Summer Intern Review

During my time at EY, I had an amazing learning experience. The assurance team in Edinburgh are a group of really intelligent, friendly, and hard working people who’s attitude and enthusiasm for the work they do is infectious. Never at a single point was I not made to feel valued and part of the team. Due to this I always enjoyed the work I did and who I did it with.

Due to being part of a small team handling credit provisions for a large bank, I was set to work immediately testing controls the bank had in place. Within the first 4 days I signed off on a small project I had completed. This level of responsibility was unprecedented by myself but allowed me to grow a lot as an individual. I also spotted changes that needed to be made to a customers HY report with was taken seriously and presented to the client immediately. This respect and responsibility I was given was hugely rewarding.

My manager and senior were always approachable and friendly. Not once did they ever billitly a question I had even when it had an unendingly simple and obvious answer that I missed. They always looked to teach me the larger scope of the task I was doing and helped me learn about the work the client did, not just what we had to do for the client.

The small team I was in were experiencing a handover with managers, therefore the manager that was leaving looked to get ahead of the scheduled work in order to leave their replacement a period for learning. Due to this I always had projects to get involved in and my senior allowed me to make myself as busy as I wanted to.

As discussed above, due to the small team I often had autonomy on projects I had. These feed into a broader scope of tasks which were owned by my seniors. As a whole I would say I was given as much responsibility as I felt comfortable with. I believe that if I had too much I would not of felt comfortable finishing tasks without asking a very large amount of questions.

There was little formal or technical training at the start that related to the job. However, once past the induction process and in the team I had the opportunity to be coached by my senior who always looked to give me a high level of understand. Often this was not necessary but added a huge amount to the development process.

An audit office is a strange dynamic as it can be full one day and empty the next depending on when it is necessary to go to a clients office. Even though this was the case, people in the office were always friendly, encouraging and enthusiastic. This made such a difference to myself as it helped me always remain positive with my work.

The recruitment team work very hard to make the onboarding process as smooth as possible. They spend a whole day teaching you about EY and who you are going to be working for the remainder of the time. The organise some fantastically fun team building events that allow you to meet the other great interns you are going to be working with.

I would say that 6 weeks did not warrant any formal qualification training. I would say that the people within the organisation invest a huge amount of their time to train you on the work you will be doing. This to some extent is more valuable than formal training as it means that you have the ability to complete task, understand those task, and how they relate to the client.

After my experience of the company, how they are willing to invest in their own people, but more importantly, what those people are like, I couldn’t imagine working for any other big 4 firm. It may sound silly, but everyone there are genuine hard working, intelligent, but down to earth people. They want to get their work done but take a genuine interest in your goals, and development. I’ve never had partners give up their time to chat to me about my career path and advise me on my future. These are hugely busy and important people but they are happy to give up time to chat to a sum what insignificant intern.

Often it is hard to organise events with other interns due to people just wanting to rest properly. However, I was lucky enough to be invited to drinks and dinner with a client. These event happen all the time with the social committee working hard to organise great events for everyone. I’ve even going to see a show at the fringe next week.

Edinburgh is a relatively cheap place to live especially considering how it is a major city. The fringe has however taken a major chunk out my wallet as I have gone to see several shows. This coupled with sunny evening as a pub have taken their hit on the finances but I have been staying in an amazing apartment which has been cheaper than my tiny student flat.

Edinburgh is a young and vibrant city where there is always something happening, especially during the fringe. There are always great people to meet and go out with. You can have the choice of a very pubby night out or go out to a big night club which is always a dangerous play.

I’m a huge golfer therefore Edinburgh couldn’t be better. There is an abundance of golf courses which are all very affordable and open to visitors coming to play. I have had a look at joining a few rugby clubs which have all been really friendly and offer a wide variety of opportunities to get involved.