Having recently announced a significant investment in Northern Ireland, EY Northern Ireland plan to create an additional 1,000 new jobs in the region. Sync NI met up with Rob Heron, EY Northern Ireland’s Managing Partner, to discuss what this means for the business, and the wider economy.
Rob explains this opportunity will generate new roles not only across Northern Ireland but also create a societal impact as the company seeks to attract a diverse range of talent including business apprentices, school leavers, recently qualified graduates as well as those with experience. Supported by the Department for the Economy, Assured Skills Academies will also provide new opportunities for people who are looking to upskill, advance their career or return to the workplace. These Academies will enable people to develop modern skillsets like data analytics, cyber security, and AI, currently in demand across the market.
Plans to launch a regional hub in the North-West will also have a positive impact on jobs across Northern Ireland, further underpinning EY Northern Ireland’s commitment to offering opportunities for everybody regardless of where they are based in the region, and thus benefiting the wider economy. The company already has a number of staff who live the North-West as part of the greater team in EY Northern Ireland. It is expected the increased investment, and establishing a physical presence, will further help to attract talent from this area.
It is widely acknowledged that there is a global skills shortage within the future technologies arena and Northern Ireland is not immune to this phenomenon. Rob expanded on the importance of developing and training people and EY Northern Ireland is proactively developing numerous initiatives within the business to address this very issue. It would be fair to say that EY has somewhat of a head start in this respect, traditionally being known as a training firm in service lines such as audit, tax and corporate finance. Rob explained ‘‘We're very experienced in training people and we're especially very excited about the opportunity to train a whole new group of people in next generation technology and specialist future skills’’
EY Northern Ireland have a whole range of training tools and programmes available at their disposal including their multi award winning EY badges programme, which can ultimately lead to a Tech MBA. Rob is particularly keen to praise and emphasise the significance of the Department for the Economy's Assured Skills Academy. ‘‘I've been hugely impressed by the quality, the diversity and the motivation of the talent on EY Northern Ireland’s first Data Analytics Academy’’
It’s not uncommon for global companies to open up new offices and locate their software development practices in Northern Ireland. We asked Rob about the motivation and factors involved in having a well-established business-like EY choose to expand and invest here ahead of alternative global locations.
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EY has well established offices and practices around the globe and NI had to compete with the Global Delivery Services Centre in India as well as other propositions including Poland and Spain. Ultimately the decision was influenced by several key factors according to Rob. Firstly, it was a reflection of the strength of the EY Northern Ireland team, with a hugely successful practice comprising over 900 professionals. This was further underpinned by the quality and diversity of the pipeline of talent and Northern Ireland’s reputation as home to world-class universities and fantastic local talent that helped the UK leadership team to ultimately make this decision. Rob praised the support from Invest NI, the direct government support, and the support through the Assured Skills Academy, collectively ensuring Northern Ireland was a compelling proposition and securing the investment.
One of the less spoken about benefits is the fact that many of these new roles actually create global opportunities for employees here locally and when we asked if this was part of EY Northern Ireland’s appeal Rob was quick to clarify ‘‘Yes, that’s absolutely the case and actually one of the most exciting aspects of the opportunity to come and build a career within EY Northern Ireland. Obviously, we have a really strong local presence here and already work with a range of businesses from some of the most exciting startups as well as fast growing entrepreneurial businesses through the Entrepreneur of the Year programme. As a global network, EY are present in over 150 countries with 400,000 people so the opportunity exists to work with local companies as well as global household names, and have a fantastic global experience and that's a really exciting proposition’’
As Managing Partner in Northern Ireland, Rob’s EY journey has enabled him to work in different countries around the world and he cites his own career as an example of the opportunities you can have with EY whether that’s with some of the largest indigenous businesses that we have here, a globally headquartered businesses, or an FDI based in Northern Ireland. The future certainly looks exciting as EY Northern Ireland as they continue to expand and develop the next generation of talent in Northern Ireland for the world.
Having recently announced a significant investment in Northern Ireland, EY Northern Ireland plan to create an additional 1,000 new jobs in the region. Sync NI met up with Rob Heron, EY Northern Ireland’s Managing Partner, to discuss what this means for the business, and the wider economy.
Rob explains this opportunity will generate new roles not only across Northern Ireland but also create a societal impact as the company seeks to attract a diverse range of talent including business apprentices, school leavers, recently qualified graduates as well as those with experience. Supported by the Department for the Economy, Assured Skills Academies will also provide new opportunities for people who are looking to upskill, advance their career or return to the workplace. These Academies will enable people to develop modern skillsets like data analytics, cyber security, and AI, currently in demand across the market.
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Plans to launch a regional hub in the North-West will also have a positive impact on jobs across Northern Ireland, further underpinning EY Northern Ireland’s commitment to offering opportunities for everybody regardless of where they are based in the region, and thus benefiting the wider economy. The company already has a number of staff who live the North-West as part of the greater team in EY Northern Ireland. It is expected the increased investment, and establishing a physical presence, will further help to attract talent from this area.
It is widely acknowledged that there is a global skills shortage within the future technologies arena and Northern Ireland is not immune to this phenomenon. Rob expanded on the importance of developing and training people and EY Northern Ireland is proactively developing numerous initiatives within the business to address this very issue. It would be fair to say that EY has somewhat of a head start in this respect, traditionally being known as a training firm in service lines such as audit, tax and corporate finance. Rob explained ‘‘We're very experienced in training people and we're especially very excited about the opportunity to train a whole new group of people in next generation technology and specialist future skills’’
EY Northern Ireland have a whole range of training tools and programmes available at their disposal including their multi award winning EY badges programme, which can ultimately lead to a Tech MBA. Rob is particularly keen to praise and emphasise the significance of the Department for the Economy's Assured Skills Academy. ‘‘I've been hugely impressed by the quality, the diversity and the motivation of the talent on EY Northern Ireland’s first Data Analytics Academy’’
It’s not uncommon for global companies to open up new offices and locate their software development practices in Northern Ireland. We asked Rob about the motivation and factors involved in having a well-established business-like EY choose to expand and invest here ahead of alternative global locations.
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EY has well established offices and practices around the globe and NI had to compete with the Global Delivery Services Centre in India as well as other propositions including Poland and Spain. Ultimately the decision was influenced by several key factors according to Rob. Firstly, it was a reflection of the strength of the EY Northern Ireland team, with a hugely successful practice comprising over 900 professionals. This was further underpinned by the quality and diversity of the pipeline of talent and Northern Ireland’s reputation as home to world-class universities and fantastic local talent that helped the UK leadership team to ultimately make this decision. Rob praised the support from Invest NI, the direct government support, and the support through the Assured Skills Academy, collectively ensuring Northern Ireland was a compelling proposition and securing the investment.
One of the less spoken about benefits is the fact that many of these new roles actually create global opportunities for employees here locally and when we asked if this was part of EY Northern Ireland’s appeal Rob was quick to clarify ‘‘Yes, that’s absolutely the case and actually one of the most exciting aspects of the opportunity to come and build a career within EY Northern Ireland. Obviously, we have a really strong local presence here and already work with a range of businesses from some of the most exciting startups as well as fast growing entrepreneurial businesses through the Entrepreneur of the Year programme. As a global network, EY are present in over 150 countries with 400,000 people so the opportunity exists to work with local companies as well as global household names, and have a fantastic global experience and that's a really exciting proposition’’
As Managing Partner in Northern Ireland, Rob’s EY journey has enabled him to work in different countries around the world and he cites his own career as an example of the opportunities you can have with EY whether that’s with some of the largest indigenous businesses that we have here, a globally headquartered businesses, or an FDI based in Northern Ireland. The future certainly looks exciting as EY Northern Ireland as they continue to expand and develop the next generation of talent in Northern Ireland for the world.
