The biggest mistake that someone especially accounting/MIS/CS majors early in their careers can do by joining EY Tampa Media & Entertainment (M&E)/Media Rating Council (MRC) team is to DESTROY their career. Literally, no other company does what this team does and the MRC standards that the team works on is not even a regulatory standard, so the experience is not relevant outside this team (not even in the industry). There have been a couple of instances where the employees moved to the clients but it gets extremely difficult if you have experience in only MRC standards. Proof: Search how many jobs are open that require MRC knowledge/skills. You will find 0-2 jobs open in the whole country so it shows how irrelevant is the experience to the industry.
The team itself have contradicting interpretation of the standards. I saw so many instances where even senior managers and directors get in an argument on how to interpret a single standard. This is because there is only one guy from the MRC body (in NYC) who writes the standards based on his discussions with the clients who voluntarily want themselves to be audited on MRC standards. And the standards are so generic in nature (no technical knowledge needed) that everyone can interpret them differently. This results in 4 things: one, clients are always confused on what to provide and expect even if its an year on year audit because if its a different manager on the project than last year then he will have his own interpretation (Proof: just google ey mrc reddit and you will see what clients have to say). Secondly, because of lack of clarity of controls understanding within the team and the clients, there is always a delay in the meeting the deadlines. This results in engagements going out of budget most of the times and then seniors/managers always try to blame interns/staff. I have seen interns being blamed for the delay in deliverables when in fact its not their job to keep the budget under control. But, oh well, some senior/manager needed to save himself and someones needed to be blamed. Secondly, interns/staff/seniors have nothing to learn because there is no standard understanding. Third, if you don't click with the senior management then they can hold you on to what you have understood and since there is no standard understanding, be prepared to hear - you need to work on knowing the standards. This will affect the yearly reviews (even promotions, doesn't matter how hard you've worked throughout the year)
Last point about the team - its work environment is completely based on how you click with the senior management. If they personally like you then even big mistakes like screwing up client relationship (which is one of the EY 4 pillars of work ethics) are ignored. If not, then be prepared to loose your promotion because of a small thing like a spelling mistake. Senior management has least interest in employees' career path; I have seen people spending as much as 4 years at staff level which is unseen in other EY teams (I have experience working in other teams in EY and have friends/relatives working all over united states and know how progressions and promotions are made). There are multiple examples in the team where an employee was denied promotion in one year saying his performance was not at par, then he continues to work the same way and next year he is promoted with the real reason being people leave this MRC team left and right throughout the year and management had lack of resources at that particular level in that year. The promotions are totally dependant on whether you are the manager's mouthpiece and lick his boots (they call it getting yourself a mentor).
Couple of other small sad things about the team - you will hear senior management quoting this all the time - 1. your career is not a race but a marathon. This is quoted in many team meetings and reviews which actually is a way of saying keep slogging and donot expect us to recognize you through promotions/progressions. 2. There is something called EY bravo award which is a monetary recogintion of good work. Although the minimum is $50 (which is nothing when you are getting it 1-2 times in a year on an average), I know other EY teams giving away $100 as bravo award. This team is so stingy that it sticks with the minimum of $50. I got to know the level of stinginess of this team when suddenly they stopped giving out donuts on Fri. The reason being those Fri donuts were the leftovers from another team sitting on the same floor all these days and that team stopped ordering extra donuts. 3. The office is in downtown and you need to pay $8-11 everyday for parking and $20 whenever there is an event in downtown (which is every other day because its tampa downtown and private parking places need reason to charge more). So you are looking at $2000-2400 per year directly from your pocket.
Good thing: Free starbucks coffee that you have to prepare if the coffee pot is empty (spending 15 minutes waiting for the coffee to be brewed from the machine)
Bottom line: DO NOT join this team unless you really don't have any other option. Interns who didnt get full-time, feel lucky about yourselves because otherwise you would have joined this team thinking about the EY tag and then have gotten stuck. Staff get out of there if you want to do something relevant in life. In my experience with EY for almost 4 years working in various team, this post is not directed to EY as a whole but only at the EY tampa MRC team. I think EY as a whole gives a lot of relevant experience that industry cares about but not this team. I have seen and learnt a lot from amazing leaders in EY but NONE of the partners/exec. directors in this team is a leader. Leaders are different than managers, some of them might be able to manage projects well but none of them is a leader.
