Associate Review

Assurance, Financial services, Banking and capital markets. Certainly one of the busiest jobs at the firm, lots of opportunities to learn, auditing the client and I get to interact with many important clients. Audits vary in time depending on the client. You can learn a lot of how your clients work. Hours can be quite long in one half of the year, especially in banking, but normal hours the other half. Lots of emphasis on your own education and definitely more worth while than University.

In terms of skills, EY throws you in at the deep end and expect you to work hard and carry out the same roles as graduates do. You balance learning an ACA part-time whilst learning how to do your job. They also have many other courses that you can learn by yourself remotely as well as webinars (both live and recorded), famous guests speakers, free Udemy, the list goes on. It really depends on how much time you want to put in. The skills I have developed, both new and existing, are endless.

This is a difficult question, there are definitely pros and cons of the job, I certainly have to put a lot more work in compared to my friends at university, even as a first year apprentice you can have weeks of working very long hours sometimes even weekends. This really depends on the client, assurance in banking and capital markets is definitely a harder job compared to some others at the firm. However, you do get a good social life too, whether it be sports, going out, meeting famous people, EY does cater to most hobbies and interests. Education also comes first and if you have an exam approaching, this is always prioritised before work.

Organisation and structure is definitely a huge factor to a big firm like EY and as such, you can imagine everything is done very well and perhaps even better than other firms. In light of Covid EY still honoured all job offers and the implementation of remote working had very little impact on the firm, most of the training/learning videos were already online and everything was so much better organised compared to what my friends experienced from their respected universities. EY is well known for its support systems and you get an allocated buddy (2nd year), counsellor (assistant manager/manager), peer group (2-3rd years along with 5-7 of your peers), allocated apprenticeship coach, and these will all be separate to the team you are working with. The only con would be that some clients are harder than others and indeed some apprenticeship roles within EY will be harder than others so choose what's best for you. In terms of your qualification, the training is carried out by an external tuition provider, the lecturers are very helpful and would have backgrounds in what they are teaching 99% of the time. The technology and support for your studying is very advanced and professional to make sure you get the most out of the course.

You do get a lot of support both within your team and outside your team with your allocated support networks which is probably what makes EY stand out. If you have any problems you will definitely know who can help and they do help. I think the main way to think about this is that EY need you to make money whereas University make money off of you. They also have programmes where they partner with other institutions and businesses to offer free mental health support, free virtual GP and other useful resources are provided which also make EY stand out as a company.

Huge amount of support is provided by the training provider, you can email your lecturers any time and they are usually very helpful answering your problems. One of the best things about working at EY is that everyone you work with that is more senior than you are will also be able to help you with your questions which is good because these are very difficult exams which you will have to do whether being a graduate or an apprentice and passing these exams is certainly one of/ the most important things to go on your CV.

Your qualification is very important to your role at EY and these normally go hand-in-hand. Since this is a 'professional qualification', what you learn actually has practical uses in your job and likewise, what you learn on the job will help you understand your exams much better. Being able to apply what you learn to your job is very beneficial.

There are many social activities you can get involved with at EY. It is definitely somewhere your whole life can revolve around. Lots of sports teams, professional networking societies and learning opportunities. There are also voluntary initiatives and classes. I think it's a common misconception that you don't get a social life whilst working, but in reality, changing teams/clients means you get a lot more exposure to new people. Again, it will always be time that's the limiting factor not the choices available to you.

Yes

It's hard work but the opportunities are endless, it opens so many doors and gives you many insights to different career paths. Getting an ACA is difficult and to have help from a big 4 accounting firm to help you through it is an amazing opportunity. In my opinion, if you are a hard worker and willing to put in the effort for maximum reward, an apprenticeship is right for you.

Talk to other people and employees at EY, we are very helpful and will answer most of your questions and find out the rest for you. You're always welcome to contact me directly for any questions. Top tip: do the assessments as soon as possible since places to run out fast and there is a lot of competition.