Trainee Associate Review

I am working as an auditor and my client's are in the banking and capital markets industry. Typical tasks include: having a meeting with clients to understand their processes, co-ordinating work performed by EY's India office and verifying numbers in clients financial statements to check the accuracy of them.

In my current apprenticeship at Ernst and Young LLP, I have learnt and developed many new skills. Before the role, I was always confident in dealing with customers so this job has helped me transfer these to a far more professional finance industry. I have become more confident with meetings.

I would say that considering the fast paced and stereotypically stressful nature of the accounting industry, I do enjoy my programme to a large extent. Having lots of other apprentices at EY makes day to day life enjoyable and social, even though the hours can be long and deadlines tight.

I would say that the apprenticeship is very well structured by EY. There are many components which include the exam side and having fantastic help with college and exams, and also the counselling side within EY. There are dedicated apprenticeship and exam guidance team who are always there to give advice.

As mentioned before, the support we receive could not be better on the programme. Some of the help we receive are: Buddy - someone who was in your position one year ago and can help with day to day problems, Counsellor - there to support with bigger issues, Apprenticeship and Professional exams team.

When working towards our chartered accountancy professional qualification, we receive lots of support from our training provider - Kaplan Financial. During college, the tutors are very good and have great experience in the financial industry, often with accounting backgrounds. We are always able to email the tutors for help with questions.

The ACA professional accountancy qualification helps a great deal with the day to day performed of my role. A sound technical knowledge background really helps in Audit and also with speaking to clients, who may have 30 years accounting experience themselves. The job also helps us with our studies also

Although I do not personally take part in any formal groups or clubs, there are loads of extra curricular activities to get involved in at EY? The company has a great working culture with lots of different nationalities and groups of people and there are things to suit everyone. Every sport and activity you can think of

Yes

I would definitely recommend the EY apprenticeship programme to a friend. I think the apprentice route is the best to go down, earning a salary and gaining experience, and EY definitely put a lot of resources into helping the School Leavers on the programme so I would recommend EY to a friend

Tips and advice I would give to others applying to EY: Know about the job before you apply, speaking to other EY apprentices, try to stand out in any assessment centres as you are 'against' everyone else, once you get to the Partner interview - be yourself and you have a great chance of being successful