Ernst & Young TSRS Internship Interview Process

Technology and Security Risk Services (TSRS) - summer internship interview & assessment process

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The applicaiton and assessment process for a summer internship is as follows:

• Website application
• Assessment centre

After submitting your application form, candidates are usually contacted by email within two to three weeks, either with a rejection notification, or an invitation to an assessment centre.

Assessment Centre

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There is only one single round of assessment (the assessment centre itself) and this consists of two exercises and an interview with a member of the service line you applied to.

The assessment centre consists of:

• Arrival
• Corporate presentation
• Report writing case study
• Interview
• Lunch
• Group discussion

Arrival

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The day usually begins at 9:30am. You will arrive at reception and meet up to ten other students and graduates. Pastries and water will be available.

Welcome Presentation

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Ernst & Young begin the internship assessment centre with a corporate presentation. A graduate recruitment representative will give a brief talk and show a PowerPoint presentation with some information about the summer vacation scheme. The talk will be about 15 minutes long.

Report Writing

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At about 10:00am candidates will be asked to perform the first task of the day, which tests your ability to digest important information and rewrite it in a professional, concise and easy to understand manner.

In the past candidates have been given a case study involving a Hotel group that wants to sell part of its business. The report is not about your opinion or recommendation, but simply a test to see how well you can condense information. The first half of the task involves writing a list of key factors that must be considered. The second half of the task involves including in the report what services E&Y could offer the company should the divestment go ahead.

Interview

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At about 11:45am candidates will sit an interview with someone from the TSRS division itself. The interview should be fairly comfortable and relaxed. Candidates have noted the interview was very much a two-way conversation.

Questions candidates have been asked in the past include:

• What is your proudest accomplishment?
• Tell me about a time you worked with a team (teamwork).
• Tell me about a time you lead a team (leadership).
• Tell me about a time you used your own initiative.
• Tell me about a time you showed flexibility.
• Tell me about a time you changed the way you did something based on the recommendations of others.
• Why do you want to join Ernst & Young?
• Why Ernst & Young over other Big 4 firms?

The whole interview will take approximately 40 minutes to one hour.

Lunch (with trainees)

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Ernst & Young provide a free lunch which consists of sandwiches. Your candidate group will be joined by an equal number of current company graduate trainees. You will be given the opportunity to talk informally with them, finding out what it was really like working at the firm. There will be one trainee from the appropriate service line for each candidate being interviewed.

Group Discussion

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At 1:30pm all of your candidate group will be split into three smaller groups and lead to separate meeting rooms. You will be given the reports written in the earlier exercise and a few pieces of paper to continue working on the Hotel case study. You will then have ten minutes to individually come up with answers for the following:

• Three advantages and three disadvantages for the company to proceed with the divestment.
• Assuming the divestment is completed, three strategies for the company to continue increasing their market share.
• Additional information you need from the client to make a recommendation.

At the end of the time allowed, two assessors will walk in to your room. You will be asked to ignore them. You will then be given 20 minutes as a group to agree on the three main disadvantages and 3 main advantages. At the end of the 20 minutes, you will be given a new 'e-mail' which will inform you that you now have ten minutes to decide on the three best strategies to recommend to the Hotel group.

The assessment centre ends at 2:30pm.