Tell us about your role as a Consultant at EY.
I am based within the Risk division of the Advisory or Consulting business at EY, and at the moment am working in the Insurance industry. This year, I'll be rotating between the Insurance, Asset Management and Banking industries to get a taster of each sector within financial services.
Our role can essentially be divided into two parts: making sure that firms comply with the constantly evolving regulations which affect them, and building on their current business model to improve their operational efficiency.
How did you land the job?
The online application form was relatively straightforward. After that was submitted I had to complete a series of online tests which included numerical reasoning, verbal reasoning and psychometric tests.
Once I was told I had passed those, an interview was arranged with a Director within the relevant part of the business. Finally, I attended the assessment centre, which included a computer-based exercise, a group exercise and a Partner interview, and another round of numerical and verbal reasoning tests!
What projects have you worked on to date?
Since being at EY, I have been based in the Insurance sector and I have been working on projects for some of the top global insurance companies. At the moment, the team I work in deals mostly with internal audit, which involves assessing companies on their internal processes and controls.
This is to check they are meeting regulatory requirements and performing quality review checks to ensure they are functioning as well as they can. However, to date, I've been involved in a Group wide Internal Audit project, a HR strategy & payroll quality assessment project, fraud cases, financial investigation cases, and Reserving projects, it's been very varied!
What is best thing about your current job?
The people around me are those who have been here for years, as well as those who have joined the program at the same time as me. Everyone comes from a broad spectrum of backgrounds, and it is because of them I am constantly learning new things at an exponential rate.
At such a large firm, I meet new people every day, both EY employees as well as clients. The travel opportunities are also a fantastic perk to the job and I've already travelled to Amsterdam for a training course and to Luxembourg for a client meeting, and there are many more for the near future!
And the hardest part?
Finding time to do everything! Projects have a tendency to all pick up at once, and finish at the same time. This means that at its best (or worst, depending how you look at it!) working quickly but accurately is important so that the quality of your contribution to every project is paramount, and you are required to learn things quickly.
In brief describe your average working day (if it exists!)
There really isn't such a thing as an average day and this is what makes it enjoyable. Client work can be difficult at times, but it's rewarding when you see your work taking shape and that makes it 100% worthwhile. Plus this is a great place to develop my skills and increase my networks.
What skills are essential for your role?
You need to be focused, committed, hard working, organised (work can build up very quickly!), being agile enough to change quickly and most importantly, you need to be enthusiastic.
What advice would you give someone who is looking to work for EY?
It's never too early to apply and the more experience you have the better. Places fill up really fast, so be sure to get your application in well before the deadline.
One thing you wish you'd known when applying?
Read up on your topic! Building yourself a solid foundation of knowledge on your area is an easy way to impress your interviewer, and prove to them that you are enthusiastic and prepared - qualities that are always highly valued in new grads. Moreover, make sure you know about the big issues! This doesn't have to be anything specific or technical, but if EY has been in the news lately, it's good to pay attention to it.
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