Consulting (Enterprise Risk) Summer Intern Review

I loved how they adapted the 6 week internship into a week, we got a huge amount of information and learnt as much about the company as you can in just one week! It was amazing to hear from such a wide range of people and was really such a good replacement for the in person scheme! It has also been a super easy way to start building connections within the company, everyone was super happy for you to add them on linked in and this should be good for the future.

I feel like it was definitely really hard to do any meaningful, productive work for the company in just one week, whereas in 6 weeks we could actually join in on projects and meetings and ideas. But we did have a task for the week which was an example Case Study project, which was really similar to what we would be doing on the job, and we also received some really good comments on the ideas and strategies we thought of, so we really felt that we could bring something to the table if we were on a real project.

First, we got assigned a buddy before the internship started and they contacted us via emails and were all Graduates on our corresponding service line; this was super helpful as you could ask them all the questions you may be a little scared to ask the recruitment team, we also got time during the virtual experience to talk to them in a Q&A, get to know more about the culture at EY and just to check in on how we were doing in the week. We also always had our Consulting Student Recruitment team who we could contact via Teams at any time, which was super useful, and a mentor for the Case Study to help us on the right track and to find more information from!

We had some amazing talks, including talks on Presentation Skills, Professional Qualifications, and creating High-Performance Teams, all these were super interesting and clearly very relevant for the company, but could also be applied in all other future experiences. The teams and presentation talks will be great for my Masters' project and I feel more comfortable after them to be thrown in the deep end if I do go onto do a Graduate job at EY.

It was amazingly well structured given that they had such a short amount of time to plan it all. There were the usual technical hiccups with moving between sessions and talks, but overall it worked really well. Each day had a clear agenda and there was plenty of time to ask questions, step away from the computer for a minute, and not feel rushed from one activity to the next. There was also a good mix of different type of sessions throughout the day to keep everyone focused and interested.

Overall it was really good, a lot of people really felt comfortable to ask questions, answer polls, and talk about their experiences, which was really comforting. Also, the staff were all really lovely and were clearly very passionate about the programme and the company, it made it seem like such a nice environment to work in. However, there were a few actions from the students taking part that weren't particularly pleasant, I don't think people really appreciated the effort and time that they put into the week and we heard of instances of people not turning up to sessions or being rude in polls, considering this was still a paid week I was really surprised that people would do that.

They really spent their time teaching us some really key skills, it didn't matter that you may not end up working for them, but they were so keen to pass on the knowledge to us to use wherever we may be going. There was also a lot of emphasis on what we learnt, how we feel we've developed over the week and how we are feeling, so I felt really supported to learn more and give them feedback on how I was finding it.

As a lot of EY have been working from home due to the pandemic I think it was a really good experience of what it would be like to be working for them currently. Everything was remote and on Microsoft Teams, we got to really explore and use all the technology to our advantage, just as the firm was doing over lockdown. I would have loved to be able to go down and work in their London office for 6 weeks and experienced the in-person culture, but they did an amazing replacement and we got to speak to current employees about their honest opinions on working there.

I learnt so much more about the main aims and morals of the company, which was really refreshing and interesting to hear. But we also learnt about a lot of the other parts of the business, like their Networks (really inclusive, inspiring groups), the EY foundation (with all the amazing events they run and opportunities they provide), and also the support within the company (eg development/learning opportunities, mindfulness sessions, study leave and support for exams, and also the health and wellbeing services available through the company.

I was really unsure about going into finance, and from learning about all the work they do and the qualifications they offer, I am now more informed and have realised that I want to explore the more data analytic areas of EY. I did really like the company and felt that I would fit in quite well, but I now have contacts to talk to about possibly moving or exploring other options. It was a shame not to be able to do this during the internship as I would have in the 6 weeks, but I've been assured that there will be other opportunities.

We were paid the same amount for the week as if it was 1 week in the office, which is really good considering we didn't actually do any work for them and it was all remote.

There were so many opportunities to ask questions and talk to all levels of employees and they were all really friendly and offered their contact details or invited us to add them on LinkedIn! We have gone away with such a wide range of connections that could be so important for the future, and we also have direct contact to a current graduate buddy, which will be a nice contact to have going forwards, especially if I receive a graduate offer.

Sadly there weren't many social opportunities due to the current situation, but some lunchtime break out rooms or something, could be a nice opportunity to meet and chat with more of the other interns. However, there were some amazing networking events which did make up for it! I heard rumours of a possible social event happening at a later date when it's feasible, so it would be amazing to meet all the staff and interns, put names to faces not through a screen and have less structure conversations.

We learnt so much about this, there was almost a whole day on this, you really feel like EY isn't just a job.

It's one of the best virtual substitutes I've heard of that has happened this summer. It did give a really good insight into the company and the job roles. I think that maybe this should be an option going into the future for people who may not be able to commit to 6 weeks working in the summer or that aren't 100% set on a specific service line! I would love to be able to do another service line's one at some point!