A day in the life of a business hot shot

How do you start a business career without a degree?

Our friends over at EY are all about community. Finance is their bag. So they literally help school leavers get in on the money by supporting them into a job at EY. On the EY School Leavers programme, young people learn practical business skills at EY headquarters. By the time they’re done, they’re experienced in the workplace and as qualified in business as some of their peers who spent that time getting a degree.

School leaver Shiva Varma works in the Business Immigration team at EY. He’s exposed to a variety of different clients, tasks and responsibilities. Shiva talks to vInspired about a typical day in the office as part of the EY School Leavers programme.

• 9:00am – 9:30am: Check my e-mails to prioritise the work I’m going to do today.
• 9:30 – 10:00am: Conference call with partners across Europe. We’re discussing a new business opportunity and reviewing the proposal I’ve written. This is possibly the most exciting and terrifying meeting I’ve been involved in. Some of the partners involved have held/do hold extremely senior positions globally within the firm.
• 10:00am – 11:00am: I take on board suggestions throughout the meeting and redraft my proposal with the partner from the UK portion of the team.
• 11:00am – 12:00pm: I’m working with the rest of the Business Immigration team on our various UK inbound clients, as well as internal clients at EY who may be travelling abroad. This could involve administrative tasks (like photocopying or creating client files) or searching through legal guidance to answer queries.
• 12:00pm – 1:00pm: Lunchtime! Great time to socialise with other team members and School Leavers. Sometimes you see some of the office celebrities in the canteen – I even spotted the global CEO eating his lunch once!
• 1:00pm – 2:00pm: Meeting with a client to discuss their needs and what EY can do for them. As usual, my priority is to provide exceptional client service. They need guidance on legal requirements - they’re trying to obtain full British Citizenship. We also help them fill out application forms and complete legal documents required to prove they’re eligible to become a citizen.
• 2:00pm – 4:00pm: I have to finish off my tasks for the day. This can be simple stuff like photocopying documents, filling out application forms and setting up meetings. Harder stuff includes running a shared mailbox and tracker. This helps coordinate a global project for one of our biggest clients.
• 4:00pm – 5:00pm: Revising for my professional exams. EY is fantastic for this. They not only pay for our training and exams but they even allow us to study during the work day. Everyone here has done some form of professional exam. They understand how demanding working a full work week and revising can be. I certainly appreciate how much the team care and how understanding they are.
• 5:00pm – 9:00pm: Met with some colleagues from the School Leaver Programme. It’s always good to catch up with everyone and find out how they’re getting on. Sometimes you can share good advice with them and sometimes they even have some good advice for you.

No two days are the same at EY. Sometimes you can spend all day in the office on different projects. Other days you could be meeting clients or even meeting prospective School Leavers at their assessment centres. Will I see you there?

Interested? Check out how to become an EY School Leaver.

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