The internship gave me a real insight into how interesting and challenging the projects are
Dora started her internship in Strategy& at PwC in June 2021 after completing the Women in Consulting insight programme. She later rejoined the firm as a graduate in September 2022.
“My internship started off with one week of training to cover key consulting skills, including market sizing, competition analysis and basic Excel and Powerpoint training. This training was in person, which allowed everyone to get to know each other very quickly.
From the second week of the internship, we were assigned to project teams and worked within these just as any new Graduate Associate would do. All project teams follow a flexible working model where you can choose when to work at home and when to come into the office.
My team usually came into the office at least 3 days a week and would coordinate days, so we could sit together. I always found working from the office much more fun and sociable than at home.”
During Dora’s internship, she worked on two really interesting projects; a corporate strategy project for a motorway service station company and a commercial due diligence for a private equity firm looking to purchase a medical aesthetics company. From the beginning, Dora was joining and contributing to project calls, analysing data and making slides for client presentations. She was very well supported by the Senior Associates and Managers on her projects who answered all her questions - this allowed her to learn a huge amount in a short space of time, despite having no prior strategy consulting experience.
She also connected with many of the wider Strategy& Deals team through project work, coffee catch-ups, women's network events and regular social events outside the office.
“Some of the social highlights for me were the Women’s Network dinner in my first week, finishing up early on Friday’s as part of PwC’s flexible summer working hours, going for socials after work and the summer boat party on the Thames.”
Dora really appreciated how everyone in the team was so willing to take time out of their days to get to know her and tell her about the different sectors and activities available at Strategy& and across the wider PwC network. Like all new joiners, she was also assigned a career coach and buddy who were there to offer advice, provide support and mentor her during her internship. This really helped Dora settle in.
“I got the return offer for the graduate job at Strategy& in the penultimate week of the internship and because I’d loved the internship so much I accepted it straight away. This meant I didn’t have to worry about applying for jobs in my final year of university. Leveraging the skills I learnt and friends I had made during the internship also gave me great confidence when returning as an Graduate Associate at Strategy & Deals.”
Dora has been an Associate in Strategy& for five months now and has already worked on multiple varied projects, including a commercial due diligence for a private equity firm looking to purchase a luxury watch company and a strategy project for a cow genetics company. She’s also been getting involved with the Strategy& Women’s Network and inducting new graduates into PwC. Outside of work, Dora loves running and recently completed the London marathon.
