Flying Start Degree programme - FS1, East Midlands Review

I acted as the first year associate on the jobs I was part of. This involved testing areas of the financial statements that are not too high risk. I would receive regular coaching from my team in order to allow me to complete this work effectively. I moved between multiple engagements whilst on placement

Whilst on placement I have learnt many new skills within excel as well as other digital tools used by PwC. My excel skills developed through good coaching from my team, as well as independent research when I believed there was a more efficient way of completing things. I also utilised PwC's training programmes to develop other skills as and when I came across weaknesses whilst completing work.

I really enjoy the mix of studying my programme at university and working on placement 3 months a year. I find particularly effective being able to apply what I have learnt at university to real world experiences. I believe the ability to have secured the placements before starting university allows more focus to be placed on exams at work, rather than having to actively look for placement opportunities whilst studying.

I believe the structure of the university programme is effective. It allows for developing skills during first term at university, and then applying them in second term, before returning back to university to complete the exams. The only area I believe could be structured better is the format of completing learning in first term, then taking a term off of university for placement, before returning to complete exams on the learning completed in first term. The time difference between the learning and undertaking the exams leads to more difficulty to remember the contents covered in first term.

Before joining on placement, I was allocated a buddy as well as a career coach for the duration of my placement. Both these people reached out to me before I had my first day in office which made it easier to settle in. As well as this, each office has a flying start champion, who has been in regular contact and is always free for any questions any of us had, as well as being the person who completed the introduction on our first day. On an engagement level, I found each team I worked on to be free for questions and were all happy to coach me through aspects of work I hadn't completed before.

We have had regular check ins with contacts from the university. They were also in frequent contact always making sure we are aware they are there for any queries or issues we are having whilst on placement. In addition to this, we had constant access to university resources whilst on placement.

I believe the modules completed in university all effectively contribute to the understanding of the work engaged in whilst on placement. The work completed whilst on placement allows you to apply the learning undertook from the prior term. It was often the case the work completed was more in depth than the knowledge I already have, however having the base level of knowledge on the area allowed me to tackle the challenges much easier.

There was activites to get involved in outside of work. There have been a few social events whilst on placement that we were able to attend. I believe there is also opportunities to take part in sports activities after work, generally once a week for each sport. As well as this there are team meals often at the end of an engagement in order to celebrate the work completed. I do believe the amount of extra-curricular activities are higher the bigger the office you are part of.

Yes

The general cohort of employees you undertake work with are young people of similar ages. This placement has allowed me to develop my confidence when interacting with the client which has been helpful when addressing queries. As well as this I have learnt many new skills, whilst also developing my existing skills in excel, to a much higher level than prior to the placement.

Ensure to complete thorough research on PwC as a whole, as well as the individual PwC office you apply for. I believe this is largely impactful on the type of client you complete work on. Generally the bigger city based offices will work on larger clients as they have a bigger cohort of employees to build teams for this. This is why it is important to decide what sort of clients you would like to have exposure to before selecting the office. However, it must be said that all offices do work on clients of all sizes at times.