Work experience student Review

On a day to day basis I was working on spreadsheets that did the substantive analytics of payroll/salaries and testing operation expense transactions. My buddy set me these tasks which were contributing to what he was doing.

I developed some excel skills. I also learnt communicative skills, how to network, transferable skills and employability skills.

I really enjoyed the office atmosphere and having some real work to do. However, the experience fell short of my expectations in some aspects - for example, my buddy hadn't planned anything for me to do except stay in the office for all 3 days which became repetitive and I didn't feel that i got a well-rounded view of the role. Even when I requested going to a client site or shadowing partner due to the short notice my request couldn't be fulfilled. Due to this I didn't enjoy the days at the office as much as I could have. The staff were all really friendly, I enjoyed going out to lunch with them and spending time with all of them - however my buddy didn't join us for lunch or make my time enjoyable. But the first and last day were very enjoyable.

I felt valued by the HR team and PwC as a whole. By my buddy however i didn't feel as valued. The rest of the office did however make us feel valued.

I felt like the induction to the week was very well organized. The final day was also well structured. The days at the office weren't well organized at all as I did the same task each day and had had nothing arranged for me.

My buddy didn't give me much support, organize much or make my days at the office enjoyable. Luckily, the rest of the staff gave me support and enjoyment such as when they took me out for lunch with the other business insight students and their buddies. I also did work set by one of the other business insight students buddies on the last day as I hadn't been given a task. My buddy did give me support, but it was limited - he answered my questions and helped me on the pieces of work i was doing.

The HR team gave excellent support throughout the whole process. As well as this they organized a webex each day. They made the first and last days extremely enjoyable. There were lots of ways to contact them and they replied quickly.

My travel expenses were paid for and the salary for the week was very satisfactory.

I stayed in the office and went home if i wasn't there.

Yes

Overall it was a good experience, I learnt what it was like to be in a real office and I value the experience I got - good and bad. I also learnt some extremely useful skills.

Speak slowly in interviews, stay calm. Go through the online test in the effort of trying to get the most questions right as possible - even if you don't finish.