Insight Academy Review

I had a fantastic time whilst attending the Academy and really enjoyed meeting peers, PwC graduates and senior members of staff such as current partners and directors. We enjoyed a wide range of activities and the hotel where we stayed was very nice with outstanding food and, as well as the challenging work, had a lot of fun in social events and more light-hearted activities such as writing and acting out an advertisement.

We worked with 3 different groups of 8 on various projects and activities and so became close to all in those groups. Additionally, there were only 54 attendees altogether and we did have some down time to get to know everyone which was very much appreciated. The PwC staff were very energetic and friendly too which was of big help during the early starts!

As I mentioned, the organising staff were very helpful and approachable and during our project work we had access to a facilitator to provide support and guidance with our report and presentation.

We were very busy on most days with a packed schedule from early morning till the evening, with social and networking events following. I did find that we did not have a great deal to prepare and rehearse our group project but I believe that may have been intentional and did encourage us to manage our time and structure our work.

Understandably, as this was a relatively short insight event, we did not have have much responsibility during the Academy process. However, during our group and assessed activities we were given free rein to follow our own ideas, sometimes with guidance available.

During the process we developed skills in line with PwC's competency framework and were encouraged to track these developments using supplied books and other materials. I feel I developed skills in team-work, time-management, communication and presentation (which we were explicitly lectured on in order to encourage our performance when presenting our project to senior staff). This will all be of great help during my studies and beyond. Additionally, I feel I learned a great deal about PwC and the services and business groups it contains in addition to expanding my commercial awareness and technical skills whilst studying financial statements and balance sheets, writing reports, advising on transactions and providing strategic recommendations.

Although everyone has often quite tired, the atmosphere was normally very friendly and excited as people were sharing similar experiences and working together.

I found that the placement was very well organised and ran extremely well. We had some minor delays on the final day but this was handled very well (and we appreciated the break!).

We were provided with materials to track our personal development and were given talks and lectures on commercial awareness and presentation skills as well as ample chances to speak with and learn from PwC employees.

Chances to be fast-tracked to an internship for next year seemed very good and a there was a great deal of support available with this (and the process was very transparent). Some further assessment might be required for some positions and the chance to 'resit' aspects of the Academy was possible.

We had a great deal of fun on the first evening with our peers and a networking dinner with partners (which turned into a protracted trip to the bar!) on the second evening was great.

All of our expenses were covered - including accommodation, travel and food. There were also free facilities such as a gym and swimming pool.

As we were resident in the hotel which was pretty much isolated in Latimer we did not particularly experience this (outside of the events during the placement).

As I have mentioned there were social evenings, a gym and a pool. However I did find there were not much chance to enjoy these!