Placement Year Review at PwC

The Role

Role Description

Working with clients to ensure that the data on their financial statements is accurate. This is achieved by matching invoices and receipts of significant transactions to those on the statements.

1. To what extent did you enjoy your work placement or internship?

★★★★★★★★★☆

Rated 9/10

I had a really great time at PwC. I got to work on a wide variety of clients as well as some internal tasks too. The staff were extremely friendly and I suppose the best bit was that I was given the opportunity to complete 9 ACA exams too as part of my placement.

2. To what extent did you feel valued by your colleagues?

★★★★★★★★★★

Rated 10/10

Really good working environment with friendly staff. Working on away jobs, you get to bond more with colleagues, but even in the office, my intake as well as other employees were always willing to talk and help; even more senior members of staff.

3. To what extent were you given support and guidance by management/your supervisor(s)?

★★★★★★★★★☆

Rated 9/10

Always willing to help when you ask for it. Regularly asking if you understood the work at great at explaining difficult concepts.

4. How busy were you on a daily basis?

★★★★★★★☆☆☆

Rated 7/10

I was more busy that not, with something to do at any time during my placement. I was however given time off when I asked for it, although this it is rare to be given time off during busy season for a large client.

5. How much responsibility were you given during your placement?

★★★★★★★★☆☆

Rated 8/10

Given a lot of responsibility, most of it was as a result of asking for more work, but I was trusted with some important tasks with clients and even chaired a few meetings.

6. To what extent did/will the skills you developed, and training you received, assist you in your degree studies and beyond?

★★★★★★★★★☆

Rated 9/10

It gave me the opportunity to adapt to different teaching styles and improve on time-management during exam periods when we would be learning a few subjects in such a short space of time and little time to revise.

The Organisation

7. What was the general atmosphere in your office?

★★★★★★★☆☆☆

Rated 7/10

Although most of the time there was a good balance, the sheer amount of work to complete by certain deadlines meant that people were sometimes too busy to relax.

8. How well organised was the overall work placement or internship set up?

★★★★★★★★★☆

Rated 9/10

Since it was a large company that has had many placement students, they knew exactly what to do. The placement students were also doing the same work at the graduates so there wasn't too much differentiation bar a few extra conference calls with other placement students for feedback on our placments.

9. In terms of personal training and development, to what extent did the company or firm invest in you?

★★★★★★★★★★

Rated 10/10

The ACA exams that I was lucky to sit says it all. The courses are very expensive and they invested a lot of time and effort to train us in order to complete the work to an adequate standard and also to have the technical concepts behind us.

10. What were the perks on your work placement?

★★★★★★☆☆☆☆

Rated 6/10

• Company Parties/Events

11. How appealing are future employment prospects within the organisation?

★★★★★★★★★★

Rated 10/10

They have offered me a job providing that I achieve a 2:1 in my final year at university. Many other placement students were given a similar offer.

Other Information

12. Was there a good social scene amongst any fellow placement students/colleagues?

★★★★★★★★★☆

Rated 9/10

My intake of graduates were excellent at organising weekly drinks or trips away after exam periods and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

13. What was the cost of living and socialising in the area you worked in?

★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Rated 2/10

It was in central London so prices were pretty high.

14. What was the Nightlife like in the area you worked?

★★★★★★★☆☆☆

Rated 7/10

The local area had a few good places to eat and drink but most of the social events took place at other parts of London such as Bank and Mayfair.

15. Were there many opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work?

★★★★★★★★★☆

Rated 9/10

There were a large variety of other opportunities, however some of them require a long term commitment and being on placement for one year limits the choice of opportunities.

In addition to these questions, is there any extra information you would like to leave about your experiences on your work placement that other students may be interested in?

Work hard during the job and they will reward you well. The work is tough and the exams are difficult but if you persevere through them, it will definitely be worth it.

Review 263/277 for PwC

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