Business Analyst Review

I have really enjoyed my 12 month placement at Accenture. Since almost all roles are client facing, a quality you must have is to be extremily personable. Hence everyone you work with are very approachable and lovely people! Also the variety of roles and opportunities available are endless so you will definitely find a role you enjoy.

Each project I have worked on and the people I have worked with are very respectful, encouraging and helpful. Even if you are an intern or not, everyone is treated exactly the same as everyone has a responsibility in their role. People are aware that this may be your first role so will give you guidance and feedback where needed.

All interns are assigned a "buddy" on each project you work on which you can speak to about any issues you are having regarding your work or questions you have about Accenture in general. They are usually Analyst level so they can relate to you about their experiences when they first started as it would not have been that long ago! In addition, every month I have a 30 minute meeting with my manager to catch up and discuss andy issues I have, what I am doing well and what I can improve on which is really useful.

Though there are upswings and downswings in workload in any job, generally I have been kept very busy. Workload is at times considerable but this forces one to prioritize, an extremely valuable skills in managing tasks. It also emphasized to me the need to speak up and say you have a lot on your plate and you need more time - often you get more respect by pushing back instead of producing sub-par work.

I was really surprised by how much autonomy I was actually given to pick-up-and-run with projects I felt I could improve. In general, solutions are not clear and I was often tasked with generating my own way of solving the issue. Though this can be challenging, it is extremely rewarding and helps to sharpen one's problem-solving and analytical capabilities. If interns were expecting to be handed the answers, consulting is the wrong line of business.

During my placement year, some of the skills I have improved/developed will be useful and applicable in my univeristy studies but even more so after university. Skills such as problem solving, working in a team and time management are essential in both my studies and after university. However other skills such as written communication and excel skills will be more appplicable to beyond my studies.

This really varies project to project. In my second project, it was non stop fun! It was a "One team, One dream" vibe even though there were 250 of us! We had lot's of team demonstrations to show the rest of the project what each team were working on so there was a lot of visability across the project. We had a great relationship with the client and had numerous social events each week. In my first project it was much more formal, however there are still team building activities and socials in each project.

You start off with an induction week with all the other interns which was good so you could get to know everyone and stay in contact before you all go and work on differet projects. HR assign you your first role, however I feel like it would be better if interns got more say/input into what role they would like to do. After your first 6 motnhs it is preferable that you move onto another role on another project. You can either speak to HR and let them help you find your next role or find one you would like through your contacts. In my experience, many of the interns contacted each other and swapped roles. Overall, I think the set up is good.

There were some training opportunities on offer for interns but interns could not be involved in all the training that Accenture offer. There is a lot of online training and learning you can sign up to and do which could take a couple of hours and then take an informal online assessment at the end. There are also non work related training you can do such as Mental Health Ally training which I did and found really interesting. In addition to this all Accenture employees get 3 charity days a year which is really good for your personal development.

I would say at this point I have been really impressed with the company. It is all about the people and this is something that appeals to me greatly. Though I am still undertaking my internship with a few months left, at this point I can certainly see myself returning to the firm.

Again this is project dependent. On my first project there was a great social scene with weekly meals/drinks etc which was really fun. On my second project the team was much smaller and so the social scene not quite as good. But there is a large cohort of interns and young people so there is no shortage of social events for sure.

London prices will always not be cheap, but with a bit of hunting around there are always much more affordable places. I went through SpareRoom.com and found a really nice place with a short commute for a great price. In terms of socialising, it's not cheap but no-one is really expecting it to be in the centre of London.

London nightlife is up there with the best, plenty of different things for everyone whether just a quick pint at the pub or a full-blown night out, it has much to offer. As mentioned previously the only thing I would say is that it is really not cheap. Central London nightlife is great! London has numerous nightclubs to choose from and even student nights so there is something there for everyone.

Yes and no. There are a lot of different clubs and societies you can join, but honestly I can't imagine when I would find time. We are generally kept extremely busy and I think I would struggle to find time to go to the clubs, especially as you often don't know what time you'll be leaving the office on a certain day so it is hard to commit to trainings etc.