Tax Intern Review

The internship was a very useful insight into the company, and the team were very helpful in terms of ensuring I was able to experience the various different areas that they worked on. I had the opportunity to attend various calls and meetings, as well as to shadow a partner for the day alongside a fairly steady stream of other work to complete.

The team were very good about inviting me along to a weekly team lunch, while there is a very friendly but professional atmosphere in the office. Although there were a group of 8 interns across the office, I was the only one in my Line of Service. Therefore, I particularly appreciated that the team were welcoming while the group of interns also got on well.

My career coach (essentially my direct supervisor) was massively helpful throughout the internship. While it was my responsibility to an extent to be proactive in terms of finding work, he was a great help in talking to others and trying to find people who had work I could assist with or take on for them.

At times, with it being the prime summer holiday time, the whole team was quiet and thus I didn't have a great deal to do. However, on average I would say this amounted to certainly less than half an hour a day over the course of the internship. At its worse, there was one week where I may have had an hour or two a day with no set work. However, there were usually some small tasks to do in the background or there is access to further training.

I felt I was given a good amount of responsibility on the whole. The work I did never felt meaningless as it was either business development work to assist the team in future or something more client facing. I was often tasked with drafting letters or emails to clients, while I attended calls and meetings with clients including several onsite with only my manager for the project.

As I was working in tax, some of the skills won't be particularly applicable as the knowledge is very specific to the industry. However, I learnt a lot about various systems that were used as well as furthering my excel capabilities which I believe will certainly come in handy in my final year of university and hopefully beyond.

I found the atmosphere was perfect for me - it was friendly and there was generally some fun going on, but it still remained professional. In particular, the interns as a group got on very well as we got lunch together most days and regularly met up after work which made the internship very memorable.

There is a clear impression that the internship is a well-oiled machine throughout. There is a 3 day induction conference down south which ran smoothly, before the time in the office started with a tour of the office and a day of further training before beginning properly on work. While there was a slight drop in work for me, I don't believe this takes anything away from the organisation as it was largely down to individual work at the time.

The induction conference featured a lot of information and training, before some further training in the office. More than this, the staff within the office were very generous in terms of giving up time to fully explain things and answer any questions I had in the course of completing the work - this gave the impression that the firm were keen to invest in us as interns.

I would personally be very keen to work here if I got the chance. Unfortunately, there are two intakes of interns and we don't find out until after the second intake which is a slight annoyance as obviously there is some impatience! Nevertheless, I think it would be a comfortable, enjoyable place to work.

There was - the interns got on well and we organised several team building activities of our own accord and met for lunch most days around the office. This began at the induction conference which is a very good way to network with many people as well as breaking the ice with those in your team or line of service.

The area was relatively expensive, particularly with the Fringe festival starting. This begins at the very start of August and in the week leading up to this accommodation prices skyrocket. As I was in the first intake of interns this proved to be less of an issue, but it could be a stumbling block for the second intake.

The nightlife is alright, there are plenty of pubs around the place which are good to go to. There is a spoons around the corner from the office which is great, but some other pubs are very expensive. During the Fringe festival, there are endless things to do but prices are hiked accordingly unfortunately.

The interns were invited to take part in the social events and sports teams within the office. While I did not take up these options as I had some other events outside of the office, other interns tried hockey, netball and hill walking. We were also tasked with organising the monthly drinks on the last day of the office, which was enjoyable to put together.