Intern Review

The type of work given and working in a office environment was enjoyable especially as you get to feel like a part of the team.

All my colleagues knew that this was a difficult scheme to get into and they appreciated and valued my work at every level.

I was told from the beginning that there were no silly questions and I could ask for any help at any time. I was given a counsellor and a buddy who were there to support me constantly in addition to the whole team.

I was given work where possible but at times you will have to be slightly bored and just take your time with the work you're given. It depends whether the time you're at the firm is a busy season or not. Also there were often tasks which required professional experienced people, but an effort was made to keep me as busy as possible. Its important to ask for work and let them know you need work too as they're quite busy as well.

I was given a variety of tasks with different levels of responsibilities - I felt like I was making a difference but knew that I would have someone supporting me and checking over me so I didn't feel pressure at any point.

Working in a office environment is invaluable, you get to develop skills on how to work with and hand real life clients from the biggest companies in the world. Whether you end up working in an office or not, these skills can be applied beyond the financial working world,

Each department has its own general atmosphere depending on the people that work there, the pressure of work at the time. Generally, the office had a friendly environment which was not intimidating and quite relaxed most of the time.

From the first few induction events (for the regional EY offices the internship induction was held in Manchester) there was a team of efficient people ensuring the entire process was well organised and each step was useful and efficiently carried out. A large team were available for us to ask any questions to.

Before working on each project, a senior member took the time to explain what the context/background to that work is. We had to complete some further Web Based Learning sessions which trained us about the key issues in working in a financial environment. They invested in giving us an IT induction and completing further online training programs.

2-4 weeks after the EY summer internship scheme ends, the interns are told whether they will be offered a graduate job offer or not. A majority of the students are very keen to get this offer and it is definitely appealing to secure a position as a graduate in a competitive firm and work/study for your CA qualification, where you are financially supported for all your exams.

The interns all developed a good social network across all the service lines, going for drinks after work and having lunch together everyday. As everyones in the same position as you you'll find everyone has a lot in common and its quite easy to develop friendly relationships.

My internship was in the Birmingham city centre where its not too expensive to socialise and live if you look around enough.

Birmingham city centre is only a 10 minute bus ride away from the city's main nightlife scene on Broadstreet, so its very easy to find good places to socialise.

EY has various different volunteer run schemes which we had an opportunity to get involved in. They also offered us to be part a intern newspaper. There are also various sports teams, weekly runs and other events that you can get involved in.