EY Virtual Summer Intern Review

Although we weren't able to spend time in the office due to the pandemic, I had a fantastic time on the virtual summer internship and I was really impressed with what EY were able to put together given the circumstances. The recruitment team and consultants who gave up their time speak to us made the internship a really positive experience and gave us a fantastic insight into the positive and inclusive culture that EY has.

It's definitely a bit harder to feel valued when you're on a virtual program as everything is a little bit more disconnected. But I thought that everyone at EY did a great job engaging the interns and they tried to give feedback. I think that more individual feedback would have been really nice, but at the same time this would be quite difficult to do given that EY only saw us for a week and that we were communicating virtually!

I was really impressed with the support and guidance we were given by EY. Everyone was paired with a buddy from EY for one on one session which gave a really nice personal insight into the company. The mentors that we were given to help us prepare for the case study presentation were also fantastic and gave loads of helpful advice and insight. The Recruitment team running the program were also incredibly supportive, positive, and responsive which I think really made everyone feel comfortable.

We had lots of activities packed into the days such as learning sessions, discussion panels, and working in case study groups which certainly kept us busy. The week was fully timetabled so all of the sessions were organised already and we didn't really have to manage our time or proactively find things to do specifically. I really enjoyed the learning sessions and panel sessions and I liked the effort that had been made to make them interactive with Menti which was great- the only suggestion I would say is to try and make them even more interactive as sometimes there was a lot of listening! (Although I appreciate that sometimes it was hard to get interns to ask questions...)

We were not given a great deal of responsibility during the virtual summer internship and lots of the week was spent learning about the firm and talking to consultants about what their careers have been like. We did get some responsibility in the case study project where we were put into teams, given a brief, and asked to come up with solutions to present at the end of the week. This was really fun and my only criticism was that it would have been helpful to know the timetable for the week a bit better so we could plan our group work sessions accordingly (Although in some ways it was nice not to know as we were only focusing on what was happening on a particular day).

I really enjoyed the case study project and I think that working on this and getting feedback on the presentation has helped to develop my presenting and research skills. If anything, the feedback could have been even more specific/personal to make sure that we all got lots out of the project (perhaps doing this one on one would help?). The sessions the we received on health and well being, diversity and inclusiveness, and presentation and time management skills were also very informative and certainly contained tips that I think I could apply to my studies and elsewhere.

This question doesn't really apply as the internship was virtual, however I did feel that the atmosphere withing my project team of interns was really positive (even though we were communicating virtually). In terms of the atmosphere on larger calls with the cohort it was really positive too as everyone we spoke to was incredibly supportive and encouraging to all of the interns. This definitely made everyone feel really comfortable and happy during the week.

The virtual summer internship was really well organised. All of our activities and time were managed and switching between different virtual calls was pretty seamless in the scheme of things! It was definitely a good idea to have a central call that we could go back to if ever we lost connection or didn't know what was going on as it meant we could always get in touch with the recruitment team quickly if we couldn't see what was happening.

I think that the firm has invested in us and I am really grateful that they continued with a virtual summer internship when the pandemic meant that they had to cancel the six week summer placements. We were given lots of training in time management, presenting and other skills which was beneficial.

Very appealing - EY has certainly shown its best side during this week and I have been really impressed by the people I've met and the culture that I have seen. I very much hope to be able to work with EY in the future!

N/A as we were all working from home!

N/A

Not really applicable during the pandemic!

Not really as we were working from home - perhaps organizing a virtual quiz one evening would have been good fun?