Placement Student Review

Choosing to a placement with GT, and in PSA, was one of the best decisions I made. The work was challenging enough to keep you interested and motivated, and there were so many projects to get involved with over the year, that you rarely repeated the work again. At the same time, the team were always supportive and on hand to help with, and the firm is dedicated to giving training to just long term employees but also interns and placement students. I met so many new people, engaged with lots of projects and clients, and even though some of it was challenging, I enjoyed every minute.

From day one, you are considered a team member, and are thrown into projects/client work. I was given my own sections to work on and was fully supported by the team as I tried to complete it. As you gain more experience, you are given more challenging sections to complete. From what I learnt, auditing is like completing a big puzzle, with everyone on the team completing 1 corner each. Hence, you will always be a valued member of the team and GT definitely made feel that way.

Within audit, the main people who I had support from were the in-charges/executives. PSA have an awesome group of in-charges who are on hand to support and train their team. What makes them so good, is their ability to communicate complex ideas in simple language. Not coming from an accounting background, I was worried that some of the work would be too technical for me, but the team could always break things down and explain concepts in a really straight forward way. Away from the audits, the people managers were there to support us with any matters, and for me, my people manager helped me in getting the most out of my experience by helping to arrange shadowing opportunities, getting me on training courses/conferences.

Business ranged over the year. During the busy period, it is safe to say you will be busy and probably be working beyond normal hours. But this only short term, and you are fully supported by your team. There were times in the year where the work was not too challenging and could be completed in a few hours. But, there is always work available and new opportunities to get involved with if you ask.

Within the first week, I was sent to my first client and are thrown into projects/client work. I was given my own sections to work on and was fully supported by the team as I tried to complete it. As you gain more experience, you are given more challenging sections to complete. Ultimately, you can choose how much responsibility you want. I was always asked what sections I wanted to complete, and if I felt as though I could handle more responsibility, I was able to ask to do more work or more challenging work. In terms of client interaction, the teams I worked in trusted me to speak to the client independently. I was able to arrange meetings and discuss queries with them which was great as it made me more confident in talking to clients.

GT offer lots of training opportunities, and they even have a dedicated training facility to help trainees and interns/placement students, and trainees get the most out of their experience. I came across many people with non-accounting backgrounds, but as the work is so diverse and there is a range of work to get involved with, I could see why it appealed to them. There were a few conferences/talks that I came across that would help with my degree, and my team were fully supportive in me attending.

The office had a friendly and a positive vibe. Working in audit, I was rarely in the office, but when I was it was a great a chance to catch-up with people I hard worked with. Towards the end of my placement, we recently moved into a new office. There are hot desks so you can sit with new people everyday, booths for informal meetings, kitchen areas and meeting rooms. It's a great work space and I was bit gutted that I couldn't spend more time there.

The first few weeks were designed as an induction period. There was an afternoon every week where the placement students and interns would get together and do something fun and social like playing darts or doing an apprentice style task around London. There were also training opportunities set up for us to take part in, which was great. But ultimately the placement was up to us to design in the way we wanted. We could book on to more training courses, do online training, ask to do new/more challenging work. The team were always supportive and this definitely allowed me to get the most out of the experience.

The firm have a dedicated training facility called Bradenham, where I had the opportunity to go 4 times over the year. I went on courses that related to audit, and were fairly technical, but I also went on courses focused around doing presentations and making a good first impression. Furthermore, there are online courses you can complete which help with things like ethics and audit technical updates.

GT is globally recognised firm and I think have a respectable and positive reputation. When giving job offers at the end of placements, they cared a lot about the past year, feedback I had received and opportunities I had been involved with. It wasn't just based on the work I did, but the people I met, how I responded to feedback, how open I was to trying new work/attending events far from home. Having received an offer to go back after my final year at university, I would be more than happy to return.

There was an afternoon every week where the placement students and interns would get together and do something fun and social like playing darts or doing an apprentice style task around London. Working in audit, we rarely worked together on clients, so these socials were a great way to catch-up with each other and see how everyone was getting on. It also allowed us to share opportunities that we had been involved in.

It's London so it will be expensive at times, although the social/training events organised by GT or the department were paid for, so we didn't have to worry.

It's London, there are loads of options for a night out

The firm organise plenty of events outside of work, ranging from an annual football competition to Yoga.