Tax Intern Review

i enjoyed the people, everyone was friendly and found lots of work that i could help on. However i felt the official structure of the internship was poor, although perhaps the fault is my own, as you are expected to arrange a lot of things yourself, such as partner/senior management shadowing

i do believe that as an intern i was able to provide valuable assistance to my colleagues. For example i was able to assist in tasks such as filing, which enabled the senior colleagues to focus on more direct, client related work. Whenever i completed a task my colleagues always showed genuine appreciation.

if you did not seek out support, then you did not get any. You have a counselor who is there to provide you with help and support during your internship, but i felt they were always too busy to help. Indeed, there were several times where our catch up meetings were delayed, cancelled or postponed.

i always had something to do, i spent a good amount of my time filing, however there was times where i was able to assist on more technical projects, such as tax auditing and compliance. The latest i left the office was around 7.30, most days i left between 5.30-6.

My greatest responsibility during my internship was probably drafting slides that were to be used in a client meeting, however apart from this I believe i was not given much responsibility. I do believe this was partially my own fault however, because as i mentioned earlier, you have to be extremely proactive in this role, and seek out the more interesting work yourself.

i feel like i was able to develop a lot of skills such as being able to prioritize, time management and being proactive. I believe these skills will help me to hit to successfully adapt to tasks in the future. I did not receive much training, except for how to use various software packages, therefore i do not believe the training i received will be of much use in the future.

i was based in one of the regional offices, therefore the team was on the smaller side. This had the benefit of everybody being extremely friendly, and always willing to lend a hand. It was not unusual for the team to have lunch together, or to attend social events outside of working hours.

it was pretty dire, there was an occasion where i was sent to a different department for a few days, only for the department to not have any work ready for me. I remember on that particular occasion i had to spend the morning keeping myself busy until the department found something for me to do. IT support was also bad, i found myself spending hours talking to IT simply to gain access to various software packages that were required to complete tasks.

as mentioned, i was able to develop a variety of skills as a result of my internship. Colleagues always seemed to find time to help and assist me on tasks and to give feedback where applicable. We also had speakers that would come into the office to give presentations on various topics, and we also had access to weekly webinars, which helped to developed skills such as the ability to build a personal brand.

due to being based in one of the regional offices, the team was quite a bit smaller than average, and therefore there were not many other interns to socialise with. However, the team itself was comprised of people of various ages who always had some type of social event which you could attend if desired.

i was based in one of the regional offices outside of London, therefore the cost of housing and socializing is highly expensive. However, on occasion the firm does provide social events for colleagues to take part in, which are usually free or require a very small contribution. The latter does go a small way to reducing the costs of living and working in the area.

being based in one of the regional offices, nightlife was not something i had the opportunity to engage with very often, however there was an occasion where the company paid for a team trip to London. If you wanted an internship experience which had a good nightlife, then i would suggest working in a major city and not a regional office.

as mentioned, the company did provide a lot of events for colleagues to take part in, which are usually free or require a very small contribution. These events vary from sports to games, such as bowling. In my office there was a dedicated events team, who constantly planned new events for the team.