Business Insight Week Student Review

Each day involved shadowing an employee who worked in one of the different lines of service: Audit and Assurance, Tax and Consulting. The day usually consisted of a brief introduction at the start of the day in which they told us how they got to where they are today and answered and preliminary questions we had. The rest of the day usually entailed watching the employee go about their day to day lives which gave a good insight into what we might be doing if we followed the same path as them. The employees mostly went out of their way to make sure we were never sat around doing nothing however, usually giving us small pieces of work to be getting on with.

Personally I found the experience really boosted my self-confidence and significantly improved my networking skills for the future. I also learned a lot about interview technique, especially for the PwC interviews, directly from an apprentice who's been through the process, which really gave me confidence for if I were to apply to PwC in the future.

I was pleasantly surprised with how good my work experience actually was. Before it started, one of my main worries was that it might be a bit boring but I was taken aback at how much effort some of the buddies went to to keep us doing something worthwhile. I enjoyed it that much that it's really made me consider a career in professional services in the future.

I was very impressed with how well organised the work experience was. There was a clear structure to the week and we got constant communication from the organisers to make sure we knew exactly what we were doing. All the buddies had a clear plan for the day, so that there were no periods of time in which we were sat doing absolutely nothing.

One thing that struck me about PwC was that it was definitely a people company. Everyone there was super friendly and every employee felt comfortable talking to each other, regardless of how senior they were. Everyone there was very like-minded, in the sense that they were extremely clever and focused and those are the kind of people I want to be surrounded in in the workplace. I could definitely see myself working at PwC.

I really wasn't expecting my mind to be swayed as much as it was as a result of the week. Before it I didn't expect to be as interested as I now am in a career in professional services. After shadowing one of the higher apprentices for a day, it really inspired me to pursue the same path as him.

I didn't realise the experience was paid until a couple of weeks before but I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I received an hourly pay of £9.64. Although I haven't done it yet, I'm pretty sure you can claim back expenses if you had to travel on the days you were shadowing an employee e.g. if you travelled to a client site.

I don't know if everyone got the same experience as me but personally I met a multitude of different employees in different parts of the company, who said they were more than happy for me to contact them if I had any questions. I added a few people on LinkedIn as well which I really didn't expect to achieve.

Yes

I would recommend anyone I meet to pursue a career in PwC as the experience I received only bettered my already good opinion of them. I believe it's a fantastic company to work for and I would recommend anyone who is interested to go for it. There are many different routes into the company so I believe most people could find one that's right for them.

The most important thing an apprentice told me about applying is to do your research on the company and the role you're applying for. He said it was unbelievable how many people were going for a Tax apprenticeship who didn't know what a tax return was. Another thing I'd say is get familiar with the whole application process so you know exactly what's to come.