Shadow a Female Leader Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my shadow a female leader week at PwC.

I felt extremely valued and as though no question I asked was too trivial or insignificant. The week consisted of shadowing so there was not much work to do, but the work I did I was made to feel like it was appreciated.

Due to the nature of the insight shadowing week I was always with the female leader I was shadowing, or if they were unavailable, I would be assigned to someone else. Therefore I always had somewhere there I could ask questions to.

I study Accounting and Finance so seeing how the audit department at one of the Big 4 operates, and the day to day duties involved was very helpful. This has given me more idea of what to expect when I graduate, rather than just learning the theory at University. In addition it has shown me what I have the potential to achieve if I manage to obtain a manager role in later years.

The insight was very well structured and I always had something to do, or a client meeting to attend. When there were no client meetings, I attended internal meetings or did small tasks. Often the female leader assigned me to other people to attend their internal meetings, if it was believed to be more helpful than the small tasks.

Everyone was very friendly and willing to take time to explain the nature of the meeting to me. I was ,add to feel as though I could ask any questions.

When deciding which meetings I should attend, the question in mind for everyone was always how beneficial it would be for me, in understanding how the audit department operates. There was a genuine interest in what would be useful to me, and not just sending me to meetings for the sake of it.

I think that shadowing someone is the best way to find out what a full time role would be like in the firm. I also saw a great deal of what the less senior members were doing, which gave me an idea of what I could potentially be doing when I graduate.

Intiially I felt slightly intimidated at Pwc, however, everyone was so welcoming that I immediately felt at ease. Over my week everyone was extremely immediately. I may be slightly biased, as I know when working there normally there would not necessarily be someone right there to ask questions to.

The content was very valuable as it has made me think about whether I want to go into audit, or into preparing the accounts in the finance department of a business. It has also made me think about the other areas of PwC, and I was able to talk to the business consultants about their job roles.

I was paid a daily rate and was able to claim my journeys from the base office to the client meetings.

I met many other employees at the internal meetings and during the day to day tasks. I attended a networking event where I was able to talk to some business consultants.

Everyone went out of their way to describe their roles to me and to answer any questions.

I heard a little bit from HR on my first day about sporting opportunities. In addition there was a evening social which I was invited to.

I would thoroughly recommend this insight, as it gave me a good idea of what working for one of the Big 4 would be like. Gaining experience whilst doing an accounting course is essential to being able to understand how all of the theory applies in real life.