Transaction Services Summer Intern Review

I really enjoyed my summer internship in transaction services. As the only summer intern in my particular line of service, I was worried that it would be hard for me to communicate and learn from the professionals at the firm. However, my fears were completely unfounded. The people at PwC ensured I had a great experience and are what differentiate the firm from other competitive professional services companies.

Coming into a company like PwC, it is very hard to contribute straight away without prior experience. All you have to have is an attitude where you are willing to learn and then people are willing to teach you. If you have that attitude then the people make you feel very valued.

My manager was away on a deal in New York for the first three weeks of my internship, however she was available from New York if I needed her and left me in the hands of associates back in London while she was away. When she was back she helped me to work on a very large technology deal and supported me when she could.

Very busy, but I wanted that because I wanted to gain an accurate experience of what I’d be doing there. For the first three weeks I completed a 50-page business development report on target companies in a petrodollar economy. For the latter three weeks I worked on the financial due diligence of a $10 billion carve-out from an extremely large and well-known technology firm.

I was given more responsibility than I thought, particularly for the business development piece of work. I was basically left to produce a report by myself and checked in once a week with the project manager who offered further tips and advice. It was refreshing considering I expected to be micromanaged.

I study Physics and I thought that the skills from my degree were extremely applicable to understanding the accounts given to me. The internship helped me to develop my report writing skills and I think that this will prove useful in my final year when I need to write my dissertation.

I worked in both the More London and Embankment Place offices. In the More London office, it was quiet in the office space because people were very focussed on their work. However, there were areas or booths where people chatted freely without disturbing others around them. I was in a crisis room in embankment place due to the confidential nature of the deal and thus can’t really judge the atmosphere in embankment place.

It was very well organised. We had a residential at the start where it was very easy to meet fellow interns before we started the job. This was very helpful as I had a previous internship where we were thrown straight into the job and it was very hard to make friends while working in different teams.

As mentioned, the firm invested in a residential which I found really helpful and helped me to make contacts with fellow interns my own age. Additionally, during the internship I had the chance to meet lots of partners and individuals from different areas of the business. Considering how busy the partners were, it was nice that the firm organised this.

I was offered a position on the graduate programme at the end of the internship and remain very likely to accept it. It is a very appealing place to work with exceptional clients and fantastic opportunities for international secondments. Additionally, you are provided with fantastic teaching (i.e. ACA, CFA etc.) and interact with very intelligent people.

The residential allowed me to meet many of the fellow interns and I grew particularly close to many of the interns in the deals business area, all of whom I am still in contact with. However, it is also easy to stay in contact with interns from different business areas such as tax or assurance.

London is expensive. Like saying the sky is blue. PwC can't do much about that I'm afraid.

Great, London is the capital of the world :)

Yes, plenty, especially if you get good project teams.