This review was submitted over 4 years ago, so some of the information it contains may no longer be relevant.
Rating
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The Role
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The Company
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The Culture
- 1. To what extent did you enjoy your work placement or internship?
- 2. To what extent did you feel valued by your colleagues?
- 3. To what extent were you given support and guidance by management/your supervisor(s)?
- 4. How busy were you on a daily basis?
- 5. How much responsibility were you given during your placement?
- 6. To what extent did/will the skills you developed, and training you received, assist you in your degree studies and beyond?
- 7. What was the general atmosphere in your office?
- 8. How well organised was the overall work placement or internship set up?
- 9. In terms of personal training and development, to what extent did the company or firm invest in you?
- 10. What were the perks on your work placement?
- 11. How appealing are future employment prospects within the organisation?
- 12. Was there a good social scene amongst any fellow placement students/colleagues?
- 13. What was the cost of living and socialising in the area you worked in?
- 14. What was the Nightlife like in the area you worked?
- 15. Were there many opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work?
The Role
I really enjoyed my time at PwC this summer. The work was interesting and everyone I met was incredibly helpful and friendly, which really added to my overall experience.
During my six weeks at PwC I worked within 4 different teams. Each team made me feel valued and trusted me to do my work.
The People Manager system at PwC is fantastic. I was very keen to experience working in a particular department and my People Manager made sure that I got to do this. She also met up with me on a regular basis to find out how I was getting on, and to help me to achieve the goals I had set myself.
Throughout the whole 6 weeks of my internship, there were only one or two days where there wasn't much work for me to do. This impressed me as I'd expected that I would end up feeling a bit bored sometimes, but this didn't happen. There was almost always work for me to do, but I didn't feel rushed to complete things without time to fully understand them first.
I was suprised and impressed by the responsibility I was given during my placement. I hadn't expected for my colleagues to trust my work as much as they did. I was never left to do admin and instead was working at the same level as graduate starters, doing work that was sent out to clients and contacting the clients myself in some situations.
The skills I developed will definitely help me when I start my graduate job at PwC, but they are not really relevant to my degree studies.
The Company
Of the four teams I worked with, one had a rather quiet atmosphere which was productive but wasn't always fun. However, the last team I worked with was almost the opposite! We had the radio on while we were working and all ate lunch together, which provided a great atmosphere.
The placement was, in general, well organised. My only negative comment would be that jobs could change quite last minute, and that some people who were working with me spent a couple of days without much to do. I was lucky and this didn't happen to me.
Our first three days were all spent at a hotel in Birmingham where we learnt about the theory behind the work we would be doing, and the last two days of that week were also spent training us. So out of a total of 6 weeks, one of these was devoted entirely to training us.
Subsidised Canteen
National Travel
I have a graduate job with PwC starting next September (dependent on getting a 2:1 or above in my degree).
The Culture
All the interns on our intake got on really well, and we all went out for dinner together on our last night to celebrate. The office organised some drinks for us a couple of times throughout the placement too.
In my opinion, Edinburgh is quite an expensive city to live in and going out for drinks can be quite pricey too. However, I live here anyway as Edinburgh is where I go to university, so I didn't have to fork out for accommodation that I wouldn't normally be paying for anyway.
Edinburgh has lots of nice (but pricey!) bars, but it is a bit lacking in good clubs in my opinion. We were working during the Fringe Festival so there was obviously a lot on after work, but outside of August the choices are definitely more limited.
Theoretically we would've been invited to any office social during our internship, but the August social was a ticketed event which was sold out, and so we weren't able to go.
Details
Internship (1 Month+)
Scotland
July 2014