John Fink

The Dublin Economic Monitor indicates in its most recent edition (February 2019), that as of Q3 2018 the employed workforce of Dublin measured at 696,200, the highest value since records began by the Central Statistics Office in 1998. Obviously, there is no shortage of available labor and as such, it takes talent to impress employers. Corporations seek the best from a wide pool of potential hires, and to stay competitive anyone seeking future employment will need to hone their professional skills to satisfy the requirements of the corporate world. Taking courses or reading literature on a new skill auxiliary to that of your primary studies might one day make the difference between you and another candidate for your ideal career, or help you discover a completely unexpected career path. Trends on sector growth in Dublin provide valuable insight into what industries are expanding, thus making new hires and from that one can approximate what skills might make them a more valuable member of the workforce:

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Eva Rapkauskaite

If you have never heard of the Big Four Accounting Firms – You have been living under a rock. But don’t worry I am here to help you and brighten up your knowledge about The Big Four.

What are they? 

The Big Four Accounting Firms include PwC, Deloitte, EY and KPMG.
They are leading players in the accountancy industry, with their services spanning advisory, audit, tax, risk consulting and management consulting.

All four firms work across a variety of industries, including: aerospace, automotive, banking, construction, hospitality, pharmaceuticals, transportation, wealth management, media, government and public sector, manufacturing, private equity, technology, oil and energy, financial services, healthcare, insurance, professional services, real estate, retail, and telecommunications.

As part of firm strategy and direction, all four firms have strengthened their focus on tackling key economic and social issues affecting both the accountancy sector and the UK as a whole in recent years. These issues include Brexit, diversity, the gender pay gap, social mobility and digital transformation.[1]

PwC

• Have offices in 157 countries, 721 locations
• More than 223,000 people employed
• PwC ranks as the second largest professional services firm in the world behind Deloitte
• The firm was formed in 1998 by a merger between Coopers & Lybrand and Price Waterhouse. Both firms had histories dating back to the 19th century.
• The trading name was shortened to PwC in September 2010 as part of a rebranding effort
• As of 2017, PwC is the 5th-largest privately- owned company in the United States

At PwC, employers or intern progress is their priority. You’ll be working with clients, learning from your team, sharing your unique perspective and making a difference. The work you do will be as varied and interesting as the clients you’ll work with. You can expect to work with the biggest brands in Irish and international business, building strong relationships and getting the chance to learn from the best.

How can YOU join them?

Luckily for us, PwC does a lot of Internship Programs throughout the year. Currently you can apply to the Summer Internship 2019, it will give you a real experience how it is to work for the PwC and discover the first-hand if professional service is the career for you. You can choose to intern in any of their offices: Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kilkenny, Limerick, Waterford or Wexford. You will have a chance experience the life of a PwC graduate during a fully paid internship that can last for either eight or 12 weeks.[2]

Deloitte

• Largest professional services network in the world by revenue and number of professionals.[3]
• Deloitte provides audit, tax, consulting, enterprise risk and financial advisory services with more than 286,200 professionals globally.[4]
• In FY 2018, the network earned a record $43.2 billion USD in aggregate revenues.[5]
• As of 2017, Deloitte is the 4th largest privately-owned company in the United States.[6]
• In June 2016, Deloitte changed its branding and adopted a new logo with Deloitte written in black colour instead of earlier blue.

How can you join them?

Just like the PwC, they do a lot of internship programmes. As they say: ‘’An internship at Deloitte is a fantastic way to get up close to the world of business, find out what excites and inspires you, and where it could take you. As well as vital work experience, you’ll get a good idea of whether we’re the firm for you.’’[7] They had Summer Internship 2019, sadly it is already closed – take a note of this and definitely try applying next year!

More information about the Internships at Deloitte: https://www2.deloitte.com/ie/en/pages/careers/articles/faqs1.html#

EY

• Multinational professional services firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom.
• EY is one of the largest professional services firms in the world
• EY operates as a network of member firms which are separate legal entities in individual countries.
• It has 270,000 employees in over 700 offices around 150 countries in the world.[8]
• It provides assurance (including financial audit), tax, consulting and advisory services to companies.

How can you join them?

EY does a lot of internship programmes, currently they have a Summer Internship 2019 and Graduate Programme 2019 – applications are still open!! ’’This summer internship gives you experience to develop your commercial and personal skills, gain a thorough insight into the world of professional services. You’ll meet partners and clients and get an opportunity to show us what you’re best at. You’ll receive regular feedback from your counselling manager, showing you how you can develop. And we’ll assign you a buddy who’ll be there to answer any day-to-day queries. The social side is important too, with plenty of opportunities to meet people and a night out before you return to university.’’

KPMG

• Headquarters in Amstelveen, the Netherlands
• KPMG employs 207,050 people.[9]
• Has three lines of services: financial audit, tax, and advisory. Its tax and advisory services are further divided into various service groups.
• The name “KPMG” stands for “Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler.” It was chosen when KMG (Klynveld Main Goerdeler) merged with Peat Marwick in 1987.
• In March 2017 KPMG launched a campaign designed to encourage more women to pursue careers in technology-based professions.[10]

How can you join them?

Just like the other three companies, KPMG has many student internships and graduate programmes throughout the year. Currently, the applications to Graduate Programme 2019 are open and many other opportunities with the KPMG can be found here: http://www.kpmgcareers.ie/graduates/opportunities/

’’ Our Summer Internship Programme predominantly takes place in KPMG Dublin and Belfast offices, with a number of roles available in Cork and Galway. Summer Internships in Dublin are 8-10 weeks duration and aimed at college students who are in penultimate year of study. Summer Internships in Belfast are 3 weeks duration and aimed at college students across all years of study. You will have the opportunity to work for the Audit, Tax Consulting or Advisory Departments.’’[11]

SO… 

Dear Senior Fresh and Fourth Year Students listen up! The Big Four is the perfect place to get work experience that would get you ready for the future careers. If you are still doubting yourself – DON’T!  Because of the constant programmes, many students get a chance to work there and even come back to work full-time once they graduate!

• If you are thinking should I even, try to apply? Definitely do!

[1] https://www.accountancyage.com/rankings/big-4-accounting-firms

[2] https://www.pwc.ie/careers-ie/student-careers/summer-internships.html

[3] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/10/04/deloitte-overtakes-pwc-as-worlds-biggest-accountant/

[4] https://www2.deloitte.com/global/en/pages/about-deloitte/articles/global-revenue-announcement.html

[5] https://www2.deloitte.com/global/en/pages/about-deloitte/articles/global-revenue-announcement.html

[6] https://www2.deloitte.com/global/en/pages/about-deloitte/articles/global-revenue-announcement.html

[7] https://www2.deloitte.com/ie/en/pages/careers/articles/summer-intern-programme.html

[8] https://www.ey.com/en_gl/news/2018/12/ey-global-chairman-and-ceo-mark-weinberger-to-step-down-effective-july-1-2019

[9] https://assets.kpmg/content/dam/kpmg/xx/pdf/2018/12/global-review-2018.pdf

[10] https://www.computerweekly.com/news/450415622/KPMG-launches-campaign-to-encourage-women-into-tech

[11] http://www.kpmgcareers.ie/graduates-landing/graduate/
​

Eva Rapkauskaite

All of us at least once in our lifetime had to run for a train or a bus, and 100% had to look for a seat wherever it be on: a train, a bus or on an airplane.
So how will this stress help YOU later in life?

1. Firstly, and probably the most important reason is that you will know how to be faster and think quicker.
2. You will have your own strategy of getting a seat.
3. Sometimes YOU will be ruthless and will get a seat before someone else.
4. Understand people’s body language and calculate the situations.
5. Be nice and give up your seat to older people/people who needs it – genuine and empathy
6. Don’t care what anyone else thinks!

What makes a successful Managing Director (MD) or Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company? Definitely not just a nice, black suit but something more… like ability to empower others, showing competence and being comfortable with chaos. So, listen up:

Critical thinking is one of the most important abilities in the business world. Someone with ability to think critically and quickly can separate not useful data from the important one and make a use of it. This helps to solve the problems faster and more efficiently, and that’s what the world of work wants.

• Once you are on the bus, just paid with your Leap card and well now it’s the time for a seat and you being a lazy student don’t want to be standing for the next 20 minutes, also it’s the rush hour!
• So, what do you do? You look around and bingo there is a seat at the very end of the bus, you think fast and quickly walk to that seat before anyone else does and BRAVO you just thought critically!

Having a strategy is also very important and knowing how to plan and take care of your business is what will make YOU and your company successful. Those CEOs and leaders that recognized the value of having a strategy and made the commitment of time and resources to manage its execution – improved their company performance by a lot.

• How does it link back to getting a seat on the train? Well once you buy a train ticket in a rail station and you did not book a seat online, you are already thinking: ‘Will I get a seat?’. Go over your choices: you have four coaches, so which one will be the fullest? Which one will be the emptiest? You choose coach D and BRAVO you do get a seat using your strategy – relax and enjoy the trip!

It’s often said that the most respected leaders are considered by many to be ruthless and heartless. Great leaders have to be tough and decisive. Most of the time their decisions will displease many, but they can’t effectively lead if every decision is the result of democracy (or can they?). It’s very easy to stay popular when you listen to everyone, but rarely will this drive a large company to success. Leaders must make the decisions taking all the data and information to an account. At the end of the day – they have to lead the way or step aside.

• We are once again on the bus or the train and guess what you got the seat ten seconds before someone else did, so now they are standing, and you are sitting. Happy times for you, sad times for them. This is a cruel world after all…

One of the most important part of communicating is body language, it makes up most of what we use to communicate and is generally much more accurate a judge of meaning than are the words. This is one of the first things people will notice when they meet you. Believe it or not, being able to read body language can help in life, especially in business world. Have you ever taken a moment to think about what you are saying with your body language?
If you haven’t, then now is the time:

• Smile and be confident
• Be interested and listen carefully
• Direct eye contact
• Sit up straight
• Nod when listening to someone speak
• Relax
• Keep your head up
• Do no cross your hands!

• When you get on the bus, you look around and see some people are standing and some people are sitting, you read the body language of others and understand when it is the time to move and get that seat of yours.

Surprisingly to be a good leader, you need to have empathy and be understandable. When you are at the top of the pyramid, it’s hard to find people who you can trust, so being nice always helps. Start by learning the names of people that you work with, it might be hard at first, but it will show that you are genuine and a good leader. Being nice will also empower others!

• You are on the bus, having your well-deserved seat after all the strategies, critical thinking and understanding the body language of others. And you see an older lady standing on the bus as there is no more seats left… will you let her stand? No, you will be kind and understandable, and you will give up your seat, that’s what good leaders do.

And lastly, leaders just don’t care what everyone else thinks. They are too confident for that. They do decisions that they know will give advantage to the company’s performance as well as themselves:

• Their decision made someone mad? They don’t care.
• Someone thinks their strategies are bad? They don’t care.
• Their decision brought success to the company? They do care.

So, don’t worry if you did not get that golden seat, you still have time in the future to become the best. (with the help of trains and busses stress of course)

Con Bartels

Conall Moran graduated from BESS last may. He now works at Accenture. During his time a Trinity he was highly involved in life on the business scene on campus and was Auditor as DUBES. Con Bartels caught up with him this week for a chat!

Get involved in society life. I ended up loving it with DUBES, but in a more general sense,
just get involved in some aspect of college life outside of the classroom. Whether it’s sports, societies or the SU it all just builds this experience which teaches you stuff you won’t learn in the classroom. Even when you head into the real world, it helps with stuff like public speaking, which has so much value outside the college. Making class presentations or
running in society elections gives you a huge boost you’ll realise when you get into the real world that you’re pretty good at it because of your experience public speaking in college.

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