Shadow a Female Leader Review

I really enjoyed the insight into Audit on my Shadow a Female Leader week - the employees were incredibly friendly and welcoming, as well as willing to explain what their jobs involved and allowing me to sit in on their meetings. I was able to do a range of things, including visiting client sites, listening in on group calls, working on financial reports and attending meetings. It was also great to be able to shadow a Director, and gain an insight from her about females in the workplace and what the company has to offer.

Everyone I spoke to was extremely friendly and willing to offer advice and help. I was treated as an equal when carrying out tasks on financial reports and sitting in on meetings, despite my currently limited knowledge in audit. The Director I was shadowing was wonderful and definitely made me feel valued, even though I was only there for a week!

There were definitely support structures in place, although because I was shadowing rather than fully employed these were not directly applicable to me. However, the support given to me by the Director I was shadowing, and her colleagues, in introducing me to the workings of the company was fantastic.

Although not relevant to my Maths degree, the information about audit I learned during the week was very useful as a general introduction to that side of the financial world. Other skills developed, such as networking with colleagues and clients, paying attention to detail in financial reports, dealing with clients in meetings and on calls, and presentation and communication skills will, of course, be invaluable in the future, both at university and at work.

Because it was a week of shadowing a Director, I must say that there wasn't a set structure. However, my 'female leader' had made the arrangements for me to shadow her throughout the week and so I knew what I would be doing each day, even if the timings were a little vague at times. This did mean the week was reasonably relaxed and quite flexible though.

Overall, it was interesting to gain insight into PwC, and also into audit which I knew little about. Each day was varied which was great, although of course there were times when I didn't really know quite what was going on, say, in a meeting or on a call because I had no knowledge of those particular clients or the specific accounting regulations that were being discussed. However, the general atmosphere was very friendly and relatively relaxed.

Because it was a week of shadowing, there was no specific training, however the people I worked with were keen to explain/demonstrate how things worked and to talk me through anything I didn't understand at first, for example with the financial reports and spreadsheets I was working with.

Shadowing meant that I got to see all different parts of different roles: working on financial reports, attending meetings, taking calls, visiting clients... Hence the insight was extremely useful in helping me understand what a full time role would involve.

It was clear that PwC has a culture of efficiency but also being extremely welcoming and diverse. My insight week showed me how all employees work together to achieve their goals - senior staff were continually meeting with the juniors to discuss, advise and work together, which was really good to see since a lot of companies are more hierarchical.

The insights I was giving during each day certainly helped me to make a more balanced decision about future careers, rather than going into a job without any experience.

I was paid a reasonable amount for the week, although I was not reimbursed for my travel to and from the office.

Yes - constantly! As well as networking with lots of employees in meetings (including at a networking breakfast) I was given a desk to work at, and so met all the people on surrounding desks too.

There were not really any specific social events - although there were plenty of opportunities to network with employees and also with the other girls on the same Shadowing week as me.

Lots of them do things for charity outside their jobs, and they all tend to get involved with things like that. There are also opportunities for sports and travel, and lots of societies for employees to get to know each other better outside of the office.

Yes - in fact I already have! The Shadow a Female Leader week is an excellent way for female students to get an insight into how women become leaders and what their jobs involve, as well as the support structures in place for female employees. Also, the week itself was a fantastic opportunity to get to know the company and gain an insight into Audit. There are insight opportunities available in other areas of the business too, such as Consultancy, so I'd recommend it to anyone who is interested.