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EY Thinks It Will Hire Enough People in 2019 to Fill a Small College Football Stadium

Accounting Today posted an article yesterday on EY’s “ambitious” recruiting goal of 15,000 new hires in the U.S. in fiscal year 2019. Given that EY only increased its headcount worldwide by 14,000 people in FY 2018 makes me think this has as much chance of happening as Adrienne Caleb coming back to GC.

According to the article, EY is looking to add 6,300 “experienced and executive-level positions” in full-time capacities, as well as 9,400 students for jobs and internships, for a grand total of 15,700 candidates.

“With growing demand for our services comes an ambitious recruiting plan,” Larry Nash, U.S. recruiting leader at EY, told Accounting Today. “We need candidates who can work effectively in teams, analyze, innovate and think with a global mindset, regardless of their domain expertise or background.”

So that got me thinking about how big 15,000 new hires really is, using an example even I could understand: college football.

If EY were to hire 15,700 people this fiscal year, that would surpass the seating capacities of nearly 80 NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision stadiums, including Dartmouth, Villanova, Colgate, Georgetown, Richmond, and The Citadel.

Among Division I Football Bowl Subdivision teams, 15,700 new hires would almost fill the football stadium at the University of Idaho (16,000-seat capacity) and come close to filling the football stadiums at Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Ohio, and Miami (Ohio) universities.

I can just imagine one of these stadiums full of EY candidates with their faces painted in black and yellow, doing the wave, chanting “PwC sucks,” drinking Shock Top, and holding up signs that say, “Wikipedia Is More Reliable Than KPMG Auditors,” “Bob Moritz Is the Devil,” “Even Ghandi Hated Deloitte!” and “Grant Thornton, You Are Not Real Competition.”

But I hope they don’t drink too much Shock Top, get drunk, leave the stadium, and beat up a gay couple (allegedly!).

A recent thread on /r/accounting also discussed how it seems “EY is hiring the shit out of everyone.”

The amount of EY swag I see at my school compared to other big 4 swag is not even comparable. As accounting professors go around the class and ask what firms people will be working for after graduation, about 50% will typically say EY. The other 50% is split among the other big 4.

Which prompted this response:

EY has a “2020 Vision” where they planned to double their revenues by 2020. Well due to that, they initially overhired a lot of people, which in contrast led to a lot of letting people go (Big 4 method).

Big 4 method of letting people go is by lowering their bonus, taking them off the track of promotion, and lowering their raises, which pretty much “forces” people to find employment elsewhere “voluntarily”.

So, is overhiring part of EY’s master recruiting plan for this fiscal year? Or is this just a last-minute push now that 2020 is right around the corner? Guess we’ll find out in two years.