No Work-Life Imbalance!!! Enjoy a life outside work?...EY is not for you!
Pros
Good training. The people you work with are in general friendly, social and very competent. I suppose the EY badge has some prestige also
Cons
No work life balance. This is not just restricted to busy season. 9 to 8 cam easily become the norm. It wouldn't be so bad if you were recognized for your efforts but working long hours is so ingrained that its almost expected. Try leaving at 5:30 and expect to receive comments like "having a half day Bob." Work is tedious and could be done by someone coming straight out of A-Levels. To compensate the tedium, your managers assign you huge amounts of work, give you enough time to complete half of it, but expect all of it to be done. Hence, without telling you, they make you work evenings a weekends. Pay scale is terrible. Honestly do not see why the Partners earn so much for doing so little. I would happily get paid £500k to walk around and try to tell jokes with the managers. But my biggest gripe is the lack of recognition. You work hard, put in the hours, raise the bar...and then what do you get...a well done and meets expectations on your feedback. Rubbing salt in the wounds, other people surfing Facebook all day and still get the same grading. Get in, get qualified and leave before you lose all your drive and ambition to have a meaningful career.