Intern in FS Assurance - Banking & Capital Markets Review

The placement was great - it gave me a good opportunity to show what I could do as I was given more responsibility as time went on. As well as this, the people were all extremely friendly and easy to approach when I had a question which made it a lot easier to get on with the work.

I felt valued by most colleagues - there were a couple of team members who I felt wouldn't recognise the time and effort I had put into a piece of work but this was a small minority. Most of the time my team would thank me for my work, give me constructive criticism if necessary and encourage me to keep trying even if I wasn't getting it quite right. Finally, I was nominated and won a Values Award while on placement which is what your team nominate you for if they feel you've put in some good work. This gave me a great boost and made me feel all my hard work hadn't gone unrecognised.

Again, this varied from team to team but obviously the team managers didn't have time to give a placement student support and guidance so it was the staff in the first few years that I would turn to. They were all very understanding of the fact it was completely new for me and so a massive learning curve. They would provide me with good direction of what my work should achieve and if I had any queries whilst performing my tasks they would always set aside time to help me out.

I felt the amount of work varied on a daily basis, but the majority of the time I felt I was too busy and rushing to squeeze all my work in. However, that was definitely expected in busy season and so not really an issue. On the other hand, some days I did not have much work and would have to find things to do to fill my time.

I felt I was given a large amount of responsibility from day 1 which was a great confidence booster and helped me learn about the job quickly. As time went on and I showed what I could do, my team gave me a whole report to own and do the testing for, as well as write it. This was a great deal of responsibility, especially for a placement student, as it involved dealing directly with a partner and was being issued to owners of the relevant client.

The experience was invaluable - I am doing an accounting and finance degree and so the knowledge learned and consolidated at college at the beginning of my placement was great as a back up to what I have learnt on my course. As well as the academic knowledge, there were countless skills I learnt included people skills, email writing skills, time management, and generally learning to take responsibility and pride in my work.

Generally quite relaxed and comfortable - some days it would be a bit more serious when there was a deadline to meet but this is expected.

Very organised with regular socials planned for the placement group, and clear structure in terms of induction, college and work. There was always someone to turn to if there was a query on exams or holidays, for example, and plenty of practical guidance and training was given to us in our first weeks to set us on our way.

I felt I had a great deal of training and thus investment in me by the firm - as well as 4 weeks of college at the beginning of the placement to begin out ICAS qualification, we were sent on a week-long course in a hotel together to introduce us to audit and give us some more practical training for the job. As well as this, we were given day training courses to refresh our knowledge and give us more specialised training for certain audits.

There's a high chance of a graduate job offer from the placement, as I do not know of a placement student who did not get an offer from my year. As long as you work hard and get good feed back, the prospects are high.

Among the placement students there was a great social scene with us going on nights out together and meeting up at the organised socials. Between colleagues it depends on the team, but some would like to go for post-work drinks or lunch out together which was nice as a break from the office. As well as this, there was a department events team who would organise social events every so often for us to attend and have fun at, such as bowling, with free drinks and food.

It was London and so high prices are expected, however on company-run events they would provide a bar tab and food so this brought the cost of going to these down. However, if you went to lunch with your team, they would not always be able to expense this and so you would have to pay yourself.

Being London there was a large variety of things to do at night. Even though the direct area was not always too lively, there was plenty of places to go for a post-work drink and relax. However, as everywhere in London is a short tube ride away it was always easy to get somewhere a bit more exciting!

Yes - I was quite involved in recruitment activities and so would regularly go back to my uni to help at these (put up at the expense of the company which was a nice bonus!). From this I was put through the application process to be the Student Brand Manager for my final year at uni which I was successful in. There were also networks, similar to societies, that people could join which involved sports or culture, for example.