Summer Placement Review

The summer position involves taking on real hands on work and visiting clients to support the work of the business. The work entails working in teams to complete general duties - checking accounts, checking balances, making calculations and working on spreadsheets to meet the general requirements legal and industry standards, to obtain completion on the accounts. There are also opportunities to take part in socials and meet other interns who are doing similar work but with other clients

In this internship I was out at business sites meeting clients so this was a great opportunity to discuss real world finance and business trends, in a professional environment. The ability to discuss with senior staff and do the real work developed my understanding of finance and completing the accounts. Teamworking with my colleagues was also a core skill as we all worked together and I could ask questions to gain help and insight when needed

The level of responsibility was high. Straight away I was tasked with speaking with client staff and obtaining the detail I needed to get. This was hard as sometimes I did not fully understand what I needed to do or ask for, but the team around me gave me a high level understanding and I gained confidence talking with finance people at the clients, which gave me the strength to do this again and put the pieces of the jigsaw together as the work continued through to completion

I had lots of support and guidance, I cannot remember specific names sorry, but overall all the managers i worked with were so helpful and friendly. They had time to ask me questions and give me support, not only doing the work but also in my studies and general applications to get a career in this kind of work. They have all had the kind of background I had so it was helpful learning from their experiences

The company culture was good, supportive, friendly, helpful. It was open and supportive as I was encouraged to ask questions. This was actually essential as there is a lot of detail to take in, during the work itself but also at introduction sessions when you start - learning about the firm and the values of where you work, which really helps bring the business to life. So you learn about the company and its many clients

I thought the placement was very valuable and as i said before, i was surprised how much help I got and support in taking my next steps. this wasnt a case of doing the placement and being forgotten about, it was certainly a route to stay on and continue work further on and ultimately get a graduate career with the company. As such the value i had was really underpinned with the ability to learn and progress my career in the longer term

Yes

Apply early, as the vacancies apparently start closing and I had friends who could not apply to the big city locations later as although they had lots of people at the welcome introductions, more so than the smaller offices, the big city locations like mine actually closed off quite early, which i only understood when on the programme and networking with other starters. I was surprised so i would say for sure, look into this soon