How i got into EY GDS as ACCA Affiliate
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--- Myself a 22 yr old girl, who have been working with EY for almost 2 years now and this is how i got into EY!
I have been getting a lot of DMs asking about how I got in, so I thought I'd just make a post explaining my entire process.
Applying & Getting a Referral
I qualified in July 2024. Before that, I had applied to a lot of openings but never got any callbacks.
The day before I qualified, a new position called Core Audit Staff opened up, specifically looking for an ACCA fresher.
I used to follow a lot of people from EY on LinkedIn, especially those who regularly posted about openings and asked people to reach out for referrals. The day I qualified, I immediately sent my details to one of them, and he referred me.
Referral is so underrated. Reach out to anyone working in the firm, especially people who actively post openings. A referral definitely helps your application get noticed more easily than a direct application.
One thing I did was use two email IDs:
One email ID for referrals.
Another email ID to apply directly, just to be on the safer side.
The reason is, once someone refers you for a role, only that person can refer you for other openings for the next 6 months. If they stop responding, you're stuck. Having a second email ID lets another employee refer you.
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HR Calls
Within a week, I received a call from HR asking basic questions:
Qualification
Location preference
Whether I was willing to relocate
A day or two later, I got another call asking about my availability for an interview.
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Interview Process
My interview was online, and there was only one interview. (Recently, I believe most interviews have shifted to offline.)
The interview lasted around 30–40 minutes.
She first introduced herself and asked me to introduce myself.
Practice your introduction beforehand.
She then went through my CV and asked about my:
Qualifications
Certifications
Resume details
So make sure you're confident about everything you've mentioned on your resume.
After that, she moved on to accounting and finance questions. They were basic, but not too basic. Then she asked audit-related questions.
If you're an ACCA student/affiliate, I'd recommend revising the AAA textbook. You can also simply search Google or LinkedIn for EY audit interview questions—most of the commonly asked questions are available there.
I definitely didn't answer everything perfectly.
The important thing is to keep your composure. If you don't know something, don't panic. Just be honest and say something like:
"I'm not entirely sure, but I'll definitely look into it."
Even when I struggled with some questions, she actually tried helping me also
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Excel skills & Internship
She then asked whether I knew Excel.
I had completed Excel certifications, so I told her that while I had done certifications, I didn't have much practical experience.
During the gap between my last ACCA exam and receiving my offer letter, I had done a 2-month internship at a local CA firm.
It wasn't mentioned on my resume because I didn't have an internship certificate, but I brought it up during the interview.
Since I had used some Excel functions there i mentioned it, she asked me about:
What work I did
My responsibilities
My Excel usage
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HR Questions
Towards the end, she asked the usual HR questions like:
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Why EY?
I had already practiced these using ChatGPT, but I also added some personal touches.
For example, I mentioned that EY was the first Big 4 firm I had ever heard about, so I always wanted to start my career there.
Adding something personal makes your answer sound much more genuine.
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One Random Question That Helped
She randomly asked me whether I knew any EY audit tools/software.
Luckily, I had come across their names in a LinkedIn post earlier, so I was able to mention a few. ( Canvas, Helix, Atlas - these are main ones)
She seemed to like that.
That's why I'd strongly recommend using LinkedIn a lot.
Honestly, during that time I spent more time scrolling LinkedIn than any other social media.
That's where I learned:
How to apply
How referrals work
Common interview questions
People's interview experiences
Once you start engaging with those posts, your feed becomes extremely useful.
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After the Interview
The interview ended, and the next day I sent a thank-you email.
Even before ending the interview, I told the interviewer that it had been really comfortable talking to her and thanked her for making the interview such a positive experience.
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Offer Letter
After that, there was no update for almost a month.
During that time, I also interviewed for another EY role called Advanced Audit Associate, which was also hiring ACCA freshers.
Around a month later, I received a form to fill out and there was background verification process.
Within a week, I got my offer letter asking me to join the following week.
There wasn't any salary negotiation. I guess that's because I was a fresher.
HR had casually mentioned the approximate salary during one of the earlier phone calls.
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So that's basically how I got into EY.
I've been getting a lot of DMs about my process, so I thought I'd put everything in one post.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Happy to help!