Core Assurance Intern Review

I greatly enjoyed my internship at PwC! Throughout the internship I was given the opportunity to do real client work, working in real teams out on client sites, which gave me a good flavour of what a full time graduate job would be like. I was exposed to a range of clients, from the office's larger clients to smaller ones, and from across different industries, allowing me to gain a good understanding of the kind of clients in the office. I had excellent technical training throughout, from a central classroom based induction at the start of the six weeks to on the job coaching by colleagues. In addition to enjoying the technical side of the internship, I enjoyed the fact that the internship was well run, with several events to meet interns from across the country. Within my office I was well supported by my buddy and felt welcomed to office social events.

I felt highly valued by my colleagues. During an office wide meeting, the interns were included in a list of new members of the office and I was pleased that my colleagues made the effort to introduce us in this way. On every job I did, more senior colleagues were keen to thank me for my work, which encouraged me that I had made a real contribution to the team. Everyone was very willing to take time out of their own work to explain things to me which made me feel like I was a valued addition. Everyone I met, from partners to first years, was very welcoming and willing to answer any questions and share their experiences, as well as just chat. I was invited to the office summer ball even though it took place the week before I had started my internship, and I was welcomed at other office social events such as a summer BBQ, drinks night, and wine tasting event.

I was well supported during the internship. Before arriving I was assigned a Buddy (a recent graduate) who was extremely helpful in answering my questions even before I arrived and when he was not in the office, and it was useful to have someone relatively new to PwC to ask any 'stupid' questions! I was also assigned a People Manager who oversaw feedback on my performance and ensured that I was booked on client jobs. This support was useful, and although I didn't have any particular problems that required further assistance from my People Manager, I felt confident she would have been happy to help me further. I also know that the Buddy and People Manager system applies to all employees, so I am confident that this support and guidance would continue in a graduate role. While working in small teams out on client sites I was also guided very well, and was never left to struggle with work by myself. The central induction and office based induction at the start of the internship also provided a great deal of guidance on practical issues.

I was fairly busy on a day to day basis. While out on client sites I always had work to do, but it could be comfortably finished while working a standard length day; I never worked beyond 6pm and the team often left at 5:30pm. I spent one week in the office where I was not booked on a particular client, and during that time I was less busy. I was given a series of very short tasks by a variety of people, and had to ask around the office if anyone had any work I could help with every time I finished a particular task. I believe this is fairly typical of the internship experience, because summer is the least busy time for audit so there is a limit to the quantity of work available for interns. However, I am aware that my experience is not typical of all times of year: during the 'busy season' people work longer hours and are busier day to day.

I was given a great deal of responsibility, as I did exactly the same kinds of work a first year graduate might do. I was given the responsibility of performing audit tasks, and of talking to clients to find out relevant information by myself. I was given the responsibility of doing 'real' work, in the sense that nothing was re-done by more senior team members after I had done it: although I often chose to check my work with a member of the team before submitting it, my work was reviewed by a manager in the same way a full time employee's work would be and it was my responsibility to ensure I had completed the work to the best of my ability. I very rarely did tasks that were not central to the completion of the audit.

I have developed general skills in how to conduct oneself in a workplace, both through my experience working for PwC and by being out on client sites and seeing other workplaces. This will of course be very useful going forward in a career. I also received some technical training in accountancy and audit which would provide a good grounding if I were able to come back to PwC in a graduate role, and I improved my skills using Microsoft Excel. My commerical awareness increased, as I learnt a great deal about the clients I worked on and developed my awareness of the differences between how different businesses might operate and the kinds of questions to ask. I didn't develop any skills which will assist me in my degree, but rather the skills developed studying at university (independent working, picking up new ideas very quickly, time management, efficiency and focus, attention to detail etc.) were all useful during my internship.

People were focussed on their work and were generally quiet and hardworking, but at the same time the atmosphere was very friendly. People were happy to chat for brief periods and everyone always greeted eachother and clearly knew most members of the office reasonably well. While working in small teams out at client the atmosphere was particularly friendly and there was a great team spirit, with slightly more time to chat. The team generally agreed to arrive and leave at the same time, and we all stopped for lunch together. For me the atmosphere suited my personality very well.

The internship was very well set up. There was a central induction at a conference centre/hotel near Northampton, which was a good opportunity to meet all the other interns from across the country and learn about PwC and some technical skills required for the internship. The induction was particularly well run, even extending to providing coaches from the train station to the conference centre. There were also two further days in London with interns from across the country, half way through and at the end of the internship, which was a good idea. All information about the internship was provided in advance, and I felt it was a very professionally run programme. The only weakness I would highlight was the lack of clarity over the process at the end of the intership about receiving a graduate offer. During the internship I heard everything from needing another partner interview, to simply being told whether you had got an offer. The situation was somewhat clarified at the event in London half way through the internship, but even then the specific arrangements in my office could have been made clearer. Ideally I think this should have been made completeley clear by the recruitment team at the start of the six weeks in order to avoid confusion and misinformation.

The firm invested a great deal in my personal training and development. They arranged a three day induction at the start of the internship, which consisted mostly of classroom based learning about basic accountancy, and also included a good team building exercise. There was then a further two day induction at my office about the IT system, expenses claims etc. In addition, half way thorugh the internship there was a development day in London that focussed on personal branding and presentation skills. Moreover, throughout the six weeks, all my colleagues were very willing to coach me in the tasks.

Great!

There was only one other intern in my office, so there wasn't really a social scene amongst the interns. This was particularly the case because we were assigned to different client jobs, so spent absolutely no time working together during the internship. The events with interns from across the country provided a better opportunity to socialise with fellow students, but overall there wasn't really an internship social scene. My experience is probably typical of regional offices which tend to take a small number of interns, but the atmosphere may have been a little different in London.

Cambridge is an expensive city.

Not great - it is a student city so during the summer the nightlife is more limited.

Not particularly, but this was because there weren't very many activities outside of work, rather than the fact that as an intern the opportunities weren't open to me. (There was a cricket team which I'm sure I would have been welcome to join, but I don't play cricket.) However, I was very welcome to all office social events.