Women in Business placement Tax FS - Asset Management Review

I would say that I thoroughly enjoyed the 1 week Women in Business placement that I undertook in June 2017, as we were fully given the opportunity to meet lots of people from the office despite the short length of the placement. In general the week was fairly well arranged for us, and the team were lovely and welcoming which made a huge difference! I felt like although some people were unaware of the placement we were on, they still made a lot of effort to involve us and to find out about us.

I felt like I was valued as placement student as people had respect for me, people were interested in getting to know me, for example several people mentioned that we should connect afterwards on linked in or via email which was good. I also did quite a bit of work for a few managers in the team and I felt like my contribution to the work of the team was well appreciated. I also received feedback on this work as well which was useful, and many people offered to explain certain concepts of tax that were unfamiliar to me

At the beginning, HR/student recruitment provided us with some information on how the week would go. i was under the impression we would be shadowing female leaders within the team but this did not exactly happen until the 2nd or 3rd day, and we had to make a lot of effort to go out and ask for work/ask to meet up with people. That said, we were always told that we could go back to HR if we had any queries and the whole team in which we were placed was very approachable and supportive despite being busy. It was a busy period for the team which is why perhaps we were left on our own at the beginning of the week, but as people found out that we were sat separately from the group and that we did not have much guidance, a lot of people made effort to include us and come and see how we were getting on.

I learnt that I find a lot of the work the team do interesting and it encouraged me to get more involved on a business level with the issues that the team work with, I received a lot of material which will be useful for me going forward in my job with PwC and of course this placement offered an opportunity to interview for a job which I was eventually offered. The insight offered an opportunity to network and make connections that I wouldn't otherwise have made.

Again there were some issues nearer the beginning of the 1 week placement, however I would say that the insight was still fairly well structured, as we had 1 meeting with a partner scheduled already and we met another manager who planned a lot of chats with other managers/partners for us and we were able to participate in some meetings. It could have been better structured but I think it was difficult as the team was very busy and we were expected to plan the week to ourselves to a certain extent. Generally I think PwC do a great job at arranging these types of placements for graduates and it did feel that a lot of effort had been put in to the organisation

I thought the atmosphere in the office was fantastic as people were enthusiastic, approachable and friendly. It seemed like exactly the type of environment that I can see myself working in and I know that compared to a lot of workplaces, it is fairly relaxed and very down to earth. Everyone that I came across was willing to give me guidance and wanted to find out about my background. We were invited to the pub on the Friday to have drinks with the team and I really felt like the whole team were part of creating a welcoming and friendly atmosphere and environment.

As this was a short week, the training and development was limited. However, the team definitely took the time to find out about my background, what I wanted to get from the week, and to explain things that I had not come across before/that I did not understand. Everyone that I worked with was very encouraging and spoke frankly about what it is like to work there, and about the opportunities in training and development that there are in the company, e.g. the ACA/CTA qualification

The insight absolutely showed us what it would be like to work at the firm as we had the opportunity to speak to colleagues at all levels about the type of work that they do, and about the culture of the company, how people interact day to day. I undertook some of the work that I would be doing as a graduate so definitely feel I got a flavour of what it would be like to work there which was very useful especially going forward to the interview

The insight really gave me a chance to see how colleagues interact with each other, the behaviours and standards that are expected from the colleagues at PwC, what people get out of their work there and the range of personalities of the colleagues. This was very helpful as company culture is very important for me. When I asked people how they found the culture, they gave very honest answers about their experiences which was really impressive and made me feel like the culture is transparent and that the company has nothing to hide

The placement absolutely helped me think about my future career path, I was given lots of information about the opportunities that are available to employees on the graduate programme and also information on the opportunities to move within the firm, either internationally or across business units/lines of service. This really helped me contemplate what I wanted from my career and whether this was going to meet my expectations.

I was paid adequately for the experience

There were plenty of opportunities to network and meet employees of all levels at the firm. This was most likely the best thing about the programme altogether. This is also something that PwC prioritises and really pushes people to do so to have the opportunity to chat to associates, managers, and partners etc was really great, as we got to have an overview of what it is like to work for the firm and what sort of things you can expect to be doing at all levels

Networking and social event opportunities were good, it is clear that the team is very sociable and outgoing. We were invited to the pub to have drinks on the Friday afternoon which was a nice opportunity to speak to people on a less formal level. I feel like the networking opportunities were excellent and again this was one of the things that I enjoyed the most. If the placement had been longer than a week perhaps I would have been able to attend more social engagements but the length of the placement was limiting slightly

There was a fair amount of opportunity to find out about these types of activity but I feel this is something that is dealt with on joining the company for a permanent contract as my placement was only 1 week long

I would absolutely recommend this placement to a friend. I would recommend specifically women in business placement as it is only 1 week however it was really a great opportunity to get to know people in the team, learn a lot about the type of work you do as a grad joining the company, and a chance to find out whether that industry/team is the right one for me. I really feel that I got a lot from the placement despite it being short, and would recommend it as a way to find out more about the grad scheme that PwC offer. Not only that, but I had an interview at the end of the week (some people had them a few weeks later) which meant that I could use the information and experiences from the week placement as reference during my interview, It meant that I knew the team and the work a lot better, and could relate better to my interviewer.