Women in Business Shadow Scheme Review

I really enjoyed my insight week. My week consisted of shadowing a female leader for 5 days in management consultancy. I also got to spend time with other members of staff whose were working on different projects and as a result I gained a fairly broad overview, which was very beneficial. I found the week extremely interesting and learnt a lot about the day to day tasks and a more about how the job worked which was really enjoyable.

Everyone that I met was incredibly friendly and welcoming. Everyone seemed very happy to explain their projects to me and were happy to answer any questions I had about working at PwC, management consultancy and other potential schemes for the future such as internships. People were genuinely interested in what I had to say and were very engaging. The week was well organised and I always had something to do. As a result I felt valued by the company as people were willing to invest their time and energy into making sure the week was a brilliant experience.

The student recruitment team made sure the week was completely organised, gave an introduction to the week and what would happen and assured that they would be there if needed during the week. The leader i shadowed made me feel very comfortable so that I felt at ease asking her any questions I needed. People were also often very willing to give advice about careers in management consultancy.

The week provided a lot of information about a career in consulting, which firmed in my mind my decision to pursue management consultancy as a career. Although I was only there for one week I felt I improved many important career skills including communication, people skills and improving my understanding of business terminology.

The week was well structured, with a clear introductory talk which introduced the format of the week. The leader I followed took time to organise different things to do during the week both in and out of the office so that I experienced a wide range and met many different people. I always had something I could be doing and when I did have gaps between meetings, people were willing to talk about their roles and share their experiences.

The PwC atmosphere was extremely friendly and welcoming yet professional at the same time. A very smart environment, but also very interactive and sociable.

The week was very focused on what I would gain from it, particularly a greater understanding of consultancy and what it entails on a day to day basis. After completing the week I was also offered an internship, which shows the continuing personal training and development and the continuing investment.

Rather than other insight weeks which consist of 'team tasks' and presentations, with a shadow scheme you can quickly understand more about the ins and outs of actually working on projects, how the company is organised and what you would be doing if working here full time.

The people I met definitely gave a good perception of company culture. Everyone I met seemed happy to work their and happy in their jobs. It was evident personal development and people management were key in the business, many employees were able to specialise in what they enjoyed doing or if they didn't have a particular passion were able to partake in a broad range of projects.

I was able to ask lots of questions I had about consultancy and PwC and the general experience helped me to decide to continue to pursue consultancy as a career path.

I was paid for the week.

Yes, I met many people throughout my week. Also on the final day I attended a staff presentation and networking event where everyone was networking which made it easy to meet a lot of people.

I attended one internal networking event which was really interesting and a good oppotunity to meet a lot of people. I did not attend any social events, probably due to the short time of the insight week.

A little. I got the impression that employees often did social activities after work and there were activities to get involved in.

Absolutely. I have already recommended it to anyone showing an interest in the service sector in their first year of university. It is a brilliant way to get a head start in a competitive career as it may lead to an internship. It is also a good way of getting to know a bit more about the career and whether it will suit you.