Trainee Associate Year 2, Assurance, Hull Review

Trainee Associate Year 2, My daily responsibilities/tasks vary from day to day, you are given lots of responsibility and chance to grow as you are sent out to different clients each week. Responsibilities range from auditing an area of a financial statement, planning audits, and site tours of clients and control walkthroughs.

I am studying to complete my ACA qualification and we are provided with plenty of internal training courses to help support our roles. I have learnt so much since starting, from technical skills from working in accounting, to personal skills. My confidence has improved so much since starting, when I first joined the firm, I hadn't even been on a train on my own!

The people at PwC are the best part! Every other week we get sent on new teams, so work with a wide variety of people under different deadlines. The work can be demanding but teams are always supportive and will coach you through any areas you are struggling.

We all have regular feedback sessions, and managers and seniors get involved to let you know if you've done a good job. It's always good to hear from clients too, who will often tell the managers if they think that the team has worked well. There are also internal recognition awards if a team member has particularly appreciated something you've done for them.

The programme starts with several weeks of training before you're sent out on client sites, even when at clients, there are always teams of support, whether that's from your buddy (someone who joined the year before), your people manager, or the team around you.

Kaplan provide our training for our professional qualifications. This means spending set times at college in Leeds where we get face to face training for our exams, much like at school and is attended by everyone in the peer group. The tutors are extremely supportive and make themselves available via email when we're not at college, we've also had local Kaplan tutors offer their support if people feel they need more contact time with tutors when they don't live in Leeds.

There is a lot of support available at PwC, people managers are assigned specifically for each employee and will have catch-ups as regularly as you feel the need. We are also assigned a buddy when joining who is a joiner from the year before, they offer a more junior insight to the workplace and are available for questions regarding the day to day life of PwC, and will help with anything you feel less comfortable taking to a manager. The teams who you work with both around the office and on site are also always happy to help.

I currently live at home so have a lot of expendable income to use on travel expenses and social costs. The location of working in Hull office was really useful as it meant that I could stay at home, despite the recent announcement that the office is closing, PwC have worked hard to make sure the move works for everyone, including arrangements made to support increased commuting costs, and resourcing working to ensure that people who do not relocate will remain on more local clients.

Every year we have a voluntary 'One firm one day' event where everyone in the firm is encouraged to take the day to volunteer. Last year this included our office helping to redecorate houses. There are also plenty of socials, including a summer, christmas, end of busy season, and new starter socials. There are also other socials during the year, with month end drinks and birthdays usually resulting in office socials as well.

Yes

Although the work can sometimes be demanding, I feel like I have grown so much since starting the firm. The people I've met since joining have made my experience so enjoyable, and an apprenticeship with one of the biggest firms in the world will speak volumes on a CV.

The application process involves some online tests, an assessment day and an interview with a partner or director. The assessment day essentially replicates the online tests, with an added group test as well. The group test is simple enough, they seem to be looking more at how you work together as a team and how confident you seem at communicating, than whether or not you get the right answer. The interview was competency based, although my interviewer took a very relaxed approach and seemed to consider it as more of a test as to whether I'd fit in than if I was good enough for the job!