Assurance Summer Internship Review

During the 6 week summer internship I have gained a real range of experience within assurance. and accounting professionalism. I greatly enjoyed working alongside a variety of teams on a mixture of clients. From the beginning of the placement I was given work that was expected of an associate gave me confidence in my ability to perform the work.

Every colleague I have met within PwC has been extremely understanding, helpful and approachable. Although I had limited knowledge on the role, my fellow colleagues took time to explain tasks and help at any point. I along with the other summer interns was invited to all social events and people made a real effort to speak to us about our experiences throughout.

On starting the 6 week internship I was appointed a people manager who regularly arranged meetings and monitored my progress and issues. Whilst on client sites working within teams I was able to speak with senior staff members to get feedback and present and questions I had on work that I was completing.

I was consistently busy with tasks, although these did test me being the first time that I had completed such tasks, I never felt over worked or stressed to a point where it could not be resolved. When I had completed work I was always presented with new tasks to complete.

In terms of responsibility, this was the biggest surprise during the internship. From the very start I was completing work that was expected of an associate, this work would be reviewed by senior staff members just like any other work would be. I was also given the responsibility to speak with clients whilst on site which gave me very god exposure to the workings of a variety of large companies.

The main skill that I have been able to develop is my ability to receive feedback and improve from that. This is will be very valuable throughout my career to improve a multitude of skills, the feedback process within PwC is something is very much driven from top down which is a practice I feel again will help me in my further career.

The office is designed as hot desking so most people sit in different places week to week. Even so there is a good atmosphere within the office with accessibility between all levels of management and junior roles. Partners and directors are visible and approachable which gives the office an open atmosphere.

The Internship is very well organised and funded, it is easy to see that a lot of investment goes into making everyone comfortable and able to complete work. The internship began with a 3 day residential trip which was very well organised. This was followed by a local induction in the office again which was well organised and answered any outstanding questions that I had.

The Internship is very well funded as previously mentioned. The internship does provide great first hand development by dong rather than sitting in classroom type activities. However there is also opportunity to complete online training and development with tools that are accessible at any point when free time may be available.

The future employment prospects are explained very early on within the process and that is the goal from the internship. The 6 weeks gives a very good opportunity to understand the role that would be expected if an offer is made and gives both myself and PwC a more detailed view of what the potential is. The career ladder is again something that is explained very well and I found colleagues at all levels are happy to speak about their experiences.

Within the West & Wales region the interns arranged social events between themselves to meet up. There was also events put on by PwC that gave the ability for socialising between other interns and new starters.

Bristol is a fairly expensive city to live in, but completing university within Bristol I already had an idea of these costs so this was no surprise.

Bristol has a good and accessible variety of nightlife.

There were opportunities to get involved with sports teams and other social activities.