How are graduates assessed or evaluated during the 2 year period of graduate programme?

The Assurance Graduate Scheme is 3 years, although this may vary depending on your service line. The main way you are assessed in London Audit is through the annual feedback cycle whereby more senior colleagues you have worked with provide you with written feedback. This feedback is then discussed by the Manager group and you are given a rating (typically 1 - 5).

In audit, there are regular feedback cycles where formal feedback is uploaded to the system by your engagement manager and you will have calls with the managers to discuss this feedback. In my experience, all the feedback gathered over the course of a year is then evaluated and assessed in a large meeting with managers, where your counsellor will present your feedback to the group. They will also take account of how involved you are with things outside of your day to day role and to what extent you are taking on additional opportunities / responsibilities.

In my experience, teams publish a guideline of what is expected at each level for each grading so it is transparent what you need to do to improve

If within 3-6 months managers feel that someone is underperforming to standards set out and/or communicated, are there systems in place to allow for improvement before any formal steps are taken?

In my experience, its quite rare for someone to be underperforming within 3-6 months. However, if you are considered to be underperforming, you may be put on a performance improvement plan which helps you to take action to improve your work. You are offered lots of support to improve and tackle any underlying issues

That's really helpful, thank you Mohammed, Alfie and Lyndsey. It's great to know that EY values both professional performance and wider contributions. It sounds like EY is really emphasized on developing well-rounded professionals