Business Academy Intern Review

After a gruelling application process, there were about 40 of us in the Canary Wharf office, where we were each assigned a ‘buddy’ who was an existing apprentice or graduate. We basically spent our week shadowing our buddy, doing odd jobs for them (such as an intro to how spreadsheets work and what to do with them) and attending team meetings and client sites with them. We also spent time throughout the week on some exercises we were required to do ie. fill out a ‘self reflection booklet’, set goals for the week and go to an interview with an EY partner.

I was lucky to have a buddy, who made an effort to find me lots to do and teach me as much as possible about the job- I spent time to learn about his clients and what EY does for them. I also learnt how to write professionally and how important it is to set goals for yourself before doing anything so you can know what you want to get out of it.

I really enjoyed my placement, especially going out to clients site with the team I was assigned to. It was as close to the ‘real experience of working at EY’ as you can possibly get and I enjoyed meeting all the new people and making more contacts. There was plenty of time to get everything done, but not too much time that I would be bored.

I found it quite organised because my buddy constantly found things for me to be doing to make the most of my week there. This included doing a presentation on one of his clients, using the teams softwares for the actual accounting and updating spreadsheets myself. However, some of the others doing the programme were not as lucky and didn’t have that much to do, so perhaps a little more consistency would help in the future.

I learnt a lot about the company and how a regular day looks like! Everyone seemed really friendly and you could ask anyone for help. After having completing a week of work experience at EY, I plan to go back to start my assurance apprenticeship at the same office in the same service line.

In terms of ‘deciding’ a career path, not that much because we only did as much as we had the knowledge to do, so it wasn’t really a deep insight into how the chartered accountancy path looks like. But it definitely enabled me to get a bit of an insight into finance as a whole and whether the office job life is for me!

Yes. We were paid approximately £6.50/hr, which covered my travel expenses and left me with cash left over. Also, the apprentices and grads are really nice so I only ended up paying for about 2 out of 5 meals

Plenty of opportunities! The week was all about making new contacts and learning how to network, verbally and through written communication. We were able to book out conference rooms on our own and plan our meetings as if we were real employees, without having it all handed to us on a plate.

Yes

It’s a great start to a career in anything business/ finance/ accounting related, giving you an insight into how work will look like. Also, this work experience programme gives you lots of things to write about on your CV/personal statement, regardless of whether you go onto do the apprenticeship or not!

Have a clear idea in your head as to what you want to achieve from this week. Write these down and make sure you fill in your activity log as well as possible!!! It’ll help in the final few tasks and later on, if and when you come to write CVs and personal statements, you have something to refer to so you remember it all.