Application Process
The application process consists of:- Online Application Form
- Online Numerical, Verbal and Diagrammatic Tests
- First Interview
- Assessment Centre
- Partner Interview
Online Application Form
You will need to submit:- Personal Details
- Career Preferences
- Your Strengths (questions listed below)
- Academic Results (GCSE, AS/A Level, and Degree including module grades)
- Responsibilities and Work Experience
- What was the last activity you completed that took you out of your comfort zone? (max 150 words)
- Describe a time when you have contributed to motivating a team? (max 150 words)
- Describe how you have applied something that you have learnt to make a practical difference. (max 150 words)
- Describe a situation where you took responsibility without being asked (max 150 words)
- Describe the last time you delivered a task that required sustained effort. (max 150 words)
Online Numerical Test
Applicants who have A-level Mathematics or significant mathematical content in their degree may progress straight to the first interview stage of the application process.
First Interview
The first interview will be conducted by a manager in the service line to which you have applied. There are thirty questions in all and the interview is designed to last for 60-90 minutes. You are asked all the odd questions first and then the interviewer will go back to the start and ask all the even questions.
Questions that are asked in the first interview:
Why have you applied to Assurance/Tax?
Should there be more hours in the day?
Tell me about your group of friends?
Do you talk to different groups of friends differently?
Is there a company/brand you admire?
Do you enjoy working in a team?
Have you ever wanted to quit something?
Have you ever put the needs of a team before your own?
Have you ever done something differently second time around?
Have you ever built a relationship with anyone?
Do you prefer starting or finishing?
Do you need to be an expert at something in order to lead a team?
Do you prefer quick action or careful planning?
How do you know your strengths and weaknesses?
How would a lecturer describe you?
Would a friend say you are organised?
Would you say you are a good listener?
What do you call a good day?
How do you deal with a boring task?
It is advisable to try and include any examples from school/university/work/spare time to back up your answers to all questions if possible.
There is no Why EY? question and no commercial awareness questions either at first interview.
Assessment Centre
There could be up to 12 applicants at the Assessment Centre from either Tax or Assurance. The actual timetable will also vary depending on location.
11.00am – The day will start with an introduction by a member of the recruitment team, there will also be a manager from the service line you are applying to present. The setup of the day will be explained as well as the tasks that you will be undertaking. This will be followed by a getting to know you session, where each person in the room will be asked to give their name, where they're from, what they're doing at the moment and what the best thing that has happened to them recently is.
11.45am – The first task of the day is a team meeting between all the people at the Assessment Centre. This task uses the research you are asked to complete prior to the Assessment Centre. You will have to talk through what you have found and devise a plan as to how your manager should present a presentation on the research area to a client. You will have 45 minutes for this task, however during the last 10 minutes the managers will ask some questions to clarify any points you have made.
12.30pm – For the second task you are given information on a company and a brief to follow. For this task you have to condense the information given to meet the brief. This is done on a laptop provided and all your work is saved onto a USB. You will have 45 minutes to complete this task and there are 8 pages of information provided.
1.30pm – You will have a 15 minute break for lunch prior to the third task. For this task you will be required to plan a careers fair event which Ernst and Young will be part of. For this you will be given a booklet which includes information on the event and people who can help you; this booklet is 6 pages long. You have to outline all the tasks which need to be completed, who you need to help you complete the tasks and a time frame for when the tasks need to be completed by. This task is only 30 minutes long and is again done on a laptop.
2.00pm – The next task will test your basic English skills. You will be given a report which has been compiled by someone who supposedly works at EY. It is full of spelling mistakes and grammatical errors and you have to find these and highlight them; the report is five pages long. You will also be asked to provide feedback to the person who wrote the report. You have to fill in a form as to how you will go about this and what you hope to achieve. This is followed by a 10 minute mock phone call to the person who wrote the report, this will be played by one of the managers at the Assessment Centre. In this task you will be asked to give feedback over the phone to help the person improve in the future. You have 30 minutes to proof read the report and 15 minutes for the phone call.
3.00pm – There will be another 15 minute break prior to the numerical test. This will be the PSL psychometric test and there are 32 questions to answer in 35 minutes. The questions get harder towards the end of the book. There are 3 diagrams or graphs on each page followed by between 3 and 5 questions relating to these diagrams.
3.45pm – The final task of the day will be a quick debrief by one of the managers at the Assessment Centre. There are 23 questions to answer and although they say this is informal it is just as important as any of the other tasks during the day. The questions include, How do you feel the day has gone? What have you learnt from today? What do you think was your best/worst task today? You are asked about each task and how you thought it went.
4.15pm – The day ends with the recruiter explaining how the application process will progress following the Assessment Centre. Including how and when you will be informed of the outcome of the day.
4.30am – End of the Assessment Centre.
If you have been successful at the Assessment Centre you will receive a call from the recruitment team within 2 days. This call will include feedback from the Assessment Centre on what you did well and why they are putting you through to the final stage of the application process. If you aren't successful you will first receive an e-mail followed by a call from the recruitment team to give you feedback on your Assessment Centre and what you need to improve on.
Partner Interview
23 December 2009 - 12:01pm
helpmenow
The EY assessment day 2009.
I applied for indirect tax, also at the day were applicants from direct tax and actuarial.
There are so many tasks compared to other assessment days i have been to. To let you know, i was unsuccessful which i thought was a load of BS. The graduate recruitment specialist was unable to give feedback. I thought i struggled on the numeracy test (saville consulting), but I was told i was in the 90%+ quartile so it wasn’t that. When i asked where i failed, he couldn’t tell me. Btw, i have over a year in another big four company. I don’t believe this day to be representative of the office, which they seem to think it is and they really emphasise this point.
Pre work (before assessment day)
• You are told to research 2 hours on the business benefits of investing in employer well-being. This is for the group discussion. When youre actually in the discussion, there will be new information that says the event is actually aimed at graduate recruiters. You then need to decide how to deal with that.
1) Numeracy test – this is formed of 24 questions and there are 3 sections. 1, verbal reasoning. You have 6 minutes to do 8 questions. Then there is the maths section and the logical reasoning section, same format, 6 minutes for 8 questions. My advice is to work fast and read the information quickly and carefully. Know your percentage changes and i also remember one of the questions is what word can replace ‘break-even’, the answer is ‘parity.’ The test is similar to the initial online screening one but harder and i think there is less time given to you too. To clarity, you do the test in 3 sections, 3 x 6minutes, so you don’t overrun from one section to the next.
2) Proof read – you are given a set of draft accounts for Green-move, 5 pages, written by an intern. You need to review and give feedback on this, through a phone call to ‘sam’ the intern, played by one of the assessors. This task is easy, simple spelling and grammar mistakes that you need to look out for such as, director’s report or directors’ report, missing full stops etc. on the front page, they have spelt march wrong. small mistakes like this.
3) Company analysis – the company is called green-move and in the recycling industry, you need to summarise around 5 pages of info into 4 main titles for your fake manager Claire. Company performance, where tarik (FD) is leading the company, the recycling business and also need to draft an email to tarik to invite him to speak at a lunch.
4) Graduate recruitment event planning. You need to plan a graduate recruitment event. There is a lot of info to digest and you need to also choose a marketing option. I chose option c. You need to plan a task list for yourself which needs to state the task itself, the timescale and who would be responsible. Tasks will include marketing material, booking train tickets, speaking to various people involved with recruitment.
5) There is a feedback bit where they ask you a load of questions, feels quite informal but i think it is assessed! you'll get asked, what do you think went well, what is your impression of ey etc... general bs questions, they scribble away so i think it does matter.
there is no partner interview, you'll only get that is you pass the AC. oh yeah, lunch is terrible! sandwiches. not like deloitte where they take you out to strada.
Good luck!
23 March 2010 - 6:32pm
tee234
Does anyone know the salary and benefits to expect as Graduate in IT Advisory (IT Risk and Assurance) working with E&Y in London? Thx guys
27 April 2010 - 3:02pm
princehaque
Hi helpmenow
I also applied to Indirecr Tax like you. I am invited to the Assessment Centre. I haven't done the first interview yet.
Shall I have to be prepared for an interview on the Assessment day?
Your prompt reply will be highly appreciated.
Regards
Haque
27 April 2010 - 3:02pm
princehaque
Hi helpmenow
I also applied to Indirecr Tax like you. I am invited to the Assessment Centre. I haven't done the first interview yet.
Shall I have to be prepared for an interview on the Assessment day?
Your prompt reply will be highly appreciated.
Regards
Haque
27 April 2010 - 3:02pm
princehaque
Hi helpmenow
I also applied to Indirecr Tax like you. I am invited to the Assessment Centre. I haven't done the first interview yet.
Shall I have to be prepared for an interview on the Assessment day?
Your prompt reply will be highly appreciated.
Regards
Haque
1 July 2010 - 10:54pm
gazesalso
Hi chocopie,
I just got accepted to Direct Tax and the programme is 3 years for the CA qualification - hope that helps!
6 September 2010 - 11:02pm
Slickdada
pls I have assessment with E&Y for Advisory in Consulting on wednesday 8th,dats in 2days. pls i need tips, v anyone done d assessment recently? will I do numerical and verbal test again?
PLS HEEEELP
8 November 2010 - 1:13am
tsr king
Hey,
I have an Assessment Day in Birmingham on the 11th November, for Indirect Tax. I was wondering if anyone has had one recently and how it went?
Many thanks.
27 November 2011 - 7:14pm
felics
does anyone know if the partner interview is on the same day as the AC :S
i have my AC in 2 days help needed quicly
cheersx
1 December 2011 - 12:07am
felics
did anyone have an AC on the 29th of Nov in London for EY? I was one of the people that attended that AC and just wanted to know if anyone was successful?
4 December 2011 - 12:54am
ak2k7
Hi Felic,
I have an AC coming up in London.
I have applied to the Human Capital division. What about you?
How did yours go by the way?
Is the set up of the day similar to the ones described above on the other posts?
Any hints /tips you can give?
Thanks in advance
4 December 2011 - 11:05pm
Fiyin_Faajs
Got AC in London on the 6th for the Graduate Human Capital Tax programme. Anyone else on that day?
4 December 2011 - 11:37pm
ak2k7
Hey Fiyin_Faajs,
I have AC on 20th for Summer Internship in Human Capital Tax.
I wish you the best of luck for your AC. Can you please let me know how it goes, once you've been through it?
It would be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
11 December 2011 - 1:07am
DragonCharm190
Hi guys, I had my AC mid November for Human Capital Tax, grad position, (there were also applicants at my AC who applied for an internship) and just thought I'd share my experience because I found it really helpful reading everybody else's before I went for mine.
So I arrived at the AC for 9:45, they collected us at around 10:30am and then we went and they had breakfast there for us and we just mingled (other applicants and graduate recruitment team). We all sat behind laptops and then introduced ourselves, immediately after we started the group exercise. We discussed the information we were told to research prior to the AC. During the discussion be considerate of the other people in the group, be a team player, speak clearly and don't be repetitive because you are quite short on time. Keep an eye on the clock and try to take notes if you can. Make sure you include others but don't make sure you do give your opinion, try to find a balance.
Then I was given some accounts and a report that an intern had produced. The "manager" had already read through it and highlighted some mistakes but there are a few more which they overlooked which you should notice. You have around 15 minutes to look through the report and write what you would like to speak to the intern about in terms of giving feedback on their report. When you take the call make sure to be polite and remember that they are an intern, give constructive criticism and positive feedback, try not to be negative. Give them advice on how they can improve and ask them if they want any general feedback. This was one of the easier tasks I'd say, also you will have to write an evaluation of your phone call after which is quite simple.
The next task is company analysis. You are given around 7-8 pages worth of information about a company and its industry which you need to summarise into roughly 2 sides I'd say for somebody to read to get a sound understand of the company and its position within the industry. Make sure you look through the entire booklet before you actually start typing just so you can decide what you think is relevant to include in the company analysis. Don't panic when you see graphs and charts either, take your time and make sure it is simple and somebody else would be able to understand it easily. Keep an eye on the time again, you get around 45 minutes for this task.
Lunch- a couple of graduates will join you for lunch. I found this REALLY useful because they were really helpful and extremely honest about EY and their experiences applying to the other Big 4. Ask them anything you want, they like talking and they've been in the same position as you so take the opportunity to ask them about anything you haven't found the answers to regarding the position you're applying for, the service line, division or company, work life etc.
After lunch we had 3 tests- verbal, numerical and non-verbal. Each test was 6 minutes long and had 8 questions. The graduate recruitment person will go through the practice questions with you before each test. I would definitely practice these before the AC, do as many as you can!!!
If there is a partner available you will have a partner interview but there wasn't one so they told us they would get back to us the next day or the day after that. The next day I was really panicky because it reached 6pm and I still hadn't received a call and then started thinking very negatively but they left me a voicemail at around 6:30pm inviting me to a Partner Interview which was supposed to be the week later but got rescheduled a couple of times, but eventually happened, around 2 weeks after the AC. If you'd like to know how the Partner Interview went and I'll post it on here, message me because I don't know if I'll be coming back onto this thread.
I hope this was helpful. Good luck with all of your applications, I wish you all the best! :)
11 December 2011 - 2:11pm
ak2k7
Hi DragonCharm190,
Thank you soo much on your insight to the Ernst&Young AC.
It was really helpful and I genuinely hope you have passed thePartner Interview.
Could you kindly post how the interview went as well, just in case there are Partners available when I take my AC.
I would really appreciate it, as I was told to prepare for an interview as well.
Anyways, your thread was extremely beneficial to me, and I hope I can get through this and work alongside you soon.
Kind Regards
12 December 2011 - 1:17am
DragonCharm190
As requested, here is a brief description of how the Partner Interview went...
They told me who would be interviewing me before hand and so I did a quick search of them and checked out their LinkedIn profile to get an idea of where they've worked before and how long they have been at EY (kind of stalkerish I know).
So I arrived there, early of course, and waited, the partner came and collected me from the reception and took me to a huge room for our interview. The partner said that it would take around 30 minutes and it would consist of him going through my CV and application with them, and then they had some questions they had to ask me.
The partner asked me about some of my previous work experiences which were in hospitals and health centres and asked how I ended up applying for tax and asked a few questions about my university course and how I have got to where I am. And we spoke about my CV for a while and then moved on to the questions which the partner said did not have a right or wrong answer.
The questions were based on my performance at the assessment centre, my strengths and where I could have improved. How I have used these strengths in other areas of my life. The partner was was trying to get an idea of what kind of person I am, how I like to work, my work ethic etc. Then went on to ask about working for EY if I would feel comfortable working there, working with different people, people who are sometimes loud and like to make themselves heard, people who are a lot older than me etc. A lot of questions relating to diversity, so try to be able to answer these. Questions regarding the qualification, progression within EY etc.
The partner then asked me if I had any questions- I had quite a few and so asked them anything I wanted to and asked them if they had any general advice they could give me.
I was really lucky to have a nice partner. But I would say to be yourself, you have gotten that far for a reason. Be honest and genuine, and when you get the chance to ask questions, ask away, show interest.
I hope this helped!!!
Good luck :) I'm sure all will go well :)
12 December 2011 - 7:03pm
Fiyin_Faajs
Hey ak2k7 I got the offer the next day. Lemme know if you need any help!
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very good company