PwC Forensics Business Placement Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my placement experience at PwC and feel that not only did it give me a great insight into work in a Professional Services firm but also allowed me to grow my skills and as a person. Every morning I woke up looking forward to getting to work and every day absolutly flew.

Right from the start of my placement I was treated like a full grandate joiner rather than the traditional image people have of a placement student where it is assumed you make tea and dor photocopying. My colleagues all took a great interest in both my professional development and also in getting to know me personally and getting to know what I liked.

All management (both managers, senior managers and directors) took a big interest in my professional development and in me as a person. They were always willing to take large chunks of time out of their day to chat about my future career, to help me with my palcement project I had to do for University or even just for a friendly chat. They treated me like I really valued to them.

Every day going into woek I knew what I had to do in the day ahead and I was always kept busy - while I was kepy busy, I was also well supported and felt that if I ever had too much work that I could make this known to managers. The work I was being given and with which I was busy was always proper graduate work and not just things to keep me busy and out of the way.

I was treated like a normal granduate recruit throughout my placement and was given the same work as them and also the same career development support as them - this all meant that the experience I got was a very realistic view of what it would be like to work for the firm and also indicated to me that I would like to come back to the firm in the future.

My time management skills and report writing skills in particular have developed greatly and will be very useful during the remainder of my degree studies.

Everyone in the office was very friendly and there was always a hive of activity in the office which was nice. There were also "breakout areas" which were good as they were areas off to the side where you could go if you needed somewhere quieter to sit down for a conversation. There was free fruit 2 days a week in the office along with free tea and coffee at all times and people were bringing in cakes and buns and sweets almost every day.

The program was well structured as my palcement was split between 2 areas, both of which I spent 5 or so months in. During this time I was regularly given the opportunity to pull out of the team I was in for a week or 2, to join another team and experience some of what they do. These "cycles of expereience" as PwC call them are great ways of finding out more about the firm and are invaluable to my development.

I was given the opportunity to attend a lot of the graduate training events and and also to take other optional courses held either in the office or else online as e-learns. There were litteraly 100's of courses I could have done if I wanted. The compulsory training I had to do was also very useful and taught me a lot.

VERY appealing. If and when I get a granduate job offer I will definitly accept it as the firm is great to work for and has been very good to me this year. I have been unofficially told that I will be made a job offer at the end of my placement.

Yes although I didnt get involved as I am not really interested in the social scene. It was also good that when I wasnt interested in getting involved in the social scene no pressure was put on me to do so.

I lived at home and traveled in and out by train. Costs were good as living at home was free and for the train I was able to get 1/3 off using my university student card.

There was a lot of nightlife for those interested although the fact that I wasnt interested didnt cause me any problems.

Yes there were regular team meals and outings and also cycling, yoga and running clubs etc. which I was more than welcome to get involved with. The fact I was placement student didnt make me any less welcome. Our director in my team actually invited us all to her house for a BBQ at the start of the summer which was nice.