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EY change location after application?

I applied to Ernst & Young at their Edinburgh office but due to personal circumstances it seems as though I will be needing to stay in Inverness. This will be for the Aug/Sept intake but I know they only allow one application a year. I passed the online tests and I took the telephone interview today; Provided I am successful in the telephone interview, do you think they would reconsider me for the Inverness position instead?

Thanks.
EY (and other large professional services firms) expect their employees to be mobile unless you are doing some kind of back-office administrative role. This is because their work is where their clients are, not really at their offices. If you are not based in London, you should expect to spend a fair amount of time travelling. Even if you are based in London, you may still end up travelling a lot. I know a number of Edinburgh based people working for EY, KPMG and PWC who spend less than 30% of their time actually in Edinburgh. Travel will likely be greater doing Advisory vs Assurance.
Original post by Renegade_JL
EY (and other large professional services firms) expect their employees to be mobile unless you are doing some kind of back-office administrative role. This is because their work is where their clients are, not really at their offices. If you are not based in London, you should expect to spend a fair amount of time travelling. Even if you are based in London, you may still end up travelling a lot. I know a number of Edinburgh based people working for EY, KPMG and PWC who spend less than 30% of their time actually in Edinburgh. Travel will likely be greater doing Advisory vs Assurance.


This is a little misleading in the context of what the OP is asking. Yes the firms expect you to be 'mobile', but only really to the extent that they expect you to travel to clients which are largely commutable. So, while the OP has applied to the Edinburgh office they won't be expected to work in the Edinburgh office everyday, but will travel to clients throughout Edinburgh and the wider area. Similarly, I rarely work in my Southampton office, but travel to client sites in the wider Southampton & Hampshire area. However, I am still 'based' in Southampton. Given the massive distance from Inverness to Edinburgh, it would not be unreasonable to ask for the application to be transferred to Inverness.
There are loads of anecdotes and stories out there about the Big 4 sending their trainees to the other end of the country every week, living out of hotels and suitcases for 50 weeks of the year etc. It's mostly nonsense. These firms have multiple offices nationwide to avoid people having to do this. With the number of offices and employees it means the client probably has a "local" office! I've been at my firm for nearly 9 months and my only stay-away 'jobs' have been for internal training and college- never for an actual chargeable job.

Advice to OP- definitely tell them sooner rather than later about the switch in location. That way they can assess the recruitment pools for both locations and see if they're able to move you. It's not unheard of. Good luck!
Original post by chester.
This is a little misleading in the context of what the OP is asking. Yes the firms expect you to be 'mobile', but only really to the extent that they expect you to travel to clients which are largely commutable. So, while the OP has applied to the Edinburgh office they won't be expected to work in the Edinburgh office everyday, but will travel to clients throughout Edinburgh and the wider area. Similarly, I rarely work in my Southampton office, but travel to client sites in the wider Southampton & Hampshire area. However, I am still 'based' in Southampton. Given the massive distance from Inverness to Edinburgh, it would not be unreasonable to ask for the application to be transferred to Inverness.
There are loads of anecdotes and stories out there about the Big 4 sending their trainees to the other end of the country every week, living out of hotels and suitcases for 50 weeks of the year etc. It's mostly nonsense. These firms have multiple offices nationwide to avoid people having to do this. With the number of offices and employees it means the client probably has a "local" office! I've been at my firm for nearly 9 months and my only stay-away 'jobs' have been for internal training and college- never for an actual chargeable job


I suspect it varies by service line. My personal experience of Big 4 Advisory (based in London) was multi-month stints of 3 to 4 nights per week in Edinburgh, Halifax, Gloucester and other locations, as well as shorter international assigments in Europe. Basically whereever the consulting work was.

For a regional audit role the client base is likely more stable and firm resources matched to local demand.
Original post by Renegade_JL
I suspect it varies by service line. My personal experience of Big 4 Advisory (based in London) was multi-month stints of 3 to 4 nights per week in Edinburgh, Halifax, Gloucester and other locations, as well as shorter international assigments in Europe. Basically whereever the consulting work was.

For a regional audit role the client base is likely more stable and firm resources matched to local demand.



Ahhh, my apologies.... this.... "I suspect it varies by service line". I imagine that can be rather crucial. Unfortunately, I am firmly stuck in audit-mode and I struggle to escape its clutches! :argh: Counting the days until case...
Original post by chester.
Ahhh, my apologies.... this.... "I suspect it varies by service line". I imagine that can be rather crucial. Unfortunately, I am firmly stuck in audit-mode and I struggle to escape its clutches! :argh: Counting the days until case...

Hi, would you say the flexibility is higher now that it is hybrid work or are clients still predominantly expecting you to be in their sites for audit/assurance which is be largely based in the city that the office is in?

I asked to switch locations but they had no vacancies in the branches (Scotland from Yorkshire) so I will have to find a second place 5 to 6 hours away to accommodate this.

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