Dear reader, dear Sefast,

Let me introduce myself. I’m Juul, started my Bachelors Economics and Business Administration in 2016 straight after I finished my VWO. To get more out of my study and to meet new great people I became a member of Sefa and especially the ‘As Good As New Committee’, in which I had the best time. After receiving my bachelor’s degree, a gap year and a half year of the Master Finance I started to look around for an internship.

I joined a career event at UvA called ‘Investment Cruise’ in March 2021. A cruise sounds more idyllic than it actually was, since we were in the middle of the Corona crisis and all these events had to be organized online. I was randomly assigned to EY, even though I actually was not sure if I even wanted to work in the transactions world at all.

From the very first moment in this online event I got a very good feeling and was suddenly fascinated by M&A again. This resulted in my application for an internship, and after an intensive and enriching process I could start at EY Strategy and Transactions Amsterdam in the Transaction Diligence team on the first of September.

The first time I arrived in the central hall of the Cross Towers, where EY office is located, I got a very ‘grown-up’ feeling. I was thinking to myself: ‘I’m gonna work, my student life is over, the rest of my ‘boring’ life begins now’. Nevertheless, this feeling didn’t last long. When I got up the 7^th floor and got a warm welcome from my colleagues in my team, I was told to look for a place in ‘our corner’ on the floor. Immediately I got a flashback from study life, where you go to your regular place on your favorite floor at Roeterseiland. After I settled down, opened up my laptop and worked on the first things, my colleague and I went down to get a good coffee, since the coffee machine on the floor doesn’t serve oat milk. And yet again, a flashback to study life, ‘the Krater’.

But maybe the biggest similarity between study and working at EY, is the people you are surrounded with. After working for a while I discovered that I really did make the right decision of choosing EY as my first ‘real’ employer. After all, the work in the due diligence practice in all of the big four companies is very similar, but the people make the difference. At EY I can be myself, people respect each other and are open for differences in opinions. And maybe most important, EY teams are relaxed and team members can laugh with each other. And especially this, makes work life at EY just as fun as student life. You’re not working alone, you’re working together with your friends, as a team.