My placement year at EY

Undergraduate student Julia shares her experience on placement at EY, exploring the key skills she developed and why she would recommend a placement year to other students.

I am studying Accounting and Finance at WBS and have just completed a placement year at EY within the Audit & Assurance department. I was also lucky enough to extend my time in the company to complete a 3-week internship in Consulting as well. 

I always knew that a placement year was an experience I wanted to take, and I specifically applied to universities which would offer this as an option. For me, the opportunity to spend a year experiencing what the real world is like was a no-brainer. Though summer internships are a great alternative, the depth and breadth of knowledge you acquire about the company, your potential future career path and yourself is incomparable. 

Luckily for me, the application process was extremely easy as I had completed a Spring Week at EY in my first year. As a result of standing out in my spring week, I was offered a fast track for my placement year, meaning I only had to do one final interview with the director within my chosen service line. The final interview included a presentation and a series of motivational-based questions and lasted around 1.5 hours. After that, I was shortly offered my work placement in the Summer before going into my second year, before any of the applications even opened to the other fellow students. 

I loved my whole placement year. I was placed on two separate clients and was part of two different teams within Audit, which focused on the banks and capital markets sector. I made great friends with my fellow placement year students, often eating with them in the cafeteria or going out for after-work drinks. Both teams were welcoming and would always help when I felt out of my depth. I gained a multitude of invaluable skills, not only practical but also emotional intelligence-based skills, such as learning how to deal with challenging clients. Effective communication is the cornerstone of every professional encounter you have, so learning to master it was something I continuously learnt and improved on. 

Luckily, given that I have experience with two clients, I learnt about the different dynamics of working with others. I was also fortunate to be able to work on clients where I had a more holistic view of Audit. I was able to complete ‘typical’ accounting tasks such as reconciling revenue accounts, whilst also getting to focus on more niche areas such as the impact of ESG on a company’s financial statements or determining if the company’s credit accounts presented a true and fair view, based on their outstanding credit loans. 

Whilst I loved my time in Audit, through networking in the cafeteria, I met a partner within the Technology consulting branch and requested that I extend my placement year to complete a 3-week internship within the team to see whether consulting might be my preferred path. One of the biggest lessons I learnt, was if you put yourself out there and simply ask, people are always willing to help. To my shock, my request was approved and even just after spending my short time in consulting, I knew instantly that it was better suited to my personality and ambitions. The team was incredibly supportive and the tasks that I engaged in were as equally challenging, as well as they were fun. I instantly felt as though I had been part of that group for the whole year, though to be fair, even whilst I was in Audit for the last two months of my placement year, I had already started forging relationships within the consulting team, hence the smooth transition. 

As a result, I learnt that I would like to return as a graduate in consulting rather than in Audit, and I am forever grateful for taking a placement year since that enabled me to pivot my career trajectory. I learnt so much about myself and met incredible people along the journey, and would recommend a placement to every student.