Intern Review

Audit-based work became tedious at times, but, overall, I was able to engage with a wide range of different activities in a relaxed, friendly and helpful environment.

Interns weren't expected to add a particularly large amount of value, but I found that there was room for individuals to pursue their interests and provide more valuable input if they so wished.

Counsellor and buddy systems in place, both of which make your internship much easier. Outside of these formal schemes, everyone in the office was keen to help/provide support where they could.

I started off with very little to do, and struggled to find work despite asking numerous colleagues. However, once I began to develop relationships with my superiors, they began trusting me with more sophisticated tasks, and by the end of the internship I found myself very busy!

Interns tend to be given only a very limited amount of responsibility, as they do not have the experience to take charge of sophisticated tasks. However, there is plenty of room for interns to prove themselves to their superiors, after which they are likely to be trusted with more responsibility.

I learnt a wide range of skills, from soft skills such as networking and time managament, to more specific skills such as coding and conducting ITGC walkthroughs. Whilst these skills will not assist me whatsoever in my degree studies as a history undergraduate, I am sure that they will serve me in good stead, whatever job I end up with.

There was a very relaxed and friendly atmosphere in the office. But it was also very busy and hectic at points, particularly as you move up the office hierarchy.

Overall, the internship was very well organised, and I felt that I learnt a lot from it. However, there were a number of incidents that arose as a result of ineffective communication, so there are certain areas of organisation within which the internship scheme could improve.

The company provided me with a very personalised, and hugely educative experience during my time there. I was assigned a counsellor and a mentor, and was afforded the opportunity to shadow partners/executive directors during my time there. My progress was monitored in a detailed yet relaxed manner, and I got the impression that a huge amount of time and effort would be invested into my career development as an individual, not only as an intern, but also as a full-time EY employee.

My reservations with career in EY are more related to the nature of the work, rather than the organisation itself. Channel 1 audit work can often be tedious, and rarely challenges you intellectually. However, the culture of the company and the effort it invests into its interns mean that I will certainly be considering my future employment prospects with them.

When we had the opportunities to get together, every intern was extremely friendly and fun to talk to. Social events were always a laugh, and something that I looked forward to. However, there were hardly any formal events organised by the organisation, leaving us interns to organise our own socials, which only happened sporadically. The social scene was therefore not at all bad, but could have been improved had the scheme put more effort into organise opportunities for interns to meet across service lines.

Cost of living was definitely not cheap (as it was in London). Food was also very expensive outside of the office. On top of this, the office canteen was not cheap, and there was no subsidisation for interns (although we were taken out for lunch on certain occasions).

Bars in the area were all very nice, if a bit expensive. There were also many nice restaurants in the area, and generally a lot to do outside of the office.

There were a few social activities and CSR initiaties on offer during my time there, but none were advertised particularly widely, and many of us interns were too preoccupied with work to concern ourselves with other activities. Having said this, we usually left the office between 17:00 and 17:30, leaving us plenty of spare time to get involved in these kind of activities of our own accord.