Women in Business Review

The insight programme was very insightful and really gave me a real feel for the company. Having never had any experience with EY in the past they were very welcoming and accommodating. Experiencing work life in the city of London was really exciting and all of the staff involved were well informed, helpful and enthusiastic. It was clear they were all passionate about their jobs.

EY are clearly very passionate about women in business which is what attracted me to the insight week in the first place. As a female wanting to work in business, my time here gave me confidence that it is possible to progress as a woman in my career, and things such as starting a family would not affect my future career.

Although I was unclear about what the sessions would entail at the start, as the programme progressed everything was well explained. Our table leader, Vicky, was lovely and really helpful. She made sure to reassure us when we were nervous for our presentation and really helped give us a deeper insight about what working at EY was like.

In one session, we had to give a group presentation to the room. Although I was very nervous to begin with and during the presentation, the positive feedback and constructive criticism I received afterwards were very beneficial and confidence boosting. I am definitely glad I had the opportunity to do this as I don’t know where else I would be given the opportunity to present in front of such a large group. These skills that I have been able to develop will help me when presenting during my time at university and into my career too. Having the opportunity to network with other people my age on the programme and employees at EY was really beneficial as I have never really had the opportunity to network before.

The two days we were there were very well organised and had a clear structure with times for breaks and lunch. Each session had a clear aim to provide us with as much useful information as possible without overwhelming us with jargon and business talk. Each session was well concluded and were also enjoyable.

Everybody that attended this event, both potential employees and current employees, were very enthusiastic and you could tell everybody wanted to be there. It was a great opportunity to meet likeminded university students that wanted to have a career similar to mine, and potentially also work for EY. During the presentations my peers were very supportive and encouraging too.

Although I was able to develop my soft skills, there was no real one on one training of sorts. Obviously I can appreciate that this would have been very difficult given the size of the group involved and I feel satisfied with the level of training and development we were given.

The networking event was a brilliant opportunity to mingle with current employees of the firm and really get to ask what it is like to be a part of this company. Talking to people from each department was very beneficial as I could get a real feel for not only why they chose to work at EY but also why they chose to stay at EY.

The company is a very warm, welcoming and friendly environment and a place I could definitely see myself working at in the future. As soon as the event began, the speakers were so passionate about their jobs and all echoed one another when saying that EY was a collaborative environment.

Being able to talk in depth with current employees really gave me a feel for each service line that EY has. Obviously everybody was selling their own service line so there was some bias, but I have been able to gather information about each one and think I can now make a decision about where I want to go in the firm.

All train travel to and from London was reimbursed and our hotel costs were covered too. We were provided with refreshments throughout the day, including breakfast, break snacks, lunch and dinner on the first day. Our social event was organised and fully paid for including two alcholic drinks and unlimeted free soft drinks.

A networking event in the offices was organised with 10 groups of employees each from different departments in the company with 5 minutes to network with these groups. This opportunity to network was really beneficial to me as it was a personal approach and interactive, rather than just being talked at we were able to discuss.

The networking event was very valuable. One thing I would suggest for a future networking event would be a bigger room as it was quite cramped and hot which became a little distracting at times. It was also very loud and so sometimes it would be difficult to hear what some people were saying.

At the networking event I was able to speak to some people from the Women’s Network. These people were very passionate about women in business and told us about socials they had organised and events the put on to celebrate International Women’s Day, for example. Our table hosts also told us about socials their departments organised often times which sound enjoyable and really show that EY is a sociable work environment.

I would definitely recommend this insight week to somebody. At the event there were people coming from various backgrounds and different degrees, showing that you don’t have to have a background in business to work in business. I would recommend this event even if you are unsure whether you want to work in business as it is an eye opener.