this, there are always a lot of new graduates in every year so there is a young group who are willing to be very sociable.

I was staying at home with my family during my internship so I did not have to bare any costs of living. However, I do know that rent prices within Edinburgh can be quite expensive but nowhere near the levels in London. Usually you can tell how expensive a city is by the cost of a pint of beer and this would average at around £4! Luckily the firm pays well for the internship so you should be comfortable.

Edinburgh nightlife is really good with a wide variety of different bars and clubs. If you were after the standard nightclubbing experience you could visit George Street with expensive prices and snazzy clothes. If you were after a more student orientated experience you could go down to the Grassmarket and visit any of the selection of clubs down there. Furthermore, if you were after a certain type of music then you would no doubt be able to find a bar/club somewhere in the city!

Personally I opted to get involved in some of the student recruitment events that were being held outside of work. For example, some graduates and myself attended the UCAS faire where we provided information to school children on our business apprenticeship and graduate schemes. Furthermore, there were plenty of sports societies that operated outside of work such as cricket, cycling and rugby. Overall, if there was something you were interested in then you could no doubt either find it or start up a club yourself!