How would you describe the culture of the firm?

For me EY's culture focuses on belonging. There is a real effort to make sure that we bring our authentic selves to work. This can be seen in EY's D&I work, the EY foundation, but for me this comes through primarily in the inclusive and friendly team that I work in.
There is a strong support network and EY's main asset and priority is its people. I know this sounds like an EY advert but I have really felt that EY's focus on belonging has a big impact for me day to day.

That's really great to hear! Do you have any examples of networks or groups within EY that help to build relationships with colleagues (sports teams, book clubs or anything similar)

Hey Iman, I know there are quite a few networks here, such as the EY womens network, as well as sports teams - in the Manchester office we have a cricket team for example :)

Hi Iman! In addition to the EY-wide networks, we also have some smaller networks in Corporate Finance (I'm personally involved in the CF Womens Network). There's also a squash tournament going on within the team as we have a few keen players!

I would definintely like to continue on with sports after university if the opportunity presents itself, so this is great to hear. Thank you!

How are you all finding your respective graduate programmes so far?

I'm enjoying it! I definitely found it to be a steep learning curve at first so it was definitely difficult at times, but as I've learned the ropes & especially as we go back into the office to work with people in person I've really grown into it :)

Hi Iman - I am really enjoying the Grad scheme too. The main thing that I didn't appreciate when I was in your position was how much there is to learn. Its the learning new ideas and skills each day that is keeping the Grad scheme exciting so far.

I see - so the breadth and depth of knowledge required seems like a common theme across schemes. When did you both feel like you fully understood what was expected of you/ got a hang of things in your roles?

Am still learning now, I still definitely don't fully understand the entire role. As a grad, there isn't an expectation for you to know anything, only that you'll learn and pick it up over the 3 years. So whilst its a lot to learn, you have a long time to do it over and will be coached by your team

I started on the grad programme in September 2020 so am coming up to about a year and a half in the role. I'd say I started to get the hang of things after the first couple of months in the team but even now things come up most days that I haven't come across before! No one expects you to know everything though and asking questions is definitely encouraged

Great, that's definitely reassuring.