Analyst Review

Working with Accenture's biggest retail deal worth millions of pounds motivated me to contribute a level of high performance to the team. Living in London where the main office is based, the client assigned to me was based out of London, meaning I had to commute on Monday mornings for 7 weeks and stay in a hotel until Thursday. On Thursday evenings I would commute back to London and work from home on Fridays. This was hectic at times (especially having to commence on a two hour journey every Monday!) however it made me responsible and constantly on the move, giving me the opportunity to meet many cool people. The duration of the summer vacation scheme was 8 weeks, so the initial week was an induction week based in London where we received some helpful MS Excel training and took part in team building workshops. Generally, this involved getting to know the other interns while additionally working on project to be presented by the end of the week. Not to forget the treasure hunt on landmarks in they had us do on the very first day in the city of London!

My role as an Analyst started pretty slow since upon arrival the team I was assigned to underwent some complications and difficulties so needed to rectify the, given the high priority. However as the weeks went by, I began to feel valued since I was relied upon to complete certain tasks- which I then needed to feed back in the bi-weekly team meetings. My input was therefore needed in the grand scheme of things.

Along with a line-manager, I was assigned a buddy. This buddy was in my team, meaning we were able to communicate effectively. If I had any questions regarding almost anything, I didn't hesitate to ask my buddy. For these reasons, I only spoke to my line-manager a couple of times, mostly in regards to my performance during my time. Otherwise, I did receive a lot of support/guidance from colleagues in my team since we carried out similar tasks. It was therefore always easy to gain help since they had better knowledge of the systems we used in our everyday tasks. At times however, I did push myself to be independent and solve problems on my own as a way to practising my own skills.

In terms of being busy, this was slow at the beginning (weeks 1-3) since I was still getting use to the systems, terminology's and concepts in my team. As things began to make more sense, I understood more and was therefore given more responsibility. from weeks 4-7 I was busy almost everyday for the whole day, due to daily tasks involving data crunching and carrying out analysis. Moreover, due to team meetings.

As the weeks went by, this correlated with the amount of responsibility given to me. In my team, there were bi-weekly meetings which I has to contribute to, and give feedback to the team-lead coordinator. Being part of the triage team meant that effective problem solving was vital. It was important that no mistakes were made when I carried out tasks and analysis since results were taken and further fed back to senior managers.

The experience provided a lot of on-job training particularly regarding how to use certain systems and even MS Office. It was interesting to be part of something that wasn't hypothetical or just a concept- it was all real! The client ultimately relies on us to provide their needs and wants in a system, so it was defiantly interesting to learn the business side of things. The role of an Analyst has definitely impacted me in the future in terms of career paths. Now in my final year doing a BSc in Economics, I would like to be a part of thus consultancy field; I'm also open to try other roles in different fields where I can make use of my analysis skills and evolve them also.

The office was generally busy with a lot of movement. However everyone was kind and got on well. Mind you in the midst of all business we still managed to do our own mini British bake-off which allowed colleagues to show off their best baking skills. Nonetheless, the work did get done to a high standard, and because of this perhaps colleagues couldn't be a chatty as they wanted.

The first week of induction and training was most certainly well-planned. We were given an itinerary of what was to happen over the week in booklet. On the first day we were provided with a laptop, headphones, a backpack etc. Our expenses were also paid for (since I had to commute outside of London). The equipment belonged to us for the duration of the entire internship. The only thing I would flaw is my official first day/week of working with my assigned client and not really being given a role/tasks. It seemed that side of things were still in planning once the other interns and I arrived. However once things began more organised, everything fell into place pretty well.

I feel as though I'm more equipped and prepared for the corporate world than before. Having to meet many new people and work far more independently than I ever have was challenging, but exciting all at the same time. I learnt something new everyday and was able to be myself while working with specialist consultants and analysts.

I'm more than excited to explore the roles that Accenture have on offer. While the Analyst role was very insightful, working around people who did other things made me eager to know more about the various roles. I would certainly concluded that Accenture appeals to be as an organisation, in which I'm willing to find the most suitable job role.

The interns did generally meet up and have dinner (since we stayed in hotels, being out of London) from time to time. The social scene wasn't exactly amazing neither was it dull, so I'm indifferent. They were nice people and we worked well together.

Cost of living was similar to that of London, where all expenses were paid for since my place of work was out of London. This included, lunch, dinner, hotel room (3 nights + 4 days & breakfast), taxi fares to/from office/train station and rail fare.

I never experienced the night life. Work was tiring enough!

There were netball games every Monday after work which as much as I love netball and play at uni, never attended. I did however hear that it was great fun. I'm also aware that the guys would play football sometime during the week also.