This review was submitted over 4 years ago, so some of the information it contains may no longer be relevant.
Rating
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The Role
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The Company
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The Culture
- 1. To what extent did you enjoy your work placement or internship?
- 2. To what extent did you feel valued by your colleagues?
- 3. To what extent were you given support and guidance by management/your supervisor(s)?
- 4. How busy were you on a daily basis?
- 5. How much responsibility were you given during your placement?
- 6. To what extent did/will the skills you developed, and training you received, assist you in your degree studies and beyond?
- 7. What was the general atmosphere in your office?
- 8. How well organised was the overall work placement or internship set up?
- 9. In terms of personal training and development, to what extent did the company or firm invest in you?
- 10. What were the perks on your work placement?
- 11. How appealing are future employment prospects within the organisation?
- 12. Was there a good social scene amongst any fellow placement students/colleagues?
- 13. What was the cost of living and socialising in the area you worked in?
- 14. What was the Nightlife like in the area you worked?
- 15. Were there many opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work?
The Role
I enjoyed the work environment and the people were very friendly. The work was interesting at times, other times boring. The charity challenge that we were given was a real struggle. It used up a lot of time and was often very stressful with team members having different priorities. There was very little guidance from higher ups about the challenge and so I felt support was minimal for this particular part of the internship.
Really friendly team, very forgiving and understanding. I had loads of questions and they explained them well and without a fuss.
BDO work wise there was sufficient support, I had a near weekly catch up with my manager. For the charity challenge part there was very little guidance and became unnecessarily stressful as I felt management didn't really know how to help.
Pretty busy. I was never really overloaded and only a few times did I have little to do. We were given a task that ran throughout the internship checking the office's risk compliance. A bit dull but gave us something to do if quiet. The charity challenge however took up too much time.
For the charity challenge full responsibility, which in reality was not fun. But for other aspects we had a good amount of responsibility that was then checked over by a more senior staff member.
I developed team building and working in a team.
The Company
Really friendly. The partners were also in open plan office setting and I sat around senior managers as well as trainees all the time.
The work aspect of the internship was well set up. However the charity challenge was poorly explained and often crucial details given at last minute. For example what we were supposed to do with the money we'd raised - we had an email on Friday saying all the money needed to be transferred electronically by Monday midday. We'd raise a lot (£900) and kept it in the BDO safe, hadn't had time to discuss that Friday so Monday was a stupid rush to get it all in on time. The London fundraising on the second to last day was a farce. You can't easily fundraise in London and if you do you need around a month to get a permit!
Apart from the experience of the internship, and what we observed from client interactions etc. we didn't have training or development.
Sports and Social Club
Finance is an area I am interest in and BDO is not a bad firm. I wouldn't necessarily turn down an offer, but I would like to be in the London office as the regional office's whilst really friendly feel a little sleepy.
The Culture
Placement students was a little poor when we separated to our offices, but we did have lunches and drinks with colleagues at the Leeds office now and again.
Leeds is not a very expensive city.
Good so I hear. Personally not my scene.
If you're not into sports, no.
Details
Internship (1 Month+)
Audit
Yorkshire and Humberside
August 2015