EY’s Bristol office has welcomed 45 new graduates and apprentices – up from 41 last year – continuing the firm’s investment in its regional business and commitment to nurturing early talent.
The new hires are part of EY’s 1088 student recruits across the UK, including 909 graduates and 179 apprentices. Forty four percent of all the student recruits this year were based outside of London in EY’s regional offices, with notably large intakes in Bristol, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle and Reading. Across the UK, 46% of all the student recruits are women, 38% are from an ethnic minority, and 4% are Black. Of the new student hires in Bristol 42% are women and 22% are from ethnic minorities.
Karen Kirkwood, Office Managing Partner at EY in Bristol, said: “I’m delighted to welcome the new student intake for 2021 to the Bristol office. At a time when many students have been facing a challenging jobs market, we have continued to recruit throughout the pandemic and honoured all the conditional offers we made prior to A-Level results for the second year running. Over the summer, we also continued to deliver fantastic virtual internship programmes for students from the local area. This year, we welcomed 30 summer interns in Bristol, up from 19 in 2020.
“Almost half of the students EY has recruited across the UK this year will be based outside of London, in one of our regional offices, including in Bristol. This represents a significant investment in our regional businesses and continues our commitment to developing diverse talent from across the UK.
“Here in Bristol, we’ve been recruiting across all level of the business, from apprentices through to new Associate Partners and Partners to strengthen our capabilities in the region. It’s an exciting time to be working with and supporting our clients across the South West and Wales, as they transition out of the pandemic.”
Adapting to change
EY adapted its student recruitment programmes over the last 18 months to ensure that graduates and apprentices were still able to receive meaningful client experiences and study for their professional qualifications while working virtually. With restrictions now easing, students will complete their induction training virtually before adopting a hybrid working arrangement from mid-Autumn onwards, where they will split their time between office, client site and remote working.
To ensure students receive the right level of support, EY has introduced more one-to-one touchpoints for students with their line managers and coaches and will be arming students with tools and tips on working in a virtual world. There will also be both virtual and in-person networking sessions and more peer support groups.
Despite the challenges of COVID, EY has also provided 30 virtual placements in Bristol, through a Business Academy, Industrial Placements and a Summer Internship scheme.. The programmes provide students with insights into working life at EY and are also designed to help build key skills
Nationally, the EY Foundation – EY’s independent charity – provided over 600 placements on its Smart Futures, Our Futures and Beyond Your Limits programmes. Through these programmes, the EY Foundation supports young people from low-income backgrounds to gain paid work experience, employability skills training and career advice.
Diverse early talent
EY is committed to attracting and retaining diverse talent and last year set out a series of new anti-racism commitments. This included a commitment to offering at least 30% of EY’s work experience places to Black young people for the next five years. In addition, EY has increased the number of places on its ‘Discover EY Black Heritage in Business’ programme for first year undergraduates by 72%. The two-day virtual programme gives Black students the opportunity to learn more about EY, gain career advice and network. EY’s Race and Ethnicity employee network is also now offering a mentoring scheme to support early talent as students begin their career at EY.
Justine Campbell, EY’s UK&I Managing Partner for Talent, says: “It is important that we continue to recruit the brightest and best at EY, which is why we are working hard to attract and retain diverse entry level talent, particularly throughout the pandemic and beyond.
“We know that many of these new hires will become the future leaders of our business so it’s vital that we equip them with the expertise, skills and hands-on experience needed to get their EY career off to a flying start.”
