Student Review

The insight was a really good balance of work and fun. The activities during the day were targeted and relevant but there was still the opportunity for downtime. I got to know my team really well and feel I made some really good friends over the 4 days.

The programme was entirely centred around us, with very little focus on the company itself. This made it clear that we were important and worth their time.

There was a large amount of feedback and reflection opportunities in groups and on a one-to-one basis.

In my degree studies specifically, this course is unlikely to provide direct help - it is largely based around the development of soft skills, specifically leadership, and so in actual studying this has limited relevance. However, leadership and teamwork skills are invaluable for life outside of studying both in university and beyond and so I'm really glad I got to develop these skills.

The insight was well structured without being too smothering - every day was full of activities and events but they were loosely planned without a tremendous amount of emphasis on time pressure and rushing.

The atmosphere was really good for the entirety of the course. We were encouraged to be open and express ourselves and the attitudes of both the facilitators and the rest of the team made this really easy.

The entire week was paid for by the company and centred entirely on us so this was certainly a monetary investment. However effort was also made to split us into small teams and give us a facilitator who stayed with us for the whole week. This meant they had a really good opportunity to get to know us.

The insight week wasn't focused on the firm or how it functions and so there wasn't any indication of how it would be to work at the firm.

The week made it clear that the company valued soft skills and personal relationships which I hadn't realised before. The fact that it was labelled a leadership academy shows its emphasis on company culture.

There wasn't a focus on career paths and job titles and so I won't really be expecting to use it for my career path.

I was reimbursed expenses.

Yes, there was a networking dinner on one of the evenings and we also had ample opportunity to talk to all the members of the firm who were on the course, regardless of whether they were our group leader.