Summer Intern Review

The summer internship was very well structured and lasted a good amount of time to get a good taste of the professional business world. The internship exposed me to a number of clients and teams, allowing me to carry out a number of different tasks within the Audit and Assurance service line. The teams were all very professional and friendly and a lot of support was available for the interns and help was always given. The chance to fundraise and take part in CSR programmes was also thoroughly enjoyable.

I felt very valued by my team members. I always felt included, in line with EY’s values of an inclusive working environment. I was invited to many social events and dinners with the teams I was working with and was always keen to take part. I made some very strong relationships with my colleagues, both on a personal and professional level.

Whenever I had any difficulty with work, help was always given to me by my colleagues and they were always very friendly. I was treated as an equal and was always included in any team decisions and was always provided with work I was capable of performing. My team always made sure I was well equipped with the knowledge and expertise required to perform each task to the best of my ability. My managers always made sure I had work to do and I was happy with what I needed to do.

Partly because of the time of year, the amount of work available in the Audit and Assurance service line was somewhat limited. There were some fairly quiet days where the only work I could do was not related to any clients. Instead I would take part in online web base learning courses, which although useful, could be rather repetitive at times.

I was given much more responsibility than anticipated. I was allowed to prepare and sign off a piece of evidence for an interim review of a client, which was then reviewed and commented on by my manager. This subsequently went on to be included in the evidence for the interim review. On quieter working days there was less opportunity for me to be responsible for some important tasks.

The interpersonal and team-working skills developed over the duration of my internship will definitely help me in my future year of study and my career beyond. I am excited to put into use my skills gained whilst working with business clients in a future professional career within financial services. I also developed some technical skills, especially when working on spreadsheets when preparing audit evidence. This will help me greatly as a professional auditor in the future, should that be the path I take.

The atmosphere in the office was one of the best things about the internship. There was always a large number of people in the office. Everyone I met was very personable, friendly and extremely enthusiastic about working. The office in Manchester was also very modern and had a number of different working environments including the main office working space, smaller team conference rooms and even smaller focus booths, used for different kinds of work. It seemed to me that everyone in the office thoroughly enjoyed working there.

It was obvious that a lot of hard work went into the application process and general planning and structure of the summer internship programme. There were weekly updates and newsletters from the summer internship team and time was allocated to a fundraiser organised and carried out by myself and the rest of the interns in the Manchester office. Support was always provided when asked for as well.

A lot of the personal training received was in the form of web based learning activities. Although these were always helpful, these could get somewhat repetitive. I did gain a lot of skills from them, both soft and technical. When on the job, I also gained some key skills, especially when it comes to client interaction. Being exposed to EY’s business clients was invaluable and was by far the most worthwhile personal development.

The future career prospects seem very good in the long term, with location and service line changes seeming rather straightforward. However in the shorter term the ability to change location seem somewhat harder and complicated. Career progression seems very good at the company, some very senior members seem to have got there in a surprisingly short amount of time.

Fellow interns and colleagues were always keen to take part in social activities and I always made sure to attend these as often as I could as this was a great way to get to know my colleagues on a much more personal level. This would no doubt make my work a lot more enjoyable and fun as I had a good mix of a professional and personal working relationship.

For me the cost of living was not too great as I was able to live from home as I was working in an office located close to my house. Being a northern office, the cost of living was naturally much cheaper than in London and this was very welcomed.

The nightlife in Manchester was very good and enjoyable. I had the chance of going out with my fellow interns a number of times. The office is very central so for the interns that were living in accommodation close to the office, it was very convenient for them to go out and experience the Manchester nightlife.

There were plenty of opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work. We took part in a corporate social responsibility event in a London park on the second day of the programme. We did some gardening in the park and could clearly see the benefits of our work afterwards. We also organised an office fundraising event for the EY foundation which was also a very good personal development experience.