Associate, Audit Review

I am an audit associate as part of the Brightstart programme at Deloitte. I spend most of my time at client site so have the responsibility of representing Deloitte as well as myself. My regular tasks include general testing of financial statements and internal controls and have already noticed a progression in my responsibilities in my first 9 months of the scheme. I have worked on a variety of clients but have consistently had daily interactions with my Deloitte team as well as the clients finance departments.

Yes, over the past nine months my skills base has developed quite drastically. Before I started my knowledge on financial accounts was next to nothing but I would now say that I has a fairly steady understanding and still learning so much more. I have also strongly built my professional behaviour skills and being able to speak up in public and giving presentations, all of which I was not comfortable with before Deloitte.

I really enjoy the programme in which I am on. The support I receive from both team members and fellow brightstarts is vast and Deloitte is a very friendly, sociable company to work for. The teams that I work with definitely make the job far better but have not yet had a bad team as I feel that the general Deloitte culture is a happy and friendly one.

Deloitte have a very effective appraisal system which allows everyone to be appropriately recognised. Also, if you present yourself to be a hard working, enthusiastic team member then managers tend recognise this and therefore give you greater choice in the kind of work you do. They also give you greater involvement in areas that you enjoy. For example, on my first client the manager recognised me to be hard working and likes to challenge myself and then got to know that I wanted to be on pharmaceutical clients. Since then my clients have swerved towards the chemical spectrum and that manager has just booked me onto a high street chemists audit.

The structure of the programme is very well set out and enables people who starting the scary prospect of the world of work at a premature age to understand fully how their next 4 years will be laid out. however due to the small number of brightstarts in comparison to the number of university graduates there are fewer college managers who fully understand our needs which can make it more of a challenge to fund out information about college dates etc. But, the training received before starting was very good enabling us to understand what we were going to be doing on a day-to-day basis and getting an understanding of managers expectations etc. All brightstarts are also allocated both appraisers and mentors so there are always people to go to if you are struggling with anything in the workplace or have any general questions - definitely do not feel alone.

At Deloitte you do not have a set training provider. For work training, we have regular internal training sessions with managers and they are normally always willing for you to contact them after the training for more questions. Regarding the professional qualification training, you definitely receive sufficient support dependent on the module. there is always a qualified tutor for you to ask questions and you also attend college for the initial learning sessions.

The general attitude towards helping school leavers is highly recognised within Deloitte. There is a wide range of support including a Brightstart committee, mentors, buddys, appraisers, fellow brightstarts, department groups (in my department we have pods which are made up of 10-15 people from all levels of seniority from Associates to Senior Managers), department HR teams, and then your managers and client teams aswell. The support that you receive throughout Deloitte is second to none.

I still live at home with my parents but I have to commute into London which is costly. The salary that I receive as a 19 year old is highly competitive and definitely meets my costs and enables me to regularly treat myself and live a very comfortable life. However, we do receive less than the Graduates eventhough managers have the same expectations of us and they do of them which many people deem as unfair.

Deloitte offer many things that you can do to get involved. They are a very charitable company so do a ride across Britain bike ride every year from Lands-end to John O'Groats. They do charitable events for everyone to get involved every summer. Outside of charity, they also have several societies from your general sports societies to an international cuisine society to a wine and cheese night society. Also, company events are definitely not an irregular occurrence with a spectacular Christmas Party, Audit meals when your client sign their financial statements as a congratulations for your hard work and then motivational busy season drinks on a monthly occurrence. Large teams also have regular team building activities - pretty much if there is an excuse to socialise the Deloitte already know about it.

Yes

I have learnt so much in my first 9 months here. Before I started I was unsure as to whether to go to university or whether to step into the world of work. But when I got my offer from Deloitte I couldn't turn it down and I haven't looked back since. I am the only one out of my friendship group that didn't go to university but I definitely do not feel like I miss out. I get to do work social events plus I can afford to go and visit my fiends and do a nightout properly rather than scrimping on £10 for a nightout and not being able to afford Chicken and chips at the end of the night. Don't get me wrong that working at Deloitte is not easy and you have to work very hard but I am getting a kickstart in my career, im not going to be in debt and I can say that I started my career in one of the top 4 financial firms in the world - who could possibly turn that down?

The application process has slightly changed since I started Deloitte but I attend regular recruitment events advertising Deloitte so I know about how it has changed. The biggest advice I could give is once you have got to the interview the know that you are good enough and well qualified they just need to make sure that you fit in with the people. The people interviewing are still people and were sitting in your seat once so remember nerves aren't a bad thing, they show the interviewer how much you want the job but just don't overthink about having them get on with showing how hardworking you are and that you like to challenge yourself and don't get complacent with where you are. The managers also interview thinking would I want this person to be in my team, so if you don't show willingness in your interview then they are going to think you wont show it when working for them so be up for a challenge and you'll succeed.