Intern Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my experience as an intern at EY. My main aim going into the internship was to learn as much as possible about my chosen service line (Tax) as I could and I feel I managed to achieve this. This was mainly down to the help of my fellow team members.

I felt extremely valued by my colleagues. I found them always willing to take time out of their schedules in order to talk to me and answer any questions I had. I felt especially valued by my counsellor, who always ensured I was happy and experiencing the things I wanted to experience within the service line.

My management/supervisors were very supportive. My counsellor scheduled in time with me on an almost daily basis in order to ensure I had no issues or questions and to explain to me the work I was to undertake. This made my experience all the better and I feel I benefited a lot from all the time I was given.

I found that on certain days I was busy, while on others I was perhaps not so busy. I did, however, have a case study to work on over the four weeks and present on my final day, so I always had that in the background to work on when I wasn't so busy.

I was given a small level of responsibility during my placement. I feel that the kind of work undertaken in my service line requires a substantial amount of training/ a level of study I do not yet have, eg accountancy qualification/tax advisory qualification, so I can understand why it may have been hard for the team to delegate a lot of responsibility to myself.

With my degree being in Economics, the skills I developed and training I received may not directly assist me in my studies. However, I feel that beyond graduation, the skills I developed and training I received will be extremely valuable. Having an experience of how things work in a corporate environment will stand me in good stead for the future.

The general atmosphere in my office was a relaxed yet professional one. People of all ranks sat amongst each other, creating a feeling of harmony and teamwork. I felt very comfortable in this environment and I found it beneficial as it provided easy access to seniors who could give me help or advice.

Overall, I feel the internship was well organised, with enjoyable induction and final events. Everything I needed to know was communicated clearly to me by all parties and I was always what was going on/what the next steps were. This is something on which I feel a lot of emphasis should continue to be placed.

The company invested little in myself in terms of training and development. However, I feel that over a period of 4 weeks, this is not something that can be reasonably expected from EY, given the nature of the work they undertake and the length of time it would take one to become fully trained in relevant matters.

Future employment prospects within EY seem very appealing. They employ a large amount of people and seem to be keen to employ and train young people, whether they join as a school leaver or graduate. I did not get the impression that, should I be offer-worthy, positions in the company would be limited.

I lived at home with my parents and travelled to the office each day (1 hour door-to-door). Therefore my living costs were not high, as my only expenditure was on rail travel. The cost of socialising in the area I worked was standard of what you would expect to find in a large city.

The nightlife in the area I worked in was very vibrant and busy. There are lots of places to go, catering for everyone's tastes. There are also lots of good places to eat and a major arts festival every year. There is definitely not a shortage of activities for evenings and weekends.