Audit Intern Review

I did really enjoy my internship as the company really invested a lot into all the interns. The first two weeks involved a lot of networking events meeting all the interns across the country. The work I was given was challenging but rewarding as I definitely learned a lot and improved. There was a big emphasis on a work life balance and I even got to go on the summer day out which was beach volleyball and a bbq on Brighton beach!

I felt very valued my colleagues, as soon as I walked into into the office I was more treated as a new employee rather than just as an intern. I was given work that they actually needed done and was given all the help I needed to complete these pieces of work.

As I was in the audit department, people are on different jobs all the time and are sometimes in the office sometimes out at a client site so it is hard to overlap at the same place a lot of the time. That being said, my people manager kept in contact with me giving me support over email and Skype calls. My in charge when I was working at client site gave me a lot of support helping me complete my work. However, support was more general than just from your supervisor as all the grads and anyone in the office gave support when I had any questions.

At clients sites I was very busy as I was given as much work as I could get through basically, not too much that I stressed about finishing but enough to keep me busy for my whole time at a client. Some days in the office I was less busy as my clients hadn't sent in all the information we needed, but I was still kept reasonably busy with helping other people or doing general admin.

I was given a lot more responsibility than I expected during my placement. I was essentially treated as another graduate coming in. I was given all the work I could do and learn quickly in my short time there. But it was the fact that my work was trusted for the final audit and was just reviewed like anyone else work and handed back to me with feedback. I would do my changes, then the in charge and managers would review my work again, do any final changes they needed to do but essentially these worksheets had been trusted to me.

The skills I developed in organising files, managing time to finish work and responding quickly to emails will definitely help me organise my uni work and sports. This will definitely help me in the future too as these are key skills for any job. I also massively improved my excel skills which will also help me in any future job.

The general atmosphere in my office was very relaxed and chilled. There were a lot of young recent grads which made it very easy to settle in as they have just been through what I am going through. There was a lot of world cup talk and love island talk during my internship. We would go out for lunch some days or watch the football in the office or even play table tennis during lunch.

It was very well organised as in the first week we got to stay in a hotel in London for one night to meet all the other interns throughout the country. We were taken out for drinks and food at a venue in Shoreditch. The next week we were sent for training at Bradenham Manor, a large country house, and this training really helped with my presenting skills as well as allowed a chance to get to know the other interns better.

The company invested a lot in us as I mentioned above. The training day and a half we had helped a lot and we were only there 6 weeks. I know as a placement student or grad you get given a lot of training there to help you improve. I was given a lot of advice while working and this shows the level of investment GT wanted to give us.

If you are offered the grad job it is a 3 year training programme so it is really a great opportunity at the start of your career to get a well respected qualification. It helps you transition from full time studying into part time studying whilst in a job. They are also flexible if you think you may want to take a year out after uni.

There were only 2 interns in my office so this is a bit more difficult to answer. However I know the grads at the office do go out and socialise more. It is different if you join as a grad as we were only there for 6 weeks, but we were there during the summer social and this day out was very good.

I lived at home during my internship so it was reasonably cheap for me. There are a number of parking spaces but if they fill up it is still only about £3.60 for the day. Train links are also very cheap. There are a number of bars in Crawley which are good to go to, but not that cheap.

The bars are good but you are better off going out in Brighton or London. These are both not too far by train, depending on where you live in the surrounding area. Lots of the office live in Clapham, which is a better area for nightlife and closer to central London too.

Yes there were plenty of opportunities including charity events such as sweepstakes, dragon boat races and midnight walks. They also regularly play football which is another way to get involved. They play against local teams/companies and even recently went up to Liverpool to play against other Grant Thornton offices in a tournament.