Introducing our new guest blogger - Lucy Hardman

Friday, 10th July 2009 0 Comments

Find out what our Guest Bloggers are getting up to. Throughtout the year we will be following the progress of our Guest Bloggers as they find a placement or keep us updated as to what they are doing on their placement. Click here to read all entries from our bloggers or click here to meet them.

Name: Lucy Hardman

Age: 21

University: Bristol University

Course: Physics with a year in France

Company: Grant Thornton

Job Title: Tax Intern

“Hi! My name’s Lucy and I’m currently completing a 6-week summer internship at Grant Thornton’s London office. I am about to go into my final year studying physics at Bristol and last year I spent a year studying in Grenoble in the French Alps. Over the next few weeks I hope to give you an insight into life as an intern at GT!

So, I’m one week in to my six-week internship at Grant Thornton and so far I’m loving it. The work is much more interesting than I had expected, the people are really welcoming and the other interns seem like a great group. Pretty good start considering how reluctant I was to give up my summer holiday which I normally reserve for travelling, seeing friends and sleeping!

When I decided to start applying for internships I was still out in France on my year abroad. The first couple of stages of the application process (the application form and the online tests) were fine but once I got through to the telephone interview stage I realised that I was going to have to find out a bit more about this company so that I could really stand out.

Unfortunately, since I was living in France it wasn’t as easy as dropping into a careers event or popping down to the nearest GT office to see if I could ask a few questions! Luckily GT had recently started their live online chats enabling you to ask direct questions to recent grads or a member of the HR team. This allowed me to find out more about the company and learn about their secondment programmes which allow you to spend 6 months working in another country – something which was obviously of interest to me!

I got through the telephone interview onto the final stage of the application – the Assessment Centre. This consists of a group task, a tour of the offices, lunch with a recent recruit and a face-to-face interview. The day was pretty tiring but luckily it went ok so here I am!

Now for the first week. It would be impossible to include everything I’ve done so I will just try and give a few highlights.

The first day was pretty packed. We met so many different people from the other interns right up to the Head of Tax. We also met our buddies, who would be our first-point of contact if we had any questions. There were various talks about the company, health and safety and IT.

Finally, we took part in a scavenger hunt, which felt as though we were completing a task on the Apprentice!

The rest of the week was spent working in my department – Private Client and Entrepreneurial tax. The work has been varied; I’ve been corresponding with clients, learning how to use the compliance software, completing my first tax return and I was even allowed to attend a client meeting. Although it has been a shock to the system working nine ‘til half five every day I have been kept very busy so time has flown.

Our first networking event was a trip with our buddies to the Trocadero centre for bowling and dodgems! Despite my obvious lack of skill when it comes to bowling, this was a great night out with plenty of food and drinks.

Next week includes our first “Lunch and Learn” session where we get to find out more about working in Audit and the JP Morgan Chase Challenge. A huge charity run (or walk, in my case!) that takes place in Battersea Park. I’ll let you know how I get on!”

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