Intern/Audit Review

Really enjoyed this experience overall.

My colleagues were always there to ask for help and made me feel welcome whenever there was something going on or something to get involved with. Everyone always asks how you're getting on with your work and I felt like I was there as part of a team and not just on work experience.

During my time in the office I was given lots of projects to do for different companies and the supervisor always gave me an itinerary for what needed to be done - a lot of the time this would be a step-by-step list with instructions on it. Away on audits, the same level of support and guidance was given and they always would check up on you just to make sure you were doing ok.

Sometimes the level of client work you get given varies from intern-to-intern, so you might be in the office more than other people. A lot of the time you are able to email round all the managers and supervisors if you are not put down to do anything so it's very easy to fill your day with lots of different activities and thus a lot of exposure to what BDO as a company. On audit visits you are typically quite busy as well and there is a lot of client interaction.

A lot of responsibility is given to you during the projects you complete - most managers will give you a run down of what needs to be done and you are given your own independence to complete the task yourself once guidance has been given. BDO is a great place to work if you need to ask for help if you're stuck and normally the prior year's work is also supplied to you so that you can attempt to complete work with your own initiative.

I have definitely improved my IT skills which is always helpful. I definitely understand the principles of client interaction now as well and feel more confident in myself when in a professional environment. BDO has taught me a value in being independent with your work which will motivate me through my last year of studies, too.

The general atmosphere was quite relaxed, friendly and hard-working.

Overall the internship was quite organised, particularly at client work as the team gave you actual work to review, so they definitely kept in mind what you could do there. Even if there wasn't work for you to do as soon as you got into the office, there was the opportunity to find out a lot about the firm and gain a lot of insight into what was going, so BDO were always committed to giving you the best of this experience.

The training week in Birmingham at the start was very useful and set us up nicely for the rest of the placement and there were reviews from a counselling manager quite regularly to ensure progress .

Very appealing

There is a social every last Friday of the month with drinks in the office and then going out afterwards, plus a lot of other events such as the football tournament.

I am at uni in the city that I did my placement in so the cost of living was just paying rent for my house - the Friday Fridge social drinks were free so this was good!

Southampton is pretty good for nghtlife

Absolutely, although a lot of them were outside of the intern timeframe! I will definitely get involved as a graduate if I were to be offered the job later.