Consultant Review

I am now a consultant in my second year doing internal audit. My daily tasks vary day on day due to my projects normally being only a few weeks at a time. They can be anything from conducting interviews, producing working papers, reporting or proposals. Although the process and methodology is more or less the same each time, due to the actual audit being different each time I don't feel like I'm ever doing the same thing.

Since starting this job i have developed many existing skills such as my written communication which is now more formal and coherent when necessary. I have also learnt many new skills such as being able to talk to people when i do not necessarily feel over prepared, i can now keep a conversation going in the correct direction without having to overly prepare beforehand.

I enjoy the programme a lot

I feel greatly appreciated, i very rarely come across individuals that treat me as a junior member of staff. On my projects my effort and work is recognised and although its never perfect, what i have done well is always noted and managers make a good effort to communicate that. If im on a project and i feel like i can handle more responsbility then managers are happy to provide it.

The organisation of the programme requires much more work. It is quite clear that there is still confusion between my apprenticeship and a grad scheme, for example our progression, performance reviews, college etc. ALthough the business always encourages us that there is no difference between my grade and the graduates i joined with, organisationally there are still many differences. The way in which the programme works is constantly changing where the business is trying to work out how we fit in but it makes things very confusing for us.

When we are in college there is good support from the tutors, managers are accomodating for neeing time off and we are provided with sufficient resources. However, linked to the point about there is a lot of confusion around our college due to us not completing exams at the same pace as graduates. We are usually not given a lot of warning of college dates and there is no leniency with them which can disrupt projects.

We recieve a lot of support from the company and there are lots of networks set up through which you can recieve it. For example I have a buddy, coach, consistency lead, exam manager, scheduler, partner and project manager at any time. There are never any difficulties finding support however i feel like HR is one of my last resources at they dont noramlly seem to know the answers to things i think they should.

The salary is sufficient however in the first year especially it doesnt leave a lot at the end of the month if you live in london. It definitely doesnt leave a lot if you have anything additional such as a car however the expenses policy is very good for business expenses. For example travelling with work is effecively free as all travel, accomodation, food and incidentals are paid for.

I was very pleased by the amount of opportunities outside of work. There are ample socials which are great for meeting people in the business. There are also lots of clubs or societies to join, I am part of the horse riding club which I was very suprised Deloitte has, the lessons are even partly subsidised.

Yes

Its a great place to work and has been a great opportuity for me to get to know many different areas of the business in a relatively short period of time. You get to meet many people which i have learnt can be highly beneficial even outside of work to have different connections. It is also great fun and although some times are difficult and stressful there are equally as many, if not more, times where i really enjoy what i do. It isnt a normal, boring job.

When you are applying I would try to get in contact with someone at the firm who can put you in contact with employees in different areas of the business because its difficult to get a true picture of what each team does from looking online alone. I originally wanted to join external audit doing finances however all the spaces were gone when i joined so i ended up in internal audit doing processes and am not very happy as i would not like to be in external audit now i understand it better. Internal audit is much better suited to me but im only in it because of luck.