Intern Review

Although the work itself could vary between mundane and challenging (as I'm sure would be the case with most places), the people I had the opportunity to work with were both very kind, patient and helpful and made it a pleasure to work in the office.

As an unqualified intern, I could not expect to take on work of the same technical level as my colleagues; however, despite it being a quiet time of the year, they always made the effort to provide me with work if I asked and always treated me like an intelligent person.

I was never spoonfed, and any work I needed help on - and asked for help on - I was able to readily receive help with.

As I mentioned, the internship took place at a quiet time of the year, therefore my workload levels could vary. That said, I never went through a day thinking my time had been wasted, nor did I ever need to stay in the office beyond close of business.

I was treated like any other associate in the office and was expected to take ownership on any task I worked on.

The internship improved my project management, presentation and networking skills greatly and in a way that would not have happened had I not taken the internship; all of these skills are useful not just for my degree studies, but for whichever career path I will choose in the future.

A healthy mixture of camaraderie and diligence; the small size of the team certainly helped with the former.

The company put on several intern events, especially at the start. Each department had at its own discretion the schedules to provide to the interns, and mine was luckily generally well organised.

The company has a dedicated training facility outside London that it sends all interns (as well as full-time employees) to at some point during the internship in order to improve presentation skills. That it is the only firm in its field to do this suggests it is willing to invest a substantial amount of time and resources towards developing its people.

The company, despite being smaller than some of its main competitors, maintains a competitive starting salary; once Associates become accountancy-qualified, the salary rises roughly in line with other firms. In the much longer-term, the salaries may not reach quite the level of larger competitors, but this should not be a concern to anyone applying to the internship as it only becomes so a decade or so down the line.

Yes, interns went out for drinks regularly with each other and other social events with the full-time colleagues were commonplace.

London will be, was and is a very expensive place to live. However, the company offers internships and placements in its regional offices, the areas around which are substantially cheaper than London.

Nothing competes with London for the quality and variety of nightlife on offer.

Yes, there was a 5-a-side football tournament organised by the company, as well as an away day organised at Ascot racecourse. As well as this, I could socialise with other colleagues or interns whenever I wanted to.