EY Indirect Tax Intern Review

Most days I was very busy, I was invited to sit in on a lot of conference calls and a few meetings, which were all really interesting and really informative, and although I didn't always understand everything that was being discussed, the people I was with were always really good at explaining things to me. I also helped edit some written correspondence, which was always really interesting

I have developed a lot of my technical knowledge about the team that I was in (indirect tax), and I was encouraged to do my own research about some of the issues and companies that were discussed. I also learned so much about professional conduct in professional situations which will be invaluable regardless of where I end up working in the future.

I really enjoyed this week. My team were all very kind and welcoming, and were willing to invite me to sit in on a lot of conference calls and meetings. Even the more senior people were interested in talking to me and willing to explain things to me. EY clearly has a really good company culture, and I'd love to work there in the future

I really love the company culture at EY, and at least in my team, there is a really positive atmosphere- everyone gets on well and is friendly, and I always felt valued by everyone there. While I mostly interacted with graduates and apprentices, the more senior people I interacted with were all willing to talk to me and explain things that I didn't understand.

The programme is too short in my opinion. The first day was entirely spent on induction, and the last day is spent entirely on wrapping up the programme, leaving only 3 real days to do any work. I learned so much from the programme, but it could have been more useful if it had been for 2/3 weeks. This would also help us have the ability to work on longer term projects so that we can understand more about our teams. The days were structured well, 9:30-4:30 allowed us to avoid the worst of rush our in London

The training wasn't as helpful as it could have been. The training we received at the beginning of the week was the same that all new starters at EY receieve, so a great deal of the stuff that was mentioned to us. Providing training specifically for this short term programme would have been more helpful. However the training was conducted in a useful way (via Skype), and having the slides emailed over to us afterwards was really helpful.

EY is great at giving a great deal of support to all of their employees. Everyone gets a buddy, who is either a graduate or a school leaver, and a counsellor, who is more senior in the company. Both these people are invaluable, and really help to give you an overall perspective of what it's like to work to EY . The only problem is that buddys are meant to help us on a day to day basis, and there were a handful of times where mine was unavailable and I didn't have any one to ask for help

They gave everyone a set salary for the week, the amount of which I don't believe was ever mentioned to us prior to starting the programme. I'm not sure why, but some people in tax in the same location got £204 for the week, but some of us only got £163.91 for the same period of time. Regardless, my travel in to London cost over £100 (£20.60 everyday), and our pay obviously didn't account for the differences in travel costs

Although I was only there for a week, so I couldn't participate in anything, I know that there are a lot of opportunities outside of work- I know that they offer yoga classes and a lot of activities. I was also invited out to lunch (expensed) 3 days out of 5, and it was nice to socialsie with people outside of the office. I know that more long term employeses reguarly socialsie outside of work, and this seems to help to create cohesion within teams

Yes

I learned so much during my week at EY, both in terms of my technical knowledge and also about what it is like to work in an office. It's helped me to think about in what ways I can develop some of my soft skills between now and starting a full time job

Practise common questions for the phone interview- use STAR responses as much as you can. Also practise as much as you can talking on the phone to people you don't know, as it's something a lot of people don't have a lot of experience in. It doesn't really matter what subjects you study or your academic background, but make sure that your CV looks professional and reflects everything that you can bring to the programme and to EY