Associate Review

Working in the banking sector of audit, my day to day can vary significantly. From Sep to Dec, I am mainly working on 'interim' procedures ahead of the main yearly audits which take place generally from Jan to March. During this time we are incredibly busy working long hours but it's much calmer during the summer, however there are several periods of college/exams during the year, often during the summer.

Working in a modern office environment has been a key skill that I have developed during this time, as well as communication and how to manage my time appropriately, with the latter being just as important in exams as in the working environment.

It's okay, and my enjoyment changes a lot at different times. I rarely love it though and I often hate it, but generally it's good enough. There's enough interesting areas of work to keep it from getting too boring but it can get unnecessarily stressful at times.

Pretty well organised, there's a clear structure to the whole scheme which thousands of people go through each year across the country, and there's plenty of support in place in the form of 'counsellors' and online resources. Generally everything is well structured but exams can occasionally cause problems.

Quite a lot of support - there's plenty of staff specifically there to help students with studies and exams issues, as well as a network of supportive senior members of staff, and each person is assigned a 'counsellor' when they join. Generally the support is very well carried out and organised.

There's a large amount of online resources - it's almost overwhelming - and the tutors are more than willing to provide support and guidance even after college time. However, the actual content isn't always the best quality but it's certainly sufficient. No major issues come up in terms of support.

It's generally very reassuring to see the studying be used immediately in our day to day work and that certainly happens but a common issue I find is that the exams cover far too simplified versions of what we deal with in real life work situations, especially in the banking sector as a lot of the banking-specific terminology isn't covered - the exams seem more focussed on typical retail, manufacturing companies.

Yep, plenty of extra-curricular activities to get involved in, such as sports teams, plenty of opportunities to network and tonnes of fundraising events for the EY charity and other charities. Although it can be difficult to find time to actually take part in any of these, but there's plenty of options.

Yes

It's a lot of work and tiring and very busy at times but it's a very modern, supportive and sometimes pretty interesting company with lots going on. Plenty of lovely, supportive people and a lot of opportunities going forward either staying with the company or after leaving EY.

During the interview stages, just be yourself, because the interviewers are trying to find out if you would be a good fit for the company but more importantly if the company is a good fit for you, and it's important that you let them do that. [This section of the comment has been removed by a member of the RateMyApprenticeship Team because it did not meet our site terms and conditions]