This review was submitted over 4 years ago, so some of the information it contains may no longer be relevant.
Rating
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The Role
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The Company
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The Culture
- 1. To what extent did you enjoy your work placement or internship?
- 2. To what extent did you feel valued by your colleagues?
- 3. To what extent were you given support and guidance by management/your supervisor(s)?
- 4. How busy were you on a daily basis?
- 5. How much responsibility were you given during your placement?
- 6. To what extent did/will the skills you developed, and training you received, assist you in your degree studies and beyond?
- 7. What was the general atmosphere in your office?
- 8. How well organised was the overall work placement or internship set up?
- 9. In terms of personal training and development, to what extent did the company or firm invest in you?
- 10. What were the perks on your work placement?
- 11. How appealing are future employment prospects within the organisation?
- 12. Was there a good social scene amongst any fellow placement students/colleagues?
- 13. What was the cost of living and socialising in the area you worked in?
- 14. What was the Nightlife like in the area you worked?
- 15. Were there many opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work?
The Role
I was integrated with the office immediately and everyone made me feel very at home. I learnt a lot about audit and the way in which a number of companies go about their business. On the jobs, there are a lot of things that you don't know, but everyone was more than willing to help you understand because most of them have been in your shoes.
I was anxious when going out on my first job - feeling like I may be an inconvenience to the employees trying to do their job. I couldn't have been more wrong; people all the way from first years to partners sat down with me throughout my internship to explain what I needed to do for them and were willing to clarify anything I didn't understand.
Any questions I had they answered and by the end of the work experience, I was asking very few questions because I felt comfortable performing the tasks by myself. I believe that this is a reflection of how good the support and guidance was by all members that I worked with.
Most of the time I had exactly the right amount of work to perform within the hours of 9-5. However, every now and again, towards the end of the audit process, there would be days when I didn't have much to do and this became a bit tedious at times.
I was given a lot more responsibility than I thought I would be. Although you are given very small parts of the audit to perform such as cash and payroll, your work is only reviewed a couple of times before being reviewed by the partner. As a result of this, it made you put in maximum effort to not make any mistakes so that you pleased the partner.
I think the time management and organisation skills that were made so important on the internship will benefit me in my degree, however, the accounting material that I learned bears very little resemblance to my Economics degree. As well as this, I feel that when I start my graduate scheme in October 2014, I will have an extra 8 weeks worth of knowledge that will help me fit in faster and give me an initial advantage when it comes to the exams.
The Company
The Nottingham office is a very active office. Over the summer, I played football, cricket and golf with the office. As well as this, we went out for drinks every now and again. Everyone in the office was always up for some fun and the banter was good.
I think the whole programme from start to finish was very well run. We started off with an ice-breaking couple of days in the Birmingham office where we got to know the other interns as well as a background of what work we would be performing. After this, it was always made clear to us where we had to be and for how long and when we were out on site the in-charges always had a work plan for us to complete.
The first couple of days were spent in Birmingham where KPMG paid for us to stay overnight, have dinner and go for some drinks at the bowling. As well as this, the first 2 days proved to be very useful in terms of knowing how we should conduct ourselves and learning about KPMG.
Subsidised Canteen
Subsidised/Company Gym
Providing you meet their requirements throughout the internship you get a final interview with a partner at the office of your choice. Luckily enough I was successful and start in Canary Wharf.
The Culture
Everyone was up for a laugh and the other interns were also very 'normal'. We went out for drinks with everyone once a month and I played a number of sports with colleagues.
I was in Nottingham so the prices were fairly average but maybe just on the cheaper side.
Nightlife in Nottingham is renowned for being amazing and because I go to university there as well, I can say that it will not disappoint.
We received emails nearly daily asking us to get involved with various activities. As I have already said, I played golf, football and cricket but there were also a number of parties in the evenings, get together as well as charity work to keep everyone busy.
Details
Internship (1 Month+)
East Midlands
July 2014