Intern Review

I really enjoyed the whole of the internship programme with EY. There was a good balance between working and social and networking events which made the programme more enjoyable. I would recommend the programme to anyone who is thinking of applying and is interested in the work of the professional service firms.

I felt extremely valued by my colleagues. There were a variety of social events both with colleagues and other interns. The work given to me by my colleagues was challenging and interesting and I felt that most of the tasks I completed were worthwhile and would help the team with ongoing projects.

A lot of support was given by supervisors and various other members of staff at EY. I had regular catch ups with my manager throughout the internship to ensure that I had enough work and was happy with what I was doing. There are also various other support networks available, such as buddies and counsellors.

This really varied throughout the internship. In the first week I was fairly quiet as I was given time to adjust to the new team and get to know people and complete all of the induction activities. After asking for more work I was really busy, working on multiple projects at once with strict deadlines.

I was given a lot more responsibility than I expected during the internship. I was given work similar to that of the second years on the grad programme, with some of this being sent directly to clients. There were also various other bits of work that were sent directly to management to be used in their meetings.

I believe that certain technical aspects may come in useful with some of my studies next year but I won't be able to use a lot of it in my studies. However, I developed my skills in Microsoft Office which will definitely be useful both in my studies and when working in the future.

The atmosphere in the office was serious but friendly and varied quite a lot between teams. Everyone I met was extremely friendly and welcoming and happy to answer any questions I had, even if they weren't in my team. The office could be quiet at times (especially the end of the week) as a lot of people would work from home!

I think that the overall internship was really well set up, from the induction activities all the way through to the final event. The internship was fairly structured, with meetings set up with different key people throughout the programme and weekly newsletters sent round to all of the interns to keep everyone updated with what was going on.

I didn't have much of an opportunity to complete any training during the internship programme. However, regular meetings with buddies and counsellors really helped with personal development as it allowed me to set targets for my personal development and make a plan on how to achieve them. This included things like presentations and networking.

I would like to work at EY in the future and am waiting to hear whether I got a job offer. Future employment prospects are extremely appealing at the firm compared to others, but the grad programme and starting salaries seem fairly similar to that of the other Big 4 firms.

There was a really good social scene among a lot of the interns. There were various social events organised by the Summer Internship Programme team such as bowling and crazy golf. We also went out quite a lot separately to this and I have kept in contact with a few of the other interns since the end of the internship.

Living and working in London is probably one of the most expensive cities in the UK. I lived at home just outside London so did not have to pay rent, but spent around £50 a week on travel to and from work. Eating and drinking out in London is also a lot more expensive that most other cities but is also doable with what the internship pays!

I was working in London Bridge and the nightlife was really good! We would often go out after work to nearby bars and restaurants, but a few times also went to other places in London as its easy to travel around and always busy. The only downside of going out in London is the expensive drinks!

As an intern I did not get involved in many opportunities outside of work but there are a lot of opportunities to get involved if you work there permanently. This seemed to vary a lot by team.