EY Smart Futures Review

The work experience lasted three weeks; in the first two weeks, I and the other students did activities that involved our CMI qualification level 2, that is, team leading, so it was mainly lessons about what it meant to be a team leader and how to give feedback, coaching etc. The third and final week was the business experience week, and I was placed in audit, where I had to look at financial statements of various clients and the excel spreadsheets

I have learned new skills during the first two weeks, which had to do with team leading. One of them was on how to give feedback. We looked at different types of feedback and then we exercised through activities that involved giving feedback to different people on different scenarios. I developed teamwork. Since it`s a team-leading CMI certification, it`s very important to know how to work well in a team, so we mainly did activities that involved teamwork

I really enjoyed the programme. Actually, I didn`t expect to enjoy it this much, since it was all teamwork, but I got to know my fellow colleagues and eventually became friends and the activities were really funny. Plus EY`s culture is very admirable since they place a high importance on ethics.

I felt very valued, from the staff to my colleagues. The staff was very enthusiastic and they answered all our questions and prepared funny activities, while my colleagues were very supportive and, as said before, we became friends over the course of three weeks. We also had a graduation ceremony with important guests (e.g. chief constable) and we were rewarded for our participation, best student, most improved student etc etc and I found this to be very good since we felt like our work was being recognised.

It was very organised. Since the beginning, we were given a schedule, that not only said when and where we started and finished, but also what activities we were going to do for the days. We had an induction day, which was compulsory to attend, before the start of the programme, and I found that a very good thing because then, we students, got to know each other before the start of the day, and we would be then more relaxed at the start and not as anxious. We were trained for our certificates and we were given enough time to finish our learning logs and review them. We also were appointed each a mentor, which will follow each of us for 10 months, so I can say that it was indeed a very well organised programme

My training providers were very supportive indeed. We had different ones each day and every one of them were very enthusiastic about what they were trying to teach us and they always tried to help us when someone had a question or when we were encountering challenges.

Very supportive, everyone prompted us to ask questions plus we got a mentor at the end of the programme, to whom we can ask questions about CVs, personal statements, apprenticeships and university applications.

Not only were we paid (which is very rare in a work experience) but our travel costs (train) and meals (the first two weeks and the last day) were all paid by the EY Foundation programme, which I didn`t expect at all, so I would say that my salary met the costs extremely well.

Yes, there are many opportunities outside of work, because we got a certificate out of it, plus there is also an alumni party where we meet all together with the person responsible for the EY foundation programme.

Yes

Because it`s one of the best experiences that one could hope for, since not only it`s paid (which I find very important at our age) and all the meals and travelling was paid as well, but also you get to know how it`s like to work in an office, especially in an accounting firm such as EY, which is one of the biggest in the world. You can also get to know many people that can advise you on the university/apprenticeships and you also get a mentor.

The application process wasn`t very long, to be honest, it took me 30 minutes circa to complete the application form, and then I was interviewed and after two weeks they gave me the answer. The interview was a bit stressful since it`s strength based and it was the first time for me doing one of them, but the EY people recruiting expect you to be honest.