Summer intern Review

I did enjoy the virtual summer internship with EY however it felt slightly daunting sometimes whenever we had to have smaller group sessions over Microsoft teams calls as we didn’t have the chance to build the same rapport with our groups as we would have in person. Although, this is very understandable and EY did an amazing job organising the programme for us in such short time. I would have enjoyed the experience more in person but it was as good as it could be.

The student recruitment team were extremely helpful in dealing with queries and technical difficulties throughout the week. The team was very approachable and I never felt awkward asking a member of the team for help if I was experiencing difficulty using the links provided. The speakers were very lovely too and offered to speak to us whenever we’d like on LinkedIn etc. Overall, I felt very welcomed throughout the week and felt that EY really cared about us.

Throughout the week we received lots of guidance. When we had to make a presentation on a case study, we had regular check ins with a mentor assigned to us who helped answer any of our questions and helped with our nerves and gave us advice. We were provided with adequate readings and resources throughout the week which helped with our presentation. We were able to make contacts with people in our groups with helped with the process.

The skills I developed throughout the week will help me in my degree. I definitely learnt how to push myself out of my comfort zone more as we had to communicate virtually and was a true test to how hard we could work in difficult times. I’ve enjoyed the time management aspect of the week and trying to strike a work-life balance, like how we will have to do whenever we actually start to work professionally.

I thought the virtual experience was very well structured, with good and adequate lunch breaks and comfort breaks added into the days along with sessions that weren’t too taxing such as meditation. However, sometimes using the links proved difficult and if we got locked out of our group sessions it took quite a while to be added back into the call due to the team having to add us all in individually. Overall, I thought it was really well organised despite this!

Everyone seemed very keen and excited throughout the week. The team asked us to send in a word each morning to describe how we were feeling and displayed the results in a word cloud which really helped to connect us all together and appreciate how each other were feeling. Everyone seemed excited to work together and it didn’t feel any different to how it would have if we were able to attend the offices in person.

EY provided us with an insight into how audits are actually performed by letting us see one for our case study throughout the week. It gave me a real taste into how work at EY would be like and let me try the work now. I feel that the firm invested a lot in us as other firms cancelled their internships whereas EY decided to make theirs virtual so we could still have an experience with them.

I feel like the virtual experience helped me have an insight into what it would be like to work for EY, especially during coronavirus as we used Microsoft teams and I know that’s what EY themselves are using at this time. Obviously we could not see the offices to fully understand what our roles would be but I feel that we seen enough to understand the environment and what we will do once we start working.

I feel like the virtual experience helped me understand the company culture completely! We met a wide range of people who all spoke of the same things with the same level of passion and excitement and respect. I got a really good feeling chatting to the staff and everyone seemed to be very approachable and nice. It seemed like one big family and that everyone tried to get on well and respect everyone else in the company.

The virtual experience helped me a lot in deciding my future career path as it exposed me to the kind of work we’d be doing on a daily basis and the level of contact we’d have with clients and colleagues too. It showed me the wide range of work we’d do also, from learning in college to working on client sites to working in the office. I feel a lot more knowledgeable about the future than I did before.

We were paid a weeks wages for this virtual experience which I found to be very kind seeing as we were out no accommodation or travelling expenses throughout the week. Although we were originally meant to get paid for 6 weeks of work and even though this got cancelled I had made some arrangements months ago for travel with the money I’d assume I’d be getting. Although, I know there was nothing to be done about this and it was just unfortunate on my part

Yes we got to meet quite a few workers in the firm however quite a lot were from the student recruitment team rather than actually auditors but I know this is down to the auditors busy schedule and their own work commitments. I feel like we got to chat with quite a few partners which was very insightful although I know we would have met a lot more people in person but we made the most we could from the virtual experience

Each partner who came to chat to us let us know their LinkedIn details so we could chat to them at a later date and ask them any questions we’d like about auditing and EY. We got to network with the small group we were assigned to although I only met 5 people properly on this internship out of the 150 who took part due to the small group structure. Although I know it wouldn’t have been tangible to meet many more

Yes we found out about all the charity initiatives Ey is involved in and the different activities ran in the company. I particularly enjoyed hearing about the newsletter which seemed like a really fun thing the company runs. There seemed to be plenty of travel available for employees and a chance to work in a different place for a while seemed really fun! Every speaker chatted about the activities that EY offer outside work which was nice

I thoroughly enjoyed the virtual internship and was very grateful for EY still taking the time to provide us with the experience even though they could have just cancelled it. I learnt so much over the week in terms of auditing knowledge and ways to tackle a case study on top of developing more skills and learning to push myself out of my comfort zone. Overall I had the best time and would recommend this internship to anyone!