We recently spoke to Marco Antonio about securing his Tax Graduate Scheme with EY, how he built up his commercial awareness before the interview and his top tips for Bright Network members looking to follow in his footsteps.
Why a role with EY?
Working for a Big 4 firm such as EY gives you an invaluable opportunity to build your financial knowledge and increase your cultural awareness. It also has some of the most complex and fascinating challenges to work on due to its excellent and global reputation. Therefore, it was the right firm to apply to for a graduate interested in working for a dynamic and global powerhouse. Having met their employees at a careers fair, I was impressed by their passion and entrepreneurial spirit, which made the possibility of working for EY more exciting.
How did you build up your commercial awareness before the interview?
Bright Network’s commercial awareness updates were important in keeping me informed about global news on a general basis. Reading online news websites (such as the FT, Business Insider, The Guardian etc.) also helped keep me up to date with current affairs - there are varied and opinionated articles that enable you to gain different perspectives on global events.
How did BN help you secure this role?
The commercial awareness updates were very useful and reading them definitely benefit you in the run-up to interviews. The tips they provide on how to perfect your CV, cover letter and interview technique was very helpful as well - perfecting these small things give you peace of mind in the application process and will ultimately be the difference between a successful application and a rejection.
What top 3 tips would you give BN members looking to follow in your footsteps?
- Be yourself - they look at your approach to practical matters and your behaviour towards others, so expressing yourself and showing your character is vital;
- Create a document whereby you jot down answers to simple competency questions and anything you’ve discovered about the company. That way, if you get to the interview stage, you will have saved valuable research time and you already have several important points with which to answer questions;
- Speak to as many employees at the assessment centre as you can - they’re willing to answer any questions you have and it will allow you to explore the day-to-day nature of the role, as well as the workplace culture.
What’s been the toughest interview question you faced?
“Tell me about a time when you overcame a difficult situation.” The tendency with this question is to get stuck in the narrative and not show your qualities, which I sometimes have done in past interviews. Instead, relating the question to a relevant situation using the STAR technique is a better approach.
