These were the words from one of the pupils that visited Ernst & Young as part of Mosaic’s ‘World of Work’ programme. The pupils, from Belle Vue Girls’ School in Bradford, were given the opportunity to go behind the scenes at this highly successful global company as part of a range of support and inspirational activities organised for young people by Mosaic.

Mosaic’s World of Work visits complement our school-based mentoring programmes, and are designed to address deep-rooted issues amongst the young people being mentored – including low motivation, lack of ambition, and lack of awareness about local employment opportunities. This World of Work visit was the culmination of a year of mentoring by local mentors.

Belle Vue Girls’ School has been working with Mosaic since October 2009 and was one of the first schools to join when the programme was rolled out nationally.

Mohammed Nasser, a member of the Mosaic Yorkshire Regional Leadership Team and a Senior Tax Manager at Ernst & Young, organised the visit to the firm’s office in Leeds. Pupils were given a tour of the office and had the opportunity to find out more about each of the services that Ernst & Young provides to its clients, including tax, assurance and advisory. The pupils were later tested on their ability to solve business challenges through a case study that required them to consider some of the real issues facing organisations every day.

The visit also included a talk from Neil Harrison, a Tax Partner in the Leeds office. Neil described his career at Ernst & Young and the pupils took the opportunity to ask Neil questions (including the most popular question on how much Neil is paid!).

Student Zoya Qaisar was impressed: “I had a fantastic time – I learnt so many new things that I never knew before.”

Another pupil who took part in the visit, Farrah Saleem, said afterwards: “It was a great experience; I loved every second of it! It made me change my view on accountancy! I loved everything and wish to go back soon!”

Khadiya Samad also described her feelings after the day: “I really, really, really enjoyed myself. I learnt so much about how an accountancy company works and the people we met on the day were really nice and helpful. Wow, the building was huge and beautiful.”

“We are delighted that the pupils found the activities engaging and enjoyed their time at our office”, said Mohammed Nasser. “We were impressed with the confidence the pupils demonstrated in presenting their reasoned findings from the business challenge to the rest of the participants and Ernst & Young employees. Very well done indeed to all the pupils”.

Ernst & Young is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. The firm employs 152,000 people around the world and aims to have a positive impact on businesses and markets, as well as on society as a whole.

Teacher Saqib Akram from Belle Vue School expressed the school’s enthusiasm: “The World of Work visit to Ernst &Young has given the school a tool that has how allowed us to engage with businesses. It has allowed us to access local role models, who have been successful in their careers. This has increased aspiration levels of our students to aspire to achieve their full potential.”

Find out more about becoming a Mosaic mentor

Read about another recent ‘World of Work visit to a West Midlands Police Station