PwC Business Insight Week Review

On the first day of the PwC Business Insight Week I went to the Birmingham office for an introduction to PwC as a business, to meet other people on the Insight Week and to learn about opportunities within the company. During my three days spent in the Hull office I shadowed two higher apprentices and helped them with their auditing tasks. I sat in on a telephone conference with a client, completed some statistics work using PwC specialist software, researched potential new clients for PwC and did a Business Analysis Form. The final day was an assessment day at an assessment centre in Leeds. During this I completed aptitude tests, an in-tray exercise and a group problem solving session.

I developed skills specific to accounting such as how to audit accounts to ensure they are accurate, as well as more general skills such as how to behave in a professional manner.

I especially enjoyed the induction day as I was able to meet other people in a similar situation to me and find out all I wanted to know about the different sectors of the firm and the opportunities within them.

Prior to the Business Insight Week they emailed me regularly and I always felt that I could ask anything I needed. As I was only there for a week, there was a limit to how much responsibility I could have and so I obviously was not as valued as other members of the team. However, they did not make me feel like this and appreciated all the work I did do, genuinely using it to aid there work. I also met some of the directors of the office, which made me feel more valued.

It was very well organised with a good induction day, followed by 3 days on work experience and finally an assessment day. I always knew what I would be doing each day.

The support from the higher apprentice I was shadowing was very good - he would answer any questions I had, even after the working day was over, and gave me feedback. I never felt like he treated me as if I was different / younger / less experienced than a fellow employee, but he gave me extra support if I needed it.

The support before, during and after the week was good. For example, I was given feedback from the assessment day and had a phone call to talk about my future possibilities.

I was pleased with the pay I was given for the week and all travel costs were reimbursed.

Although it was only a week, I heard of the events the apprentices had taken part in - they'd recently been rafting! I also went to lunch each day with people from the office.

Yes

Great experience and very good pay!

It's worth doing some practice aptitude tests to get used to the style of question and time pressure. If you're interested in any aspect of business, it is worth doing - but if there is a specific part of PwC you want to go in to, check that your local office deals with it (The Hull office only does Auditing and Tax, not Consultancy).