Discover EY - Women In Business Review

Very enjoyable - informative, planned and organised very well. Got to meet a variety of people in different levels at EY. Also as there were over 100 undergraduates I had the opportunity to meet a range of people from all over the country. All expenses were paid which was also a bonus.

Staff in charge of the events were very engaging - they would be around for breaks and lunch to answer any questions we had which were not answered during the programme. Also, other members of staff were available to talk to and were extremely helpful - they took their time to listen and answer.

From the beginning of the application of the process I felt supported. The recruitment welcomed any queries before the event I would have. During the event I felt supported by the head of the event with regard to some personal issues. They took their time to listen and accommodate my needs.

Having been provided with knowledge on all service lines I now have a clearer idea on which line I would like to apply to for my industrial placement year. Before coming to the discover EY event my knowledge on the company was very limited but having experienced and spoken to staff this has completely changed. During the group events I developed my teamworking skills and also presentation skills.

We were emailed a schedule of the two days a few weeks before the programme. I was surprised that they stuck to it completely - the two days were packed full of events and each talk corresponded to the order they were assigned to in the email I received. It was extremely well structured.

The first day was nerve wracking having to meet a lot of people but as everyone was in the same boat as soon as started interacting with one another there was a general buzz in the atmosphere. This continued throughout the two days and everybody looked like they were enjoying themselves.

The second day was focused entirely on interactive activities - with a mock assessment centre to see what kind of case study we would have to analyse at a real one. We then had to present our findings to the table host. We were also given a longer case study which required more analytical and thinking with some groups performing in front of everyone.

Having spoken to a variety of staff at different levels in the company it has convinced me that I want to work for a company like EY in the future. I did not realise how people based it was, nor that there was so much support from one another regardless of whether you had been there a long time or were a new graduate.

It definitely helped - there was a lot of emphasis on collaboration and team work. EY is not a typical big4 who focuses on tasks - they invest a lot in their staff to ensure they feel like they are a part of a community instead just workers. Every staff member I met were really enthusiastic about the culture.

I am still undecided with what my future career path will be but having had talks in the different service lines I have been able to narrow down my options more. The talk in assurance reconfirmed that this will be what I pursue after I graduate to get my chartered qualification.

EY kindly offered to pay for accommodation and travel for us. As I live over 1.5 hours away I had accommodation for 2 nights at Hilton London Tower Bridge, right opposite to the EY more London office. The events were held in the Hilton so I only had to travel down and was able to stay and explore the area on the first day before the events the following day.

On the first day we had a lot of staff members come in and introduce themselves - especially for assurance and tax as this was the focus. Later we had a 4 people panel from different service lines where we were able to ask questions. There was also a speed networking event on the first day - we spent 5 minutes on 10 different tables talking to staff from different and specialised service lines

The speed networking event was extremely fun and enabled us to have a chance to ask questions on different service lines and specialised departments within these lines. EY also had a social event on the first night - we went bowling and had dinner provided which was very nice of them.

I got to speak to people who were a part of the Women's Network in EY which was very inspiring - they volunteered on top of their working hours to campaign for the gender pay gap to be reduced. I was also told about the charity work you could get involved in.

I would definitely recommend it - especially for those who are unsure about their career path in the accounting industry. You get the experience to meet a lot of people and network with a variety of people - it is also a good thing to speak about in the future and you also get fast tracked for future programmes with EY.