Assurance Intern Review

I really enjoyed the EY assurance internship. The week was busy, with a range of different topics covered to help us learn more about the company and working in assurance. There were also sessions to help us develop our skills, such as presenting and time management. In particular, the sessions with my buddy were really interesting to find out more about working in my local office and to be able to ask them lots of questions.

Even with the internship being online, I did feel valued by the staff at EY. I was surprised by how many opportunities there were to ask questions and the team running the program often asked for out feedback. It was useful to have the small group meetings with our buddies in order to ask more personal questions and to have feedback on what we were doing.

The team were available throughout the day to help with technical issues, and these were fixed as quickly as they could be with 150 people on the call. Whilst on the first day I seemed to have a few technical issues, this did seem to get better throughout the week. The chat box function was monitored frequently in order to answer questions. We also received guidance from our mentor on the case study, which was extremely useful, as well as feedback on our presentation as a team.

The week gave me a great insight into the company and working in assurance, which will be useful when I am looking at graduate jobs. I found the learning session on presentations was extremely useful, and hopefully something I can use in my final year at uni when presenting my dissertation. This was also the first time I have had to work on a team project virtually, which is an important skill in these current times.

The week was busy with a good range of sessions. It was good to be given the schedule the evening before to be able to see what was coming up. However, a couple of the morning sessions felt quite long without breaks as we had 2.5 hours or more of mainly listening. It would also have been nice to have had some more sessions in small groups to be able to get to know more people.

All of the team running the internship were very enthusiastic and willing to answer any questions, which helped to make the experience more enjoyable. The guest speakers were generally engaging and passionate about the area they were talking about, making it easier to listen to them. Whilst the case study sessions at first seemed a little awkward as we didn't know each other, by the end of the week we got on well as a team.

As the program was only for one week and done virtually, I was expecting the program to be learning about the company and assurance rather than lots of training. There were skills and development sessions, covering a range of areas such as presenting, time management, high performing teams and health. We also completed a mindfulness session, which I enjoyed. It was also interesting to hear about the training and opportunities that are provided once you join EY as a graduate.

The program has definitely given me a greater understanding of what it would be like to join EY after graduating. We were given a lot of information on what it is like to work in assurance and the route to becoming a qualified accountant. On top of this, we were given the opportunity to learn more about the EY networks, volunteering opportunities and travel opportunities were often mentioned. This meant that we learnt about a wide range of areas beyond assurance.

I think we were told a lot about the company culture by speaking to the EY staff. Everyone was friendly, helpful and showed a real enjoyment for their work at EY. There seemed to be a real emphasis on team work throughout the week, as well as the D & I session highlighting that EY is an inclusive place to work.

The content will definitely be useful for thinking about a graduate job. The week showed how many opportunities there are for students from all different backgrounds, which was especially highlighted when hearing the experiences of the guest speakers. It was a shame with the situation that we were not able to work on actual projects in an office which would have been able to give a full insight, but I believe that I learnt as much as I could have done with it being run virtually.

We were paid a very generous amount of money for the week.

Each day there was time to work on our case study as a group, which let me get to talk to those 4 people about the program. We were also assigned a buddy and a mentor as a team who we could ask questions to, which was something that I found really useful. The guest speakers were often willing to connect with us on LinkedIn or gave us their email so we could ask further questions. In the Channel Islands we were also able to have a farewell event where we could all meet each other and EY employees, which I enjoyed.

The only social event was the farewell event for my local office in the Channel Islands at the end of the week. I really enjoyed being able to meet the fellow interns, as well as being able to speak to EY employees who were all at different stages of their careers. Everyone that I met was extremely friendly and interesting to talk to.

We had a session about the different networks that we can join at EY and it was interesting to hear about the sort of events that they run. There was also a session on the EY foundation where we learnt about the different volunteering and mentoring opportunities available. As I am based in the Channel Islands, some of the information that we were given about the UK is probably different for us, but it was interesting to hear from our buddy about the different sport and social events that are run here.

I would definitely recommend this event for someone who is unsure about what they want to do in the future, or if you want an insight into working in assurance at EY. It gave a greater insight that just reading information online and the ability to ask and listen to other students questions was extremely useful. It is disappointing that we were unable to go into the offices and work on actual projects, but given the circumstances I think the program was definitely a positive experience.