By Tommy Fletcher, BA Accounting and Financial Management
After second year, following the various stages of the application process, I was lucky enough to gain a place on Ernst & Young’s summer internship programme, based in the Audit team at their Hull office. With the graduate job market becoming increasingly competitive, experience has become a hugely valuable thing to have on your CV. This was perhaps best summed up on my first day with Ernst & Young, when I was told that the internship essentially works as a trial for both me and the company. If the company liked me then the chances are a graduate job offer would be on the table, and if I liked the job role and the company, then great! However, if I didn’t like that role, I had the chance to get a taste of other service lines which also could lead to a graduate position, or at the very least, I’d come away with an idea of what I didn’t want to do and another name on my CV.
Into the internship itself, and after a couple of days’ induction and training, it was straight onto real audit work, with clients ranging from small local businesses to FTSE listed companies and even a company that was no longer in existence. I spent a number of days out on client sights, where exposure to high ranking clients provided the perfect opportunity to develop my soft skills when obtaining information to complete the audit, as well as a chance to get to know your team better
and find out more about working for the company. I also had the opportunity to shadow a partner, a unique prospect which enabled me to sit in on a partner meeting, before discussing career paths over lunch. The internship culminated with the Ernst & Young Hull summer social, before a final celebration with other interns from across the north.
A few weeks after the internship I found out that I’d received a graduate job offer, something which really allowed me to relax and focus on my studies in my final year without the worry of time consuming applications. I was also able to call upon my experience during the summer, particularly in the final year audit module where I could incorporate real life examples from practice into my work. Now that I’ve graduated and looking forward to starting my role after summer, I’m glad I put in the extra effort during my summer internship, and would recommend it to anyone.