Business Insight Week Paticipant Review

Business Insight Week (Belfast) - A Summer work experience that helped all the participants learn about the work PwC and the Professional Services industry do day to day. Involved asking employees about their jobs, work shadowing different departments and a real charity project. Programme ran from 9-5pm every day from Monday to Friday for 1 week.

The charity project developed my team-work and presentation skills, as throughout the week we worked in teams to produce a presentation to present at the end of the programme in front of the charity, PwC employees and our parents. Additionally, our team used Google Sheets, which exposed us to a different presentation technology we had never used before.

I really enjoyed the programme and would full-heartedly recommend it to any one with even a vague interest in PwC, the Professional Services industry or current affairs. The people I met during the programme (the other students and the PwC employees) were all interesting and really made the week what it was! I especially liked the fact we were treated like actual members of the PwC staff.

During the week, we were treated as close to actual employees as possible. We received our own laptops (with our own emails) and weren't talked down to. PriceWaterhouseCoopers also paid us well for the week which was appreciated! All the employees we interacted with were very supportive and genuine with us.

Overall, the week was well organised. Our local recruiter gave us tips on how to get the most out of the week before it began and provided a timetable. Certain departments were more organised than others for the Business Insight Week students but I didn't mind, as the less organised ones were more genuine and gave us a true insight.

My local recruitment officer was fantastic before, during and after the week. She gave tips on giving a presentation and organised first day icebreakers. She made it very clear that if we had any questions or concerns we could ring or email her. She was also very informative when it came to what PwC could offer us after sixth form.

As addressed earlier, my local recruitment officer couldn't have been more helpful and supportive. In terms of the other staff I spent time with on the programme, I have nothing negative to say. Everyone gave their genuine opinions and advice, which is all I could ask for! I always knew who I should report to if there were any concerns.

The pay that we received was more than enough to cover any travel, social or locational costs. I believe we were paid roughly the same as a PwC school leaver, which gave us a good general idea of the salary someone coming in straight from sixth form could expect from the apprenticeship.

During the week I made great friends with the other participants. Many of them I still stay in contact with on a frequent basis! In terms of PwC, employees told us that there are social events organised by PwC Belfast and their team leaders that happen frequently to keep morale up!

Yes

Speaking only of what I saw on Business Insight Week, it's evident that PwC Belfast is a really friendly place to work. Every employee we talked to discussed how great the 'social events' that PwC organises are and didn't really have any complaints about their day-to-day life. Yet again, I would strongly recommend the PwC business insight week to anyone.

The telephone interview is easier than you may expect if you have a rough idea of what you want to convey about yourself. Stay calm, prepare beforehand and just try to express why you're worth being on the programme. The online tests are simple enough to prepare for and there is plenty of resources out there to help with that.