M&A Tax Summer Intern Review

It was a fantastic experience, and was made enjoyable by the varied tasks which I took part in; ranging from a Dragons Den style project to attending client meetings. My colleagues were fun people to work with, which made me feel at ease in a new environment.

My colleagues made me feel very valued by requesting me to help them with their work rather than telling me to help them. Everyone made an effort to get to know us, and were very friendly and easy to approach. I also received very positive feedback even after small tasks, which made me feel valued, and an asset to the team.

I was given a great deal of support and guidance by management. I always found that they were willing to help and explain even the simplest of things. They invested a great deal of time and effort in teaching me about the work conducted and aims and backgrounds of projects. They never made me feel that I was an intern, instead I was made to feel like any other member of the team.

It tended to vary depending on whether there was work which I could get involved in. But generally I was always kept occupied to the extent that I did not get stressed but also did not get bored.

I was given a fair amount of responsibility during my placement, which obviously increased as they gained trust in my ability to perform tasks to a high standard. By the very fact that I was given real work to do, I think shows that I was given responsibility. Letter and emails to clients and HMRC did of course need to be checked before they were sent.

The employability skills that I have developed will prove to be of great use to me during my final year at university. My time-management and prioritisation skills will enable me to ensure that I meet all of my deadlines for coursework and am able to stay on top of my workload, while managing various commitments. The research skills which I have developed will be extremely useful to me when I complete my coursework, as good research skills are of utmost importance when writing essays. The listening skills which I have developed will help me to maintain greater focus and attention during lectures and tutorials. The written communication skill which I improved upon will improve my essay writing skills, and also general communication with staff and students via email. The team-working skills will benefit me when working on group projects, as they will enable me to work well with a wide range of different people. My commercial awareness will help me to better understand business news and then use this to enhance my written answers, but will also enable me to make greater sense of some of the material taught in my Economics course.

I really liked the atmosphere in the office because it varied from place to place. In the team that I was in, everyone tended to be always on the go and very busy. Therefore it tended to be quite a serious environment. However in the canteen for example it was a different story, very light-hearted and relaxed.

The internship could have been organised better; my team, buddy and manager were kept poorly informed about the aims and objectives of the internship. Therefore it wasn't structured as well as it could have been, i.e. could have gained an even better experience had better planning been done for each us before hand.

Company invested a great deal in training and development, simply from the amount of time and effort which was invested by colleagues (to include managers) in training and teaching us. Despite the fact that they had so much of their own work to do.

Future employment prospects within the organisation are great as I have gained a place on the graduate scheme with them.

When there was a chance to socialise with the other interns it was fun, but it tended to be difficult to organise things which everyone was able to attend.

Since it was london, prices of food and drink were rather expensive, as expected.

Nightlife may have been good, but did not experience any of it. Therefore cannot comment on this.

There were some networking events and lunchs/dinners organised by the team and other interns to get involved in.