Smart Futures Programme Review

The work experience involved completing a number of team building tasks such as "Dragons Den" amongst others. As well as this, we shadowed professionals within EY and various other destinations in London, working closely with them and understanding some of the roles they have within larger companies. We also had the chance to complete a CMI leadership qualification throughout the work experience.

We firstly gained a CMI leadership qualification that we completed throughout the experience by filling out a document which tested us on the skills that we learnt in the various tasks during the first week. We also learnt a lot about individual roles within larger companies during the second week as we shadowing professionals. Personally, I learnt a lot about some of the skills needed when leading a team and presenting in front of an audience.

I enjoyed my time thoroughly. I learnt a variety of skills that I will certainly take forward into higher education and my future career, such as leadership, teamwork and communication. As well as this, I made a number of great friends throughout the experience that I am still in touch with today.

I feel like the first week of my work experience was very well organised. We had a number of talks and sessions planned before we arrived which made the structure of each day well planned. However, the second week felt less so. The professionals often didn't have a lot of work for us to complete, leaving us to make up our own tasks.

I learnt a small amount about the company culture at EY. They gave us a brief outline of some of the work that the company did, however many of us were still confused by the end of the programme. The emphasis was more on the skills we would learned in the experience rather than the company overall.

Although I gained a lot of skills, it didn't particularly change what I wanted to do in the future. I wanted and still want to pursue a career in medicine, despite the roles that I saw at EY. However, I know many other that changed their whole career path, due to the experience they gained.

Yes! We were paid roughly £5 an hour for the time at EY which was a very good financial insentive for all of this. However, I am still having problems claiming £90 which was unfairly taxed to me after the work experience. I have been given very little advise on how to resolve this issue.

Most definitely. I met a number of different professionals whom I still am in contact with today. One of the main ways this was done was through the mentoring scheme set up within EY where an individual regularly arranges meetings etc to talk about how things are going etc and how they can help.

Yes

The experience was a great chance to earn some money whilst learning a host of invaluable skills for the future. I learnt skills of teamwork in the group tasks they gave us in addition to communication as I was tasked to present in front of a small audience. I also made a great number of new friends through the programme.

Definitely go for it. You should aim to seize every opportunity that arises form the experience and not be afraid to push yourself out of your comfort zone. The experience is such a great opportunity to expand your skills and learn so many new things, so you should not hold back from anything.