FS Business Consulting Summer Internship Review

The experience was really valuable. I learnt so much about a variety of aspects of the business, consulting and financial services. There was a strong focus on what life as a grad at EY would be like, but also some more general takeaways around presenting skills, mindfullness and other aspects of working life. Naturally, with the internship being 1 week online instead of 6 weeks in the office it was more difficult to make connections with people both at EY and other interns but a real effort was made to mitigate this.

We were given the opportunity to work in groups on a case study project which was a great experience and enabled me to feel more connected to the other interns. We also had a buddy to talk to and ask advice and questions too which helped with this as well. It was clear that the team had made a considerable effort to ensure that people could make connections and that it something I am really appreciative of. A lot of the talks were geared towards what life as a grad at EY would look like, and being someone who doesn't have an offer for a graduate role I sometimes felt a little less involved. That being said, there were plenty of valuable points made in all the talks that were still relevant to me and the experience on the whole is something I am incredibly grateful for and one that I got a great deal out of.

On a virtual internship it is difficult to be properly supported by management and supervisors, especially in the space of a week, however having the service lines split up into smaller groups was a really effective way for it to feel less daunting asking specific questions and seeking advice. In general, for a virtual internship I think there is little they could have done to improve considering there wasn't a specific supervisor or manager for each person to seek tailored advice.

We were occupied throughout the day with a wealth of talks and activities from 10-4, with plenty of time for breaks and lunch. We were also tasked with a case study for which research and preparation was required, but with some time given during the day and the early finish it was easy to manage without feeling like there wasn't enough to do. The timings were excellently managed by the team and activities engaging and insightful.

I can see all the skills I developed from the case study and the training received throughout the week being invaluable in aspects of my further study and my career. The talk on presentations was especially useful with all the tips and tricks being incredibly valuable for any presentation I do in my future in both uni and my career. I think that since the internship was very training focused given its online nature, it was very much a 101 on key skills that are important for the future.

The placement was exceptionally well organised, almost down to the minute. With it being online there was a lot of scope for technical issues but with a 10 minute session at the start purely to mitigate this risk this was effectively minimised. In addition each session was delivered precisely on time on separate links which were provided to each person without issues. There was always time for questions and each day finished and started as scheduled and with details of the day or next days agenda.

The internship, being online, was very training heavy, with a multitude of talks in all aspects of the business and the key skills that we would need to succeed there. The quality of the training was fantastic with experts within the business providing excellent talks that really enabled me to build upon and develop my understanding of the subject area. I felt that EY really care to invest in people from right at the start of their career and am incredibly grateful to have benefit from that.

I would love to work for EY in the future. They are a great company that really care about their people. It would be great to work in the office and build my network within the company. We learnt a great deal about how how EY supports their people from grads up to Partners and the career prospects of their people. It would be a wonderful opportunity to kickstart my career at EY and I intend to apply for their grad scheme in the coming weeks.

For an online internship, it was really great to be able to connect with the other interns on the case study project, which is not something I expected to be able to do given the nature of the internship. It would have been great to be in the office and make connections and socialise more with more people within EY, but it was clear that the organisers made a real effort to allow us to connect with as many people as possible.

With it being an online internship it wasn't possible to get involved in activities outside of work, however, there was an opportunity to become a brand ambassador in the next year which would be a very valuable experience and a great way to be able to engage with the company outside of the internship. There would be very little scope to improve this due to it being online, but my understanding is that if it was the usual internship there would be more opportunities.