Vault’s Verdict

Mazars is looking for hardworking, passionate, curious candidates eager to learn, develop their skills, take on responsibility, and grow their careers. The firm runs a valuable internship program, offering interns a supportive environment—senior staff are helpful, willing to teach, and answer any questions interns might have. For its full-time staff, Mazars offers plenty of career development opportunities, including valuable trainings, career coaches, mentoring from partners, and internal mobility options.

During busy season, a healthy work/life balance can be difficult to achieve. But outside of that, the firm has several effective policies in place, including a generous amount of PTO and summer Fridays, that allow staff to have a great work/life balance. Salaries receive average reviews from insiders, and benefits are said to need improvement. However, Mazars does offer several wellness benefits, including gym membership reimbursements, teams for exercise groups, wellness lounges in each office, and sponsorship of walks and runs.

Mazars embraces giving back to the community, has a firmwide volunteer day, supports improving diversity, and recently created a new diversity committee and hosted a diversity training. However, the firm’s staff could still be much more diverse. As for the firm’s business outlook, Mazars is focused on growing, both internationally and domestically, though some insiders say the firm is growing too fast and experiencing some growing pains as a result.

Hiring Process

• “The recruiting process is highly personal and responsive, and the ideal candidate is someone with an interest in learning and developing skills, taking on responsibility, and growing their career.”
• “The hiring process is very comparative to other firms in the area in terms of requirements and expectations of experience, etc. I found the hiring process to be great. I had an initial phone call with the recruiter, and she set up my next interview. I had an interview with the OMP, head of HR, and a manager and senior manager on the team. The recruiter called me the next day to say they really liked me and were planning to make an offer. I got my offer a few days or a week later, so it was great to have the recruiter call me and ease my nerves while I waited.”
• “It involved a phone interview and then three consecutive 30-minute interviews that went by very smoothly. We’re looking for competent employees eager to learn.”
• “Our firm is selective and looking for passion and curiosity, in addition to technical and professional excellence.”

Interview Questions

• “What are your top three strengths? Explain function xyz at your previous job (based on resume experience). Describe a conflict at your last job and how it was resolved/what would you do if this situation were to occur. What experience are you hoping to gain? Please share your short-term and long-term career goals. Why are you applying for tax/audit/etc.?”
• “Give me examples of how you acted with integrity (walked your talk) in your job/work relationships. Tell me about a time when you effectively used your leadership skills to resolve a client issue—what specific skills did you utilize? Give me an example of an important goal you have had and about your success in achieving it.”
• “Questions vary based on the level of the professional, but overall the focus is on how you envision your career and advancement opportunities—what you’re looking for in an organization, etc.”
• “Name a strength and weakness. Walk me through specifics of what you do on a day-to-day basis. There’s a focus on storytelling and relationship building in interview questions and responses.”

Internship Experience

• “The best aspect of my internship was learning in an environment where everyone was helpful and willing to teach. Since they had taught me well, transitioning to full time was easy, and I knew what was expected of me. The most challenging aspect of my internship was the time restraint. We were only allowed to work 29 hours a week, and that restriction would interrupt my workflow or push off engagements to others who were more available.”
• “The best aspect of being an Intern at Mazars is they truly care about your career growth, whether the next step is full-time employment with them or another company. While interning at Mazars, I was given paid days off, the ability to take courses, and overtime pay.”
• “The people were great. I learned a lot that translated well when I began full time.”
• “Seniors and managers were easy to work with and very helpful with the countless questions I had. Covid made it somewhat difficult to get hands-on experience and get more involved in the work.”

Career Development

• “The formal training has undergone a complete transformation that has improved it significantly and given it a real hands-on classroom feel. There are several leadership programs that have been developed and are now annual for various levels, from senior through partner level. The Women at Mazars sponsorship program has been successful in helping to drive the growth and advancement of women at the firm. Transferring from one are of the organization occurs, and I would like to see it happen more often and for individuals to be able to internally apply for positions in different departments (more formalized). I believe this is something that is being focused on strategically in the future. There are, however, many professionals who currently have roles in both audit and consulting or are multidisciplinary.”
• “I really enjoy that we all have a career coaches to help us develop our career. In addition, partners make an extraordinary effort to mentor the staff and provide the proper career growth—they want you to grow with them.”    
• “If you properly communicate your goals and ambitions to the firm, they will try to accommodate you and make it happen. I have seen numerous people move within the firm to other departments, as that was their goal. In addition, if you bring up issues, then the management and top leadership listens. Also, the firm makes it very clear what is expected and required at each level. The formal review process makes it clear what needs to be worked on. I don't believe the review meetings should include as many participants, though.”
• “Mazars gives people plenty of ways to develop their careers. They can help other up-and-coming staff by participating in trainings. I would like to see more seniors/managers sit with the staff during interim periods and teach them more about what they are doing and why. Some people, like myself, do this. If more people did this, busy season would go better.”

Quality of Life

• “I believe the firm is significantly focused on improving culture and transitioning to a culture focused on recognition. There have been several areas where the firm has recently improved, such as with a flexible workforce policy with a flex-hour arrangement for all employees. Maternity leave planning and guidance is in the process of being released. PDO is generous but underutilized in certain areas. There is supposed to be a campaign on how to plan for PDO, encouraging PDO, etc.”
• “During busy season, there is little quality of life or work/life balance. There is just busy season. But, outside of that, the firm has great policies in place that allow us to have a great work/life balance. Also, my job requires me to travel for work, but since the pandemic I have only gone to one audit, and it was only an hour round trip.”
• “It can be difficult to use vacation times, because engagements are set so far in advance. The number of hours worked during the summer is reasonable for sure. But during the winter and spring, the hours make it very difficult to achieve a work/life balance. To be fair, however, this has been addressed to some extent through some firm initiatives when remote working began.”
• “Before the pandemic you could not work from home, which made it difficult to do the things you needed to. Now, with that ability, you can work online anytime and finish the job, and take care of personal things in your life much easier.”

Salary and Benefits

• “The firm provides a lot of PTO time, which increases with years on the job, as well as summer Fridays. The company also started a flexible work policy, which comes in handy. The health insurance is expensive if you need the family plan option, but they have been working to bring down the cost.”
• “The company has good soft incentives like casual work attire when not with clients and flexible hours. Its salary levels are low for the industry and do not allow for bonuses until you reach senior staff levels. The healthcare plan leaves large portions of medical expenses uncovered, and other perks are similarly halfhearted. However, under the stress of Covid, management tried its best to preserve employment, and partners took pay cuts to support staff.”
• “I think the firm did an excellent job handling and navigating the unprecedented territory that Covid presented. I think from a salary standpoint it was very reasonable and fair. I have not been disappointed in that category ever—from the time I was an intern to present day. I am proud of how our firm handled Covid—transparent and honest are two words that come to mind. As for benefits, I think the 401(k) match is pretty lousy, but the turnover in our industry is the reason for that, so I understand why it would be as low as it is, given the industry.”                                                          
• “Salary seems competitive for industry, but the firm better inform employees of raises/bonus ahead of when they’re granted. There needs to be more clarity on how annual reviews are linked to raises/bonuses. Health insurance deductibles are still too high.”

Wellness Efforts

• “There is currently a mental health campaign ongoing with valuable sessions and other tools to manage the Covid situation and work/life balance overall. There have been various nutrition-focused efforts (Weight Watchers, American Heart Association sponsored days, etc.). Flexible work policy that was rolled out enhances the need to balance your life, insert exercise into your day, etc. There is also a speaker series with high profile individuals holding discussions with our employees about their struggles and/or challenges and overcoming them.”
• “The firm has granted us additional holiday days during Covid-19 to boost morale and mental health. We’re encouraged weekly to take time for ourselves and recharge. We are reimbursed partially for gym memberships. There are office-wide programs such as Weight Watchers that can be joined. We receive emails regarding free yoga sessions and meditation sessions we can virtually attend. I truly feel my firm is watching out for me and my mental health.”
• “We do have some meditation and education on heart health offered, but the number of meetings that are held take away from wellness. As someone who uses exercise and nutrition as therapeutic, I make time on my own to do these things.”
• “There are gym membership reimbursements, teams for Pilates and other exercise groups, a wellness lounge in each office, and sponsorships of walk/run races.”

Diversity, Philanthropy, and Green Initiatives

• “I think we have really pushed to improve diversity, especially since we got a new head of HR. We created a new committee and had a diversity training recently. I haven't see much else yet, but I am hopeful to see more action as the committee gets rolling.”
• “The firm is committed to the progressive movement in the accounting industry. The progressive movement includes going paperless, donating to charities, creating volunteer opportunities for employees at all levels, inclusiveness, and mental health awareness. These are all areas in which the firm excels.”
• “We have formal diversity teams with passionate people who are members of such teams. We receive regular updates and invitations to firm events that help us become more mindful of the issues. Many are fun (such as foods from across the globe), while others are more educational (such as formal training of what behavior will not be tolerated and what we need to do if we see or experience disrespectful behavior).”
• “Mazars embraces giving back and has included a firmwide volunteer day. They make charitable donations to multiple organizations annually. The firm also has a lot of different initiatives they partake in. But I do not see a lot of black individuals within the firm. We just had a hiring spree, and I did not see one black person who was hired. It’s very disappointing.’

Response to Anti-Racist Protests and BLM Movement

• “It is very important to me that I work in a place that accepts diversity. Mazars not only accepts it but embraces it. The firm has shown its support for minority employees and stated that it believes Black Lives Matter. These actions have made me grow even more fond of the firm.”
• “They made a point to comment about the importance of Black Lives Matter but did not go further than that. As a person of color, I was happy to see them comment about it but wish they had gone further.”
• “They formed a diversity counsel who, from what I have seen, has put out one newsletter and nothing else. There was one email sent during BLM protests this summer after the murder of George Floyd. Many of us live in major cities where there was high volume of protest and community involvement. We were essentially living in the middle of history and looking out windows as we prepared tax returns pretending none of it existed. It was mentally exhausting to pretend everything was fine when it felt like the world around us was on fire.”
• “The message from the top down is we are a very socially conscious firm that truly cares about the country and the community. We say we are very supportive of the BLM movement and racial inclusion, but then we don’t give off for MLK Jr. Day, so there is some disconnect there.”

Response to Covid-19

• “There has been significant and clear communication regarding Covid policies, outreach to employees, etc. The firm has been aiming to provide a safe work experience and is primarily focused on remote delivery (with capabilities to do that at 100 percent since the initial lock down). Since all employees are working from home, an allowance ($200) was given to all employees to upgrade their home office spaces to help with the comfort of those conditions. The mental health/healthy lifestyle initiatives have been plentiful. There has been a significant effort to have one-on-one check-ins with employees weekly to make sure they are doing okay through all of this, scheduling PDO for a break even if they are not going on vacation, etc.”
• “I travel for work a lot, but in late February on Sunday before I traveled, my manager called me to tell me to cancel my tickets and they would handle the fallout. They took Covid very seriously, and we began isolating before most of the country.”
• “The firm was transparent and communicated with everyone throughout the pandemic through weekly communications and Zoom meetings, both firmwide and for each local office. They sent out several surveys and made changes based on the survey results. They responded with changes to working in the office and cleaning to keep everyone safe who went to the office. I feel like they did a good job in their response.”
• “Our company is extremely responsive. I’m on the Return to Work team, and from day one we did everything possible to keep our staff in the office safe and comfortable, and did the same for the staff working remotely. Unfortunately, rules change daily with the CDC, so sometimes it’s hard to keep track. We do have a live document in place, which is helpful.”

Business Outlook

• “The firm is focused on significant growth, both internationally and domestically, with great opportunities for advancement. The types of services offered and the expansion of those services is constantly evolving, providing for a lot of interaction in different areas. We have been able to compete with Big 4 and regional firms because of our international presence and market strategy. Employee morale has been complicated because we, along with all other firms our size, have been dealing with high turnover for private markets. The firm has started to address this by revamping the talent acquisition department, as well as opening our outsourcing office in India, and expect to significantly change the model going forward. Overall, there are so many good things to discuss here. A lot of activities are going on, with some growing pains.”
• “Tiphani White-King is a fearless leader who would do anything for her team members. I am incredibly proud to have her as our firm’s tax practice leader. Tiphani is kind, talented, and a born leader. She is someone I am inspired to work under. The firm has great book of business with interesting engagements. I have had the opportunity to work on almost all types of tax engagements. At the end of the day, public accounting is what it is—long hours and hard work. I do not believe it would be ‘better’ at any other firm. While you work a lot of hours, your schedule is completely flexible. There are clear expectations set, and you have between Monday and Sunday to get your work done. People are nice overall. The cons are management is aware of issues and are reluctant to change certain things.”
• “Leadership has done a good job communicating their expectations and being transparent with us. I do feel at times we strain our resources to pick up as many clients as possible.”
• “The firm is still transitioning from a small regional firm to a national firm and experiencing some growing pains associated with that.”