I’d love to hear what made EY Assurance stand out to you vs other firms, and how you’ve found the experience so far.

Hi Joshua,

Thanks for your question! I should preface my answer by saying that EY are the only professional services firm at which I’ve worked, and so I can only comment on what made them stand out during my application process. 

For me, it was the effort EY put into communicating with me during my application that really stood out. I had left it a bit late to begin applying for internships, and so I found myself progressing through application processes and suddenly not hearing back from firms, or else being told after a long wait that there were no more positions available. 

EY’s communication was great during my application - they regularly reached out to update me on my status, even if it was just to let me know they hadn’t forgotten about me and would reach out with further information when it was available. While I missed out on the last internship available, the firm stayed in touch and offered me an interview for the graduate scheme at the start of my final year at university. I think when you’re applying for a role anywhere, the way a firm treats you during the process can give you an insight into how they’ll treat you as an employee. EY treated me better than any other firm during my application process, and so that made me confident in choosing them for my graduate scheme. 

Honestly? I’d say I made the right decision. Of course like any other job there are good days and not so good days, but overall I am proud to work for EY and think the experience I’m gaining has helped me develop a lot. I would highlight the people I work with - I was worried when I joined that it would be a really intense environment or that managers would expect me to be perfect from day one. That’s really not the case. The teams I’ve worked in have put a real emphasis on development, whether that’s coaching you on how to do something for the first time or allowing you to ask if there’s a new area you want to work on to gain more experience. There’s also a real push to recognise good work - for example, I have a celebration dinner next week to celebrate signing off a recent audit, and my coach on that job gave me positive feedback which goes on my employment record. 

Overall I’d say EY has a really good environment to learn in and take your first steps on your professional journey. Let me know if you have any more questions or if there’s anything I could explain further!