Having joined EY straight from school, my willingness to learn has been instrumental in shaping my professional journey. It has allowed me to embrace new challenges with enthusiasm and curiosity, rather than fear or hesitation. This eagerness to learn has not only helped me to quickly pick up necessary skills and knowledge for my role, but has also shown to my colleagues that I am adaptable, have a growth mindset, and I am committed to delivering to the best of my ability. Remember, as an apprentice you are not expected to know all the answers, so don't be afraid to ask lots of questions and keep learning!

You must embrace continuous learning as it ensures relevance in a rapidly evolving work landscape. This will allow you to increase your technical expertise and commercial awareness - both pivot to success. By improving your technical expertise, your work will be seen as more accurate and reliable. By increasing your commercial expertise, you will be able to take that one step further and decide which analyses to do at what time and what the output of an analysis actually means for a business. Networking is also extremely useful. There are so many things we don't know we don't know, but just a simple conversation with an experienced individuals can save you years of mistakes. They can provide guidance and deliver a roadmap as they can see the path you need to take when you aren't even aware of the next step. Similarly, reading and taking courses are very powerful as this allows you to consume decades of knowledge in just a few hours...

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!