"Be open-minded and keep your eyes open when choosing a profession!" Actually I’d always wanted to work for a law firm. But an internship I did towards the end of my studies showed me that I’d be much better off at Ernst & Young and would have a much more interesting job here. What I like most of all is the team spirit, the varied nature of my work and the international nature of the business.
I specialized in optimizing corporate supply chains from the fiscal point of view. My work is very project-oriented. It involves a good deal of travel around Europe, working on-site with the client. As part of a project team, my job is to find answers to a wide variety of questions on tax, systems and other issues. For this job, besides a basic knowledge of tax law, you need to be able to recognize problems yourself and come up with solutions. In addition to the necessary professional expertise, you need to have an absolutely sound command of English as all meetings and the work itself are conducted in that language. Furthermore, it’s essential to have a decent grasp of your client’s workflows because you need to understand your client and his specific problems; all-purpose solutions are not what it’s all about.
My advice to anyone just starting their career is simple: be open-minded and keep your eyes open! For my part, I could never imagine "just" working in this one area. I’ve since come to appreciate that even in a specialist department such as Indirect Tax, there are manifold fields of activity that go way beyond my original expectations of the job.
