Assistant Tax Advisor Review

My job title is Assistant Tax Advisor. I work with all members of the team from junior staff up to Partner. I work on different types of projects undertaking research tasks, detailed tax calculations and communicating with HMRC / clients.

I have been working towards an ACA qualification and only have one exam left. This has helped in my day to day work. I have also learnt on internal training courses about different types of tax which I have been able to apply each day.

I really enjoy the work that I do and the team which I work in. The company culture is what I expected, with the main negative being that if you work extra hours, but these don't involve staying late after 5pm then it goes unnoticed.

Within my team I feel very valued. I receive good feedback from colleagues and have won a couple of recognition awards. Within EY as a whole I feel I have been let down by the management of the school leaver programme with regards to salary not being in line with my peers.

The programme has not been very well organised in my opinion. Very often there is little notice given about college and exam dates and it seems that a lot was made up as we went along. The training we receive at Kaplan is well structured and feel that this really helps in my exams.

A lot of support is received from Kaplan. We are always given an email address to contact the tutor and I feel that they spend a lot of time when in college to help everyone in the room. I have been very impressed with Kaplan.

Not much support is received in regards to exams. My team are supportive and are always interested in how I am getting on but I feel that more help could be offered by EY as a whole. No study leave is provided, meaning a lot of annual leave is "wasted" because it is needed to be used for revision.

The salary meets my living costs and travel costs but does not give much spare after that. This is mainly because my travel costs are quite high as I live quite far from London. Other school leavers in other departments are paid a higher amount.

My team holds a lot of social events and try to ensure that as many people as possible join in with these events. There are also a lot of networks which people can join. Outside of my team I do not really get involved in many opportunities and feel they could be advertised better.

Yes

As a whole EY is a good place to work. I think once the school leaver programme is finished then more freedom will be given to each team with regards to salaries and promotions, which seem to be decided by the school leaver HR team at the moment.

The assessment day and interviews are actually a lot of fun. Relax and try to be a balanced individual at all times. Don't speak over everyone all the time but don't sit in the corner silently. The application process was very quick and easy!