Intern Review

Great first experience of work. Initially was slightly slow for the first few days of actual work but it improved over the course of the program. I felt more comfortable by the final couple weeks and I enjoyed spending time on client site and sitting in on asset meetings. Overall good experience.

I felt like the younger members of teams were much more friendly and welcoming. Some of the older members of the teams did not seem to want to engage with us at all times as they were busy with their own work. The partners made good effort to meet us and provided us with shadowing time which was appreciated.

My buddy was very helpful throughout the program when I was on multiple clients with him. I found when I was not on the same team as him I did not have immediate support and some managers are busy with their own work. I also struggled to find work to do at some points and was left without guidance.

I was often left without tasks to do. We were told to complete web learning courses during down time but there were none in particular that were assigned to us. I think I’d they were to give made up examples of relevant work to do. For example given previous year work to be done for practice.

I felt like I was given a lot of responsibility. I met with clients on my own to work through tasks which was a useful experience. I did feel like I was left waiting for the manager to give me things to do often. I was also not given access canvas which made retrieving and uploading documents a long task.

I do not believe it will be directly relevant to my studies but the soft skills will be useful in all aspects of life. Handling responsibility and time management will always be useful. I also significantly improved with use of excel which is a skill which can be transferred to many lines of work.

I did not like the hot desk system in the office. The sign up sheet was not used correctly and it was a free for all who could get a desk in the morning. I was asked move out of a desk a couple times when it was busy. Other than the desks I felt most people were friendly and it was a generally relaxed atmosphere

The initial time in London was well organised and was a great experience. Once at my office I felt like there could’ve been more time dedicated to training and learning during the first few days. Instead I was sent to a client straight away without much understanding of auditing.

I feel like we were not given a lot of teaching were expected to learn through experience. We were not taught a lot on the first day which we would be using for the six weeks. The majority of teaching was done in the team and only for the specific task we were given at that time.

I very much would like to work with EY in the future. I would like to change sector to TAS though as I believe assurance is not the area for me. EY as a company overall has been very good and is an appealing option.

I enjoyed spending time out of hours with one of the other interns but I did not feel like everyone got involved. I personally enjoy going out on Friday nights and only one other intern joined me on the night out.

I was luckily able to live at home during my internship so I was only spending money on transport. The buses in Aberdeen are expensive so I was spending quite a lot everyday. I was also out on clients which were out of public transport range so I was forced to expense taxis. These were very expensive but the expense was paid back after a couple weeks.

I personally do not like the nightlife in Aberdeen. It can be expensive for drinks in bars. Some clubs are cheaper once inside. There is a variety of clubs and bars available so there should be something for everyone.

There was little time after travelling home from work. The flexible work hours meant finishing on Friday was possible which was good. While working on client site I had extra travel time and had next to no free time to do anything else.