Why choose our Tax graduate scheme?
Tax offers a fast-paced career. Every time the law changes or there’s a new budget, tax advisors need to get up to speed quickly and adapt their strategies. It’s a job in which you’ll always be learning and adapting to provide the best quality advice. Tax also provides a stable and lucrative career path with fast progression and rewarding work.
At Mercer & Hole, all our tax staff work hard to continually stay up to date with the latest legislation and strategies which is how we provide exceptional service to our clients and maintain our status as a Top 40 firm. We pride ourselves on learning and development for our trainees and have lots of structures in place to support you on your journey with us, for example trainee away days, a dedicated training manager and buddy as well as study leave to name just a few.
Training and development also doesn’t stop when you qualify – we are committed to continually developing our staff regardless of whether you’re a trainee or a director using our ‘People Passport’ so you are guaranteed a great investment in your future!
What to expect from a Mercer & Hole Tax graduate scheme
- Full sponsorship of the ACA-CTA or ATT-CTA qualification (equivalent to a Master’s degree)
- Great social life at the firm with your peers with activities such as inter-office rounders, football, book club and more!
- Career progression where we listen to what you want and how we can support you to achieve it
- A permanent contract of employment
- Development opportunities across the firm to experience working in different teams
- Competitive salary with increases every six months until you qualify
- Work-life balance with our flexi-time working policy
- 25 days’ holiday with the opportunity to buy and sell holiday each year
- Full benefits package including health cash plan, support from a dedicated training manager and more
What will I be doing as a tax graduate?
Our tax graduate scheme is designed to support your learning and development. You will work as part of the private client and/or corporate tax team while studying the ACA-CTA or ATT-CTA qualification. This can take you out of the office for weeks at a time which is a really nice bridge between studying for your degree and entering the world of work.
The variety of clients we work with provides you with a well-rounded experience, and the structure of our teams allows you the opportunity to gain knowledge from and exposure to senior managers and partners throughout your training and beyond.
Structure of our Tax Graduate Scheme
Year 1 – You will have the opportunity to bring your problem-solving skills from higher education to help prepare tax returns from the outset and really get stuck into the work of the team, speaking to HMRC, drafting emails to clients and completing basic sets of accounts. You’ll also analyse information provided by clients and use your investigative skills to find out further information to fill in any gaps.
Year 2 – You will build on your experience gained in your first year of the tax graduate scheme and learn new skills such as managing a small client portfolio and applying technical knowledge in more complex areas of tax such as EIS relief, capital allowances and research & development relief . You will also have the opportunity to mentor new trainees while still being supported to achieve your goals.
Years 3 and 4 – Having built a good base level of knowledge from the first two years as a tax graduate, you will now start to identify planning opportunities for clients with your manager and assist with giving advice. You’ll also be able to complete personal, partnership and corporate tax computations and returns to an excellent standard. You will have the initial review of junior trainees’ work and ensure it is presented to managers in a complete state. You’ll have the opportunity to proactively manage client relationships and share technical research with your team at ‘sharing knowledge’ sessions.
At the end of your fourth year, you should complete your professional qualification and start to prepare for a role as an Assistant Manager.
Application process for our tax graduate scheme
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Stage 1:
Online application -
Stage 2:
Telephone interviews -
Stage 3:
Online assessments -
Stage 4:
Assessment day
Stage 1: Online application
Take a look below to find our tax graduate vacancies for each office which open from autumn. The role will start the following year. You will need to submit your CV and answer 3 questions:
1. What excites you about our tax graduate scheme? We suggest you do some research around the ACA-CTA and ATT-CTA qualifications, look at current trainee testimonials, research what a career in accountancy might look like, and show awareness of our values and culture in your answers. This will also help you decide if this is the right career path for you.
2. What are your strengths and why? We encourage you to think about the skills needed in an accountancy career and tailor your answers to these. We’re not looking for specific A-level subjects or degrees and we’re keen to hear about your strengths from lots of different backgrounds!
3. Tell us something interesting about you? There’s no right answer here, it’s really just for us to learn about you more as a person!
Stage 2: Telephone interview
If your online application is successful, you’ll be invited to a short telephone interview with a member of the HR team to discuss your motivation and experiences further.
Stage 3: Online assessments
If you are successful at the telephone interview, you will be invited to complete a couple of online assessments. They will involve verbal and numerical tests and you will receive all the instructions via email.
Stage 4: Assessment day
If you are successful in the online assessments, you will be invited to a group assessment day, either online or in-person.
Hopefully you will be successful at the assessment day! You will be then invited to your new home office before you start our tax graduate scheme, to meet your team.
We wish you the best of luck!
St Albans