Company: EY
Date: 2008-05-23
Overall rating: 4/5
Employment status: former

E&Y - work hard, learn a lot, enjoy the people, and make sure to take care of your career
Pros: For me the best reason to work at Ernst & Young were the people.  The firm is young, and filled with people that are eager to learn and develop their careers.  The firm does a great job in educating you to be prepared for your career, they put a huge focus on this.  Additionally you will progress faster at a public accounting firm like E&Y than you would in an industry position - you will work hard to get there, but you will get there much faster.  Additionally there are so many leadership positions that you can sink your teeth into by simply volunteering.  It is a great place to develop leadership, teamwork, and education on accounting.
Cons: Work/Life Balance is a recognized struggle in public accounting.  Despite the firm's attempt to voice the ability to have work/life balance it doesn't fit in well with a "client serving" atmosphere.  When your clients need work done, then need it done right then.  This at times means sacrificing vacation or family plans.  The work hours are also generally grueling.  There are lulls during the year where the work load is light, but overall you will work more in public accounting that elsewhere.  A lot of these negatives go hand-in-hand with the positives (i.e. you have low work/life balance because you are working hard and learning quicker than your peers in industry).  Additionally you will find that becuase you are in an atmosphere with very driven people, some of those people are difficult to work with and do not see the opportuinty to nuture and develop their people.  You really have to keep an eye out and manage the people that you work for - find the people that will develop your career and get on their jobs.