Summer Intern Review

I thoroughly enjoyed meeting a broad array of different people from different teams during my internship. Everyone was super friendly and willing to help at every opportunity. Particularly, the people and culture at EY made my internship the most enjoyable. Although at times the internship could be challenging, at EY you are surrounded by a strong support network who support your growth and development.

The nature of internship work can make being valued by team members difficult since usually interns don't have the required knowledge or capabilities to deliver work to the same standard as other team members. Nonetheless, my team made sure that any task no matter how big or small was important and that they valued my help.

I was given a buddy, councillor and new joiner leads upon my arrival. My councillor helped forge my internship to be the best it could be and directed me to projects where my interests were heighted. My buddy was in a different department so I didn't have that much interaction with him, but he made it clear that he was always available if I did need to reach out to him.

The work load varied extremely on a day to day basis. There were times where I had spare capacity and other times where I had a back to back day. During quieter periods EY provided online learning platforms which aided understanding of the business as a whole and the nature of the work in your sub service lines. Additionally, members of the team reached out frequently for catch ups in order to learn more about their role within EY so it was easy to fill time with networking and building relationships.

I was given responsibility to complete my work and was given a fair amount of autonomy in terms of its presentation. I was responsible for managing my work load accordingly and managing my expectations where necessary. Some of my work was used as parts of discussions for internal meetings. However, I wasn't given a huge amount of work which I saw end-to end.

Constantly working under a team has developed my communication skills as well as my ability to take direction. This will be highly useful in university where my modules permit me to do group presentations. I learnt how to professionally reach out to people in highly regarded positions as well alongside conducting myself in an appropriate manner. This will be a valuable skill for my future career.

Everyone was super friendly and nice. My team on client site always made it clear I could ask questions and wasn't a burden. There was lots of interactions between myself and my team. This was less so in the main office but that was because the work was less collaborative.

At the beginning, there were clearly planned tasks, activities and events. This became less frequent over the 6 weeks. Two social events were planned by student recruitment. You had to be quite self sufficient in your work load and approach people for more work. Sometimes it was not clear to whom and when you should do this.

As part of the internship, we had to plan, organise and deliver a presentation to a panel of people. This helped develop our presentation skills and taught us how to navigate group disagreements. The panel took the whole day to review all the presentations and I felt they invested a lot with their time and energy.

Extremely appealing given the level of enjoyment I have experienced over the course of this internship. A 6 week programme means that you invest a lot of time and energy into a company. This makes it more appealing to potentially continue your career at the organisation since you already have built a strong network.

There was a strong social scene amongst all the interns. As a cohort, we regularly went out and socialised. Whilst I was in the main office, all the interns went to lunch together and interacted regularly. On client site, my team also invited me to each lunch with them and even invited me to birthday drinks.

London is an extremely expensive place to live and work. After paying for my accommodation and cost of transport (£7 a day), I had very little left over. Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed my time in London and don't regret my choice not to work in a regional office. In terms of socialising, there is always something to do in London.

Nightlife was insane. There is a huge variety of different bars and clubs to cater for different preferences. The interns and I went on several different night outs and enjoyed them all. There is always something going on in London. London caters to both casual drinks and nights out. I would highly recommend the nightlife in London.

The opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work was limited. Most people just go to the gym and head off home.