Economic Analyst Review

On the plus side, I was given interesting work and everyone at the company, as well as others on the internship programme, was very friendly. On the other hand, don't expect this to be a walk in the park, you will be challenged while with the firm and moved outside of your comfort zone (in work terms) so that your performance can be observed.

Certainly, everyone in the department seemed familiar with the role of an intern and went to great lengths to make us feel welcome. This, coupled with a positive company attitude towards interpersonal behaviour and status, earns E&Y a high score in this area.

Management acted as both a guide and as a conduit for assignements. One manager also took on the role as our 'councillor' and met with us weekly (or whenever required) to discuss positives and negatives that we were experiencing.

Work ebbed and flowed (as one would expect) but arrived at a relatively constant pace throughout the internship.

Direct make-or-break responsibility for client work was ultimately kept out of our hands as interns. However, I did directly work on final alterations (they had a serious problem!) on one team's client, and on developing a product for the Thincap team.

The work, especially the game theory analysis, will help towards my broad economic knowledge base but at the end of the day the main benefit of the internship lies in two things: a) experience gained, and b) a potential job offer, away to move ahead of the pack.

A fairly lively and friendly bunch, but the work attitude was there. There were plenty of times during the day where, quite rightly, heads were down.

E&Y seem to take the internship very seriously, both as reflecting upon public perception of the firm, and as a refined means of graduate recruitment. Everything from induction, to social events, to salary, to debriefing were taken very seriously. At no point as an intern did I feel out of place or that I didn't belong.

Weekly hour-long training sessions as well as many hours of induction complemented the face-to-face training we received from the employess with whom we worked on projects.

I am, as of yet, unaware of my sucess in garnering a job offer for myself. I have to wait about ten more days to find out! Should I receive an offer though, I will take it. Typically 8 or 9 in every 10 interns are offered a graduate position, based on performance and job availability.

We took it upon ourselves to organise events on top of those provided. For example, I arranged/blockbooked a marathon paintball session after office hours one wednesday. There was always something happening mid-week and on the friday nights.

London is very expensive. Always has been, always will be. Having said that, we were paid well, so things balanced out in a way!

London baby!

Aside from our own organised activities, various interns on the scheme took advantage of firm sponsored sporting events, such as touch-rugby.