Insider profil
Keen to receive questions about
Top Insider Advice
Having strong soft skills will help you in life. Get comfortable building relationships and being out of your comfort zone, this will help you succeed in your professional career. It has helped me build professional relationships with clients and colleagues, and makes it easier when you have to ask them difficult questions.
Career path
Audit Associate
EY UK
From 09/2023 to 12/2024Company
What do you like about your job and the company?
I was always interested in business at school, setting up my own enterprise during the covid pandemic to earn myself some extra money. This then led me to Audit where you get to have hands on experience and witness how these large businesses operate, and how they overcome any challenges that they encounter. I've worked on clients that I'd never heard of before and also some well known household names.
Greatest achievements
I gained experience with EY through the Business Academy, which has since been renamed Career Starters. The program is a work experience scheme that enables year 12 and 13 students to gain an insight into a Big 4 firm. I completed this in the summer of Year 12, and off the back of this I was then offered an interview for the apprenticeship. I sat my interview on my second day of Year 13, and 2 weeks later I was offered a role with EY.
Saamiyah R
Assistant Tax Advisor
Top Insider Advice
No question is a silly question, therefore I encourage you to be curious, demonstrate your interest and ask questions.
Parmeet S
Top Insider Advice
One of the key messages I tell people applying for apprenticeships is to prepare. Research is paramount, and often assessments and interviews can be simply a matter of practicing. If you prepare for as many scenarios as possible, you are less likely to be caught off guard. The more you can practice your strengths, the better chance you have of performing under pressure. Additionally, take failure as a learning experience. From my personal experience, there are going to be many rejections, and the only way to see success is to take it lightly and improve on your mistakes. It's important to keep a positive outlook and treat each opportunity like a fresh start, because no matter how it may seem the hard work will most likely pay off.
Ross W
Top Insider Advice
Something I've learnt a lot in this role - as cliche as it may sound - is that whenever you have doubts about something in your line of work, it's best to ask for a second opinion. Especially when you're new to the role, it can seem a little embarrassing having to ask a question every five minutes (for me, the one that stands out is having to ask whether I was allowed to use the office milk with my afternoon cup of tea), but there's really nothing to be afraid of. Everyone wants to see you do well - your manager wants to see you develop; your team want you to contribute effectively to the engagement; and the client wants to make sure that they're getting as much as possible out of your audit. Something to keep in mind is that you'll be working with people who were in your shoes not too long before you! On my first engagement, I've been lucky enough to work with my assigned "Buddy" (a member of staff a year ahead of you in your programme/apprenticeship), as well as a "Senior" (a newly qualified member of staff, usually with about 3-4 years of experience). They've been really good at reminding me that they had the same questions a year or two previously. You'll also have other graduates/business apprentices at the same stage as you - make sure you help each other along the way!
