Tax Industrial Placement Review

I did enjoy my work placement with EY quite a lot. Working with one of the big 4, it was no doubt that the experience would be extremely helpful to me in engaging with the work and building an understanding of the economic and financial world around us. In particular, I got to partake in many jobs that the other employees were doing and this engagement with the company really helped me to get involved and enjoy the work.

I did feel quite valued by my colleagues. I was working with them on many different tasks, actively helping them and they were actively helping me. In this way, I did not feel like a buden as I was pulling my weight at the company and I was able to help the employees with their tasks, under supervision, while I was learning from them. This made me feel very included at the company and further aided my learning.

I was given quite a lot of support and guidance by my supervisors. I was always able to ask them when I needed help so I never felt that I was stuck as I always had a strong support system to help me. On top of this, everyone at the office was also extremely supportive and friendly so I knew that I could also ask any of the employees and they would also help me with my tasks.

I would say that I was generally quite busy during the placement, particularly towards the end. However, it never felt like too much work because I enjoyed what I was doing and if I did find it too hard, I was able to ask for help from both the other employees and my supervising team and they would help me with this. I much prefer this than having a placement with not many tasks to do.

I think that I was given quite a lot of responsibility during my placement. As well as being taught many things during my placement, I was also expected to complete tasks which would help the other employees in their jobs. These tasks had to be completed right such that the other employees would be able to complete their tasks that followed on from these. Therefore, I was given quite a lot of responsibility as my tasks directly affected the company's tasks.

I think that I developed many skills during this placement that will be useful to me beyond university. In terms of knowledge, I gained a first hand experience of what working in the economic industry is like and I got to see what kinds of tasks this might entail if I were to pursue a similar job in the future. Furthermore, this placement taught me vital life skills such as time management and how to work effectively in a team.

Generally, the atmosphere in the office was really friendly and welcome. This meant that it was very easy to talk to people and they really made me feel at home. This made the placement a lot less stressful and I always knew I had people to rely on. Because of this, I knew I could always ask the other employees for help when I was stuck or having difficulty with a task and I knew I could trust them to help me.

I think that the work placement was set up relatively well. After a few introductory sessions, I was thrust into the world of working at the company, completing similar jobs to the employees and completing jobs that would help the other employees. While I did appreciate this approach, I think that I would have benefitted from a few more introductory sessions as I was not fully confident on all the knowledge I needed so it felt like I had to learn as I went along.

I think that the company did invest quite a lot in me. Firstly, they allowed me to complete tasks that directly affected the company and I think this was quite a big investment of them into me as they trusted me to complete these tasks to the best of my ability and they allowed my skills to grow through this. Furthermore, the employees of the company took their time to teach me about many different sectors and I think this was a great investment by them too.

I would not say that this particular placement has increased future employment prospects within the company. Many other students also undertook the placement along with me so it was not particularly unique enough to stand out. Furthermore, EY is such a big company that most of the people applying for jobs here will have similar placements. On top of this, EY is one of the big four and competition for placements will be very high regardless.

There was a good social scene amongst me and the other placement students and amonfst me and the employees. With the placement students, I was able to talk about university life and I was able to talk about the tasks we were doing at the company and a natural relationship formed there. With the employees, I was able to ask for help with the tasks and ask further questions about the company and how their time at the company has been.

I did not move out but I can imagine the cost of living would be expensive. The cost of socialising would probably be expensive too.

I did not really get to experience the nightlife in the area I worked.

There were quite a few opportunities to get involved in outside of work. There were a few company parties and events that I was invited to attend, alongside the other placement students. I also got to attend a debate between two groups from two different firms on the topic of corporation tax. This really helped to increase my knowledge of the world of tax and this was definitely one of the greatest learning experiences from this placement.