We recently caught up with Louisa about how they secured a role with EY, what taking part in Internship Experience UK was like and their top tips for Bright Network members looking to follow in their footsteps.
What stood out to you about EY?
EY stood out to me not only because of its world-leading position within the professional services industry but also due to the culture within the firm. From everyone I spoke to that worked at EY, both before and during my application, they all spoke about the strong people culture and how there is an emphasis on bringing the best out of people. I particularly resonated with this knowing that EY had a strong focus on personal development. EY’s purpose of ‘Building a better working world’ also stood out to me, focussing on providing the best service to clients rather than just focusing on profits.
What prompted you to take part in Internship Experience UK?
After graduating in 2020 I wasn’t entirely sure what sector I wanted to go into and with the pandemic restricting in-person internships, when I saw Internship Experience UK being advertised, I thought it would be a great way to get an overview of roles within different sectors. The wide variety of leading firms taking part in IEUK really attracted me and it provided an excellent insight into different roles. I completed both the Finance & Professional Services and the Business, Operation & Marketing streams and this helped me to further understand which roles would be a good fit for me.
If you could describe Internship Experience UK in one word, what would it be and why?
Internship Experience UK in one word would be insightful. Personally, I found Internship Experience UK to be particularly useful in gaining information about a wide range of roles within finance, professional services, business, operations and marketing. Hearing from employees from the top firms which attended gave specific insight into the different firms and roles and the opportunity to ask questions to employees who were recent graduates themselves was particularly interesting to hear from someone who was in your positions only a year or two earlier. This level of insight is something I wouldn’t have been able to gain having not attended Internship Experience UK.
What skills/tips did you learn from Internship Experience UK?
One of the main things I learnt from Internship Experience UK was that, for most graduate roles, you don’t need specific experience in that area, and it is more about being able to speak about transferable skills you gain from any experience through either part-time work or extra-curricular activities. This really gave me confidence coming from a degree in a non-finance background. Also, I learnt the importance of really researching the firm and understanding its values to help you stand out within an application process.
How did you build up your commercial awareness before taking part in Internship Experience UK?
I generally keep up to date with the news and, specifically before Internship Experience UK I made sure to read up about the specific business/financial news which would be related to what was spoken about at Internship Experience UK. This helped to get a wider understanding of the information being spoken about at the experience and then later during my application to EY.
What’s been the toughest interview question you've faced and how did you tackle it?
The toughest interview question I faced was ‘what are your top three weaknesses’, although this doesn’t seem very complicated being able to name a weakness and back it up with an example that doesn’t negatively impact the role was daunting. To prepare for questions like this I would think of examples of experiences I have done and how these could be applied to different interview questions. This helped to be able to use examples over a wide range of questions rather than banking on certain questions being asked. At the end of the day, everyone has weaknesses and being able to communicate them effectively will show you have a good understanding of yourself and why you would be a good fit for the role.
What top three tips would you give Bright Network members looking to follow in your footsteps?
- Research the role and the company in real detail. Not only does this help you to identify whether the role is right for you, but it will also help throughout the application process and during interviews, being able to communicate why you want to work at that specific firm over anywhere else is really important.
- Network with as many people as you can; this gives you the best opportunity to find answers to specific questions you may have and also allows you to build up information that can’t be found online to use in interviews.
- Believe in yourself and don’t give up, no matter what background you have as long as you can show you have the right strengths this will give you the best chance in securing the role. Even if you receive a number of rejections, use these as experience and take the learnings from them into other applications.
Let us know where you've secured your work experience, internship or graduate role. We want to celebrate your success with a gift from us and exclusive invitations to evening networking drinks throughout the year.
