Visitor to firm Review

Very useful insight into the company - learnt a lot about the different routes into the firm, and received detailed information about the stages of the application process. Great to hear from current employees about the opportunities available at BDO, as well as some tips to do well in the application process

There was a range of ages for the people in attendance at the Insight Day, from year 12 to final year of university. Despite being one of the youngest, I still felt lots of the information was relevant to me and very accessible to everyone in the room. The team leading the day were very open to answering any questions we had throughout the day

We were walked through all the stages of the application process, and given detailed information about how best to show our skills and experience. It was useful to hear from current employees who had undergone the application process in the last couple of years, as it gave a range of recent first hand experiences

The day was not about developing skills but rather learning about BDO as a firm and the different programmes and routes they offer. The information we received about programmes and applications will be very useful if I do apply to BDO, so could be useful more generally for my career

It would have been useful to be sent a timetable in advance of the day, however the day was still very clearly well structured. There was a variety of sessions including informative sessions, Question and Answer sessions with a couple of current employees, and small group work where we briefly planned and then presented a short presentation

Throughout the day everyone was very friendly and welcoming. Team leading the day were happy to answer any questions, or follow up later with anything they weren't sure on. Lots of opportunities to chat with and work with people around, and so learn about their different experiences and planned career path.

This day wasn't about training or developing us, but rather informing us about the firm - programmes they offer, routes into the firm, the culture and opportunities available there. over the course of the day however there were some brief opportunities to consider the skills we already had, and learn how best to display them during the application process

Heard from current employees about their area of work and what an average work day for them looks like. As the Q and A session was only with two employees, obviously we only heard about experiences in two narrow fields of work within BDO - would have been useful in more employees had joined us eg. at lunch so that we could chat to a wider range then

Great to hear from current employees about their experiences and their view on the culture at BDO. Obviously as they are current employees and are there representing the firm, weren't necessarily presenting a balanced view. Interesting to hear the employees' views on the difference between the culture and pace at BDO versus larger firms eg. the Big Four

Affirmed my view that the best route for me is to complete the ACA as a school leaver apprenticeship. Looking at the ICAEW website, it's great to see how much different school leaver opportunities BDO offers and it's clearly a core area of recruitment for them, meaning their school leaver programme is probably well developed

Lunch and tea / coffee / soft drinks were provided, so there would have been no need to reimburse food expenses. I didn't see any information suggesting they would reimburse travel expenses, however this was an Insight Day were we learnt about the company - we didn't actually do any work for them that so it doesn't seem unreasonable that travel wasn't reimbursed

We had the opportunity to hear from and ask questions of two employees during the question and answer session. It would have been useful for more employees to join us eg. during lunch so that we had the opportunity to speak to employees from a wider range of fields, as obviously the two employees in the Q and A session only covered a narrow range.

There were lots of opportunities to chat to and work with other people attending the Insight Day - one of the sessions was a small group activity with the people around us. Heard from a few employees, but would have been good to speak to a wider range eg. during lunch.

Great to hear that employees can take up to ten days off per year for volunteering. One of the employees mentioned some of the differences between working at BDO versus a Big Four firm during the question and answer session, but didn't particularly talk about wider opportunities - would have been good to learn about then.

This was a really valuable insight into BDO - the different programmes they offer, the different routes into the firm, what it would be like to work there and the culture, and lots of information and tips about the application process. Would recommend to anyone considering working at BDO or a mid tier accounting firm, or considering a career in / into finance and accounting