Leading Women Intern Review

The Leading Women's Programme was incredible, everyone at EY was so friendly and welcoming and always checked in to make sure I was doing okay. I was quite concerned that I didn't have any experience in the financial services but people really took the time to see if I needed any extra help and if I had any questions.

Every single person I met at EY, from partners to first year graduate interns, was very interested with what I was doing on the programme, how I was enjoying it and just having nice conversations. The internship was only a week long and within a few days I was already given client work to do but was fully supported and I really felt that the work I was doing was really appreciated by the team.

I was shadowing a partner in assurance for the week and she was very supportive asking if there was anything I was confused about in meetings and asking what I really wanted to achieve from the programme. From my goals, she set me with a small project to really challenge yet help me learn more about the field of assurance.

My degree is not related to the financial services so while the technical knowledge I have gained may not aid me in my studies, the skills I have learnt including my attention to detail and confidence to ask questions will really help me with my degree. Moreover, within only a week I feel that I have gained a lot of knowledge about assurance and EY that will really help me with my future career.

The first day was mainly introductory but each day, the partner I was shadowing found more meetings for me to sit in and client work to assist on so there was a nice progression of work throughout the week. The final day consisted of having talks with recruitment and the Women's Network about what I have learnt from the week and what I wanted to do from there. While the first and final day was quite structured, the rest of the week wasn't meaning that you were constantly on your feet, possibly travelling into the city to see a client - it meant the work was exciting, never boring and always had something to learn.

The general atmosphere was extremely positive. Everyone at EY wanted to make sure I was getting the most out of the programme and that I was actually learning something that I could take home and use in my studies/future career. The support from everyone made the experience amazing and I would recommend it to anyone.

At the beginning of the week I was asked what I wanted to gain from the week programme and there we set goals and a project for myself. Multiple people were willing to help me learn so much more and invest their time into making my experience as great as it was.

I did not get to work on as many projects but it was only a week so can't expect as much. But I definitely saw all the time and hard work full tie employees put into the company. Everyone was very open about the long hours sometimes required to work there but said it was worth it.

From working there I can see EY truly is the peoples company. They care about every one of their employees with councilor meetings and network events. Their diversity and inclusion values are prominent throughout the company and show just how inclusive the company is. There is also a very hardworking culture where providing clients with high value work is a top priority.

Before the programme I was had a plan to go into consulting but in the placement I was placed in Assurance. Seeing what people do within assurance completely changed my view on the field and inspired me to think about a career path outside of consulting. Assurance definitely seems hard but an exciting and worthy sector for m to head my future career in.