Summer Vacation Scheme - Tax Associate Review

I really enjoy this opportunity. The internship was a real learning experience, and within the first week I was given real responsibility to complete work. This is different to what I was expecting, and this enabled me to really get to grips with how the office and the wider firm operates. Everyone was very helpful and accommodating to me, even though I had no experience of tax/corporate work.

My colleagues were friendly and supportive during work, and gave regular constructive feedback. This atmosphere, alongside the high profile nature of the work allocated, led to a feeling of being a valued member of the team, whose commitment and contributions were seen as important. In more social settings, colleagues continued to be friendly and interested, and would often strike up conversation, irrespective of the difference in seniority, allowing for a friendly atmosphere to be maintained both inside and outside the office.

There was a lot of support and guidance from more senior people. I tended to work with the more junior people in the office who were in my position only a short time ago, which helped them to understand any problems I was having. Even though everyone was really busy, they would still take time to offer advice and to take an interest in how I was doing.

How busy I was did tend to vary throughout the placement. During the first week or so, the work was quite slow and I did have to seek out additional work and responsibility. However, after speaking to my line manager, I was given more work. When working on important client work, I was very busy and I had to stay late in the office on a number of occasions but overall the work/life balance was positive.

After several weeks with the firm, I was given a significant amount of responsibility. I was tasked with leading a number of projects and I was held accountable for delivery of these projects. This was a great opportunity for personal development. I was managing conversations with clients and this gave me the opportunity to demonstrate my ability.

I gained a great deal of confidence by participating in the internship, this coupled with time management skills I learned have really helped with my degree studies. It also helped me to decide on my future career, which helps with my degree because it has given me something to work towards. My two months provided me with a wide variety of both hard and soft skills, including more advanced knowledge of Excel and PowerPoint features, the logical steps required to produce a strategy, and the various ways to present information to a client.

Everyone was really friendly and upbeat. The office was buzzing with activity. Everyone hot desks which gives you the opportunity to get to know everyone in the office There's always someone offering to make you a hot drink and I felt very comfortable. The atmosphere was perfect to work in but at the same time, I felt comfortable chatting to my colleagues.

The internship was very well organised, with a clear timetable for everyone and plenty of socials scheduled. I knew where I was going at all times and there were plenty of points of contact if you had any questions or needed help with anything. Everything ran very smoothly, and I never encountered any organisational problems or got the impression that things hadn't been adequately prepared for us.

The firm invested a considerable amount. At the beginning of the scheme, everyone on the theme met in Birmingham to undertake some initial training. As this was over a weekend, the firm paid for hotel rooms for everyone. At the office there was also extra training, running through computer systems and the service line I was working in. For most of the scheme, training and development took place on the job. There was also an office away day, at an outward bounds centre which helped to foster team spirit and to develop extra skills.

Future employment prospects at Deloitte are very appealing. Upon completing the internship, I was offered a place on the graduate programme, which tended to be the case also with most other interns. Deloitte has a great culture and invests heavily in its employees, I am really looking forward to beginning my career at such a well-established and respected firm.

All of the interns got on well with each other, and regularly went for lunch or drinks together outside of the social activities that were organised by the firm. As we all had a variety of backgrounds and skills, we also helped each other where possible, so as to ensure as much support as possible. There were occasions where socialising with other interns was difficult due to them working from client sites elsewhere in the country/abroad, but even during these periods they usually returned to London for Friday.

It was Central London, so costly. However, almost all of the events provided by the firm had free food and/or drinks (and generous amounts thereof), so paying for socialising was largely a rarity. I'm addition, the internship was a paid position, with the salary more than enough to cover the cost of my accommodation, travel and living expenses, with some money left over afterwards.

The nightlife in the area I worked was very limited, but most placement students don't live in the direct vicinity of the workplace. In the area that I lived the nightlife was very active, being only a short tube journey away from central London and also having lots to do in the local area, such as bars and clubs.

I personally have got involved in lots of activities outside of work, joining a local football team, going to a local church and being involved in many of the events that they were running. However, I do think that this is more down to the individual than what is available, given that you only have few months with which to be a part of it. There were lots of opportunities available though.