Hiring insights from EY, finding a new role mid-career, and more job seeker news
How do you get hired at a Big Four firm? I recently chatted with Donna Khawaja, Director, Talent Management and Operations for Canada at EY, to learn about how the hiring process in professional services has changed this year, which skills are in demand and what it takes to get in the door today.*
RG: Thanks for joining me, Donna. What do you look for these days when hiring someone to work at EY?
DK: Over the past little while we’ve been growing and responding to the different market trends and needs in the business. ... We’re really looking for individuals that are very globally-oriented, people that are flexible in their thinking, people that think critically, are inclusive and problem solvers. And that would apply across all the different service lines that we recruit for.
RG: 2021 has been such an interesting year in terms of hiring and labour market dynamics, both in Canada and globally. What are the major hiring challenges you’ve been grappling with?
DK: There’s such a war on talent right now, and we’ve been seeing a shift in the marketplace ... all the firms are all looking for the same skillset or technical skills.
…A lot of the tech that we’re dealing with right now or will be working with in the future is still in development, or has not yet been invented, so it’s not just about recruiting people who have the technical skills today, it’s recruiting individuals and attracting individuals that will be able to grow these skills and competencies that we’re looking for in the future.
RG: You mentioned the war for talent. How are you adapting your hiring practices to attract the best and brightest workers in such a competitive environment?
DK: We have been really streamlining our candidate experience. Gone are the days where to get a job you go from A to Z, and these are the steps you need to go through to do it … We want to make the candidate experience a lot more engaging, very streamlined, and for myself personally, more transparent in terms of what to expect. … We are no longer the ones that are driving and determining, we are wooing and we are actively attracting candidates.
RG: What advice do you have for candidates interested in a career in professional services? What can they do to make themselves more marketable?
DK: Always do your research. I think there’s nothing as frustrating as sitting across from a candidate who does not understand what professional services is or what EY does. So always do your research, always understand what you have and what you can bring to the table, and what you can offer. … The best candidates are the ones that are able to articulate what your transferable skills are to the specific practice, service line or firm that you’re speaking with – that’s huge.
RG: What do people misunderstand about the process, or frequently wrongly assume?
DK: In what we coach our students on campus, it’s not always about having that “strong traditional resume,” it’s not just about getting straight A’s, it’s not just about being perfect on a resume. We look for unique experiences, unique skills, something that sets you apart, something that shows that you’re beyond just being academic. And that tells us you’re versatile, it tells us that you have other interests beyond school, which means that you can really balance, it means you can multitask. And it shows you have a diverse and global mindset in terms of what you do.
Let’s face it, the job market now vs. 30 years ago: people change jobs. People go to different firms, people want different experiences. We are a firm that offers that and we want to attract individuals that have that mindset.
….We tell any candidates that comes to us, to be yourself. Show us what you’re about, why are you different, why are you unique, and don't be shy about sharing that, because that’s really what we look for. We also look for diversity in terms of experiences, not just professional experiences but personal experiences as well.
RG: Many job seekers are worried about looking like a “job hopper” or having too many jobs if, say, they’ve spent two-three years in a position and moved on. It sounds like that wouldn’t be a deterrent, that would be an asset here?
DK: Absolutely. That’s just the reality; not a lot of people stay with their first job and retire at 65 for the same organization. Internally, within our firm, we encourage people to do different things, … but we also from a retention perspective try to offer internally different rotational programs to have experience and work in other practice lines, or work at other offices across the globe.
RG: Where do you see a lot of job opportunities right now? What areas are growing fastest at the moment?
DK: All four of our service lines … it’s all growing and we’re hiring like gangbusters – and we’re not the only ones, all the other firms are as well too. There’s traditional roles, where we have deep roots in tax and audit, and that’s not going away anytime soon. But even in tax and audit, there are so many new groups and specialities emerging.
…Environmental sustainability is new, it’s emerging and continues to grow. Cybersecurity, for sure, is huge for us. Data analytics is an area that we’re always focused on growing. Given our digital world, digital design as well too, it’s not just about analytics. Data scientists is an area that we’re looking for as well.
Government and private sector is something we’ve been looking at investing heavily in as well, change and sustainability, and also our people policies practice.
Those would be our big areas. Those jobs, those roles and those competencies: you find anyone who has experiences in those areas is very coveted right now. Block chain, risk professionals, as well.
*Interview has been edited for brevity.
Have you been through the hiring process recently in professional services? Share your questions and experiences in the comments.
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