I applied through college or university. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at EY (New York, NY) in Oct 2014
Interview
Applied through University website, was informed I was chosen for a first round interview. Invited to attend an EY Dinner with all other interviewees and professionals from the firm. The next day, a greeter led us to the half hour long interview. My interviewer told me a little about himself and then asked the same of me. The interview was mostly conversational, but he asked me about a few things on my resume and my class load. Was called back for a second round in the city.
At Super Day, 16 potential interns and full-timers were put into a room where we introduced ourselves. We were then shown a PowerPoint and told a little more about the company. After, some of us were told to first stay in the room for a Panel, consisting of a few new hires, who were there to answer any questions and give us advice. Others went straight to the two half hour interviews, then we switched. Those were pretty straight forward. Both the senior manager and partner who interviewed me were really nice. The first asked me questions- like how I handle multi-tasking, what the most recent thing I was really proud of was and something I've worked on or done that was frustrating and other similar ones. Other questions were resume based- then we just chatted and she pretty much told me I passed all of the questions she had.The partner I interviewed with asked more resume based questions, especially about the older things on my resume. He asked about a few competitions I did 2 and 4 years ago, which I wasn't expecting. The mood was really relaxed and casual though and we joked a bit. We related on tennis and some other interests as well. Overall, really relaxed interviews that went by smoothly and quickly. No curve balls were thrown, perhaps because of Vision 2020.
Was selected for a first round interview, the interviewer insisted that the process be more like a conversation than a behavioral interview. As such, the interview turned about to be a more about s discussion of myself than my resume. Was selected for a second round interview which consisted of a pre-interview dinner and a superday the following the day. The dinner was essentially a chance for the applicants to get to know the firm better and the superday was excellent. Interviewed by a senior manager and a partner both of whom were incredibly friendly and their questions were fairly simple, "Why audit," "tell me about a time when.." and etc. Left after a lunch with a new staffer. Excellent interview process and everyone at the firm helped you feel welcomed.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
I see that you left xxx school to come to your current school, can you talk about that?
I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at EY (Auckland, ) in May 2014
Interview
I applied for an internship after meeting an EY representative at the Careers Fair. The person I spoke to was friendly and seemed to enjoy his role (he had recently started working as a graduate). After I applied I was contacted about a month later with an invitation to attend the Assessment Centre (AC).
The AC consisted of 3 rounds: Interview, Group Activity and Office Tour as well as some networking time in between. The group activity involved reading a 10-12 page case study without any highlighters, use of whiteboards or any writing on the actual case study. I recommend creating a SWOT analysis or having some sort of structure whilst you are making notes on the notepad provided.
My experience of EY was not as pleasant as the person I had met at the Careers Fair. I found the manager interviewing me to be boring and disinterested (wasn't sure if that was him normally or perhaps he was put-off by my bubbly personality) and during the networking time I felt like I was being 'suffocated' within the firm.
By the end of AC found I was just not a good fit with the EY culture. Although, I do believe the AC experience really provided me with valuable AC experience - which proved to be very helpful in securing an internship within another organisation.
The feedback provided by EY was critical and brutal - just the way I like it. This provided me with good ground on which to focus for self-development and I believe this was a critical success factor is my subsequent successful AC at a different organisation.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Business Case was quite long - so definitely try and use some sort of technique e.g. SWOT to sort out your notes!