Accounts Intern Review

I very much enjoyed my accountancy internship with standard life. It exceeded my expectations greatly.

I felt very valued my colleagues, everyone was keen to get to know me and help me along the way. There is no feeling of superiority in the company, everyone treats each other as an equal and helps each other out.

There is a lot of support and guidance in the internship at standard life. I had a buddy, who is a graduate who also did the internship a few years ago and a direct manager. Both of them met with me for coffee every week to discuss how I was feeling and what I found challenging as well as any opportunity’s I would like to explore. On top of this half way through the internship I met with the sponsor of the internship and the 2 stream heads who manage the graduates. They all were making sure I was getting enough work, feeling valued etc.

The work load would vary day to day. When I first started I was not as busy as I could have been, but that is to be expected as I am adjusting to the new software’s and a new environment and also I assume the managers need to try and gauge what level of work you can handle. Once this was established I was busier, giving many tasks and usually there was work for me to help with if I finished my jobs. But in the periods I had less work to do I would arrange meetings with people to discuss their role and to get to know the company, as well as I would have internship work I could complete to help me with my development.

The responsibility increased as I went through the internship. I expressed quite early on (week 3) that I preferred a task I was doing as I was giving all the information at once, along with a deadline and I could work as my own pace and use my own initiative. After this I seemed to get more jobs like this. However I am aware that it is not always possible, due to my lack of experience and knowledge, sometimes I would have needed more guidance then I did on a previous task.

The skills I developed will help me greatly, studying accountancy I have learnt how real accounts are produced in the business world. I have developed skills on software and learned more about how I work which will help me in my final year at university.

In my department the atmosphere is nice, but quite quiet. There will be general chat every so often and then moments on quietness when people will work. However I never felt like it was too quiet for me to start a conversation.

My internship was set up very well. Before I started I was called to go over my main jobs I would be doing in my time here and on my first day I was giving a timetable of when I would be working in each department. I worked in different departments most weeks and so got a good understanding of the different type of work accounts do.

The firm invested in us quite a bit. They held intern development events almost every week when we go to do things such as gallup tests, charity work and speak to standard life employees about their experiences.

A graduate job with standard life very much appeals to me, having spoken to current graduates working their they all seem to enjoy it.. At the end of the internship they do an appraisal with you when they can choose whether to offer a graduate job to you or not. This is good as it means you don’t have to go through the application process again.

There is a huge social scene amongst the interns. A lot of us were put in accommodation in the same apartments so quickly became friends. In total there was 38 interns, so every weekend and most week nights there was stuff to do. The socials with your colleagues varies from department to department, over the 10 weeks I had 2 drinks with my team, one including going to see a fringe show. However I know other interns that had more.

Our accommodation and bills were all paid for by standard life, we even had a cleaner visit daily. The living costs of Edinburgh are not too bad, there are a lot of cities which are more expensive and there are always cheap options available if you want them.

There Is plenty of nightlife in Edinburgh, especially during the fringe with all the bars and clubs open till 5!

There are some sports and social clubs, however I did not join them