Business Placmeent Student - Associate Review

I really enjoyed my time at PwC. Especially working within the fast paced Forensic Services department in the Belfast office. Everyone made me feel very welcome in the team and we got the chance to work on real projects.

Everyone in the Belfast office is very welcoming and friendly. I felt all pieces of work that I completed was valued by my peers and management.

The management were very supportive and they have lots of supportive schemes like the 'People Manager' who is assigned to you once you join. The idea is that you can go this person with whatever problem you have and they can confidentially help you out.

During the time when a project is ongoing you can work long hours. I managed to leave by 5 on most days but during the working day it was non-stop which I found to be a good thing as it went in very quickly. Once a project finishes then there may be some short period of time where it is not as busy but I found that mostly I was kept busy during my time on placement.

I was treated just like a first year grad student / Associate 1. There was absolutely no difference made that I was still in University and not once was I made to feel like I couldn't do any of the work put in front of me. I really enjoyed this and didn't expect it to be that way when I joined. You really get a feel for what a graduate job would be like in the firm so I found my placement year extremely worth while.

I have learnt many new skills, some of which are very specific to my role in PwC (Disputes team within Forensics) and others are more general -- communication, team working,

The atmosphere in Forensics in Belfast is very young and energetic. The average age in the office is early 20s, probably around 24/5? I found this very surprising but in a good way as I was able to communicate and network with such a wide variety of people who were not much older than myself, even though I was on my placement year. It's a very open plan office which was daunting at first but everyone was very friendly and it actually makes it easier for communicating within the team and beyond. It also makes it easier for building relationships with colleagues and for asking questions to peers and senior members of staff.

My placement was quite well organised. I was able to move between different teams within Forensics which gave me a really good insight into different areas and what appealed to me as a graduate job.

There are lots of compliance training e-learns to complete once you join the firm. Additionally there are lots of resources on the Portal which I regularly used. There was a course for Forensic Accountants which I took in some spare time I had between projects which really helped me when I moved into my new team. I think you get out of placement what you put in so I made the most of it.

Very appealing, great grad job offers and for higher apprentices!

There were many nights on and also the First Friday club of every month everyone in the firm goes to the Hilton bar where you can get 2 free drinks.

Good nightlife and cheaper than mainland UK! Lots of nice restaurants to choose from.

Good nightlife and cheaper than mainland UK! Lots of bars and pubs

Lots of other commities.