Summer Intern Review

I was kept busy with a variety of tasks that kept the job relatively fresh, however some of the time was not allocated to my full utility which was unfortunate. The work enviroment itself was enjoyable, the office at embankment place is vibrant and lively which really helped me to engage with the job.

The people wih whom I worked were friendly and inclusive, from day one I felt like part of the team and was quickly trusted with real work and project material as my skills developed. Members of the team spent time making sure I was comfortable, happy and knew what I was doing.

My 'buddy' was always very supportive, teaching what life was like at PwC and showing me the ropes. I was always helped when needed. Some managers micro-managed a bit too much and left me waiting on work and feedback for some time which was, of course, frustrating. There was aleways someone on hand to help.

This varied massively. some days there were piles of work waiting for me when I got in and I was occupied every moment of the day with tasks to complete. other days there was none and despite asking for it I might go for over an hour with no set tasks.

I was given a level of responsibility that I was not expected. I was given certain taks and jobs to run on my own and others that I completed to then just be quality checked. As I learnt I found myself taking more responisibilty and owning more and more work.

I learnt some useful things about working with people productively, time management and computing that i could certainly employ in the future. If I were to return to the same role then i would feel comfortable that i knew what I was doing but in general I have not learnt many transferrable skills.

The office usually seemed happy and lively with people enjoying there work and being very industrious but not so entranced so as to forget the people around them. People would bring in cakes and sweets to share and people were always communicating. Sometimes however, during busy moments the office could fell tense and my collegues certainly had the capacity to feel stressed.

My initial training scheme was irrelevant to my role and so I wasted my first week there. There were too many times that I had no work to do and there were very few events and opportunities organised for the interns. When it came to an official meeting or interview these were organised well with good communication.

Some staff spent considerable time training me to a good standard. Collegues would often work me through new tasks and took time out of their days to show me knew things and help me to develop. There were fewer formal training exercises than I might have expected but the informal training i did receive has left me in a comfortable posotion with my work.

There is a lot of room for upward mobility and employees progress quickly to senior postitions and can continue to advance for their entire careers! There are also many opportunities in other departments and offices which make the company good for learning where you want to fit in and crafting your career.

The social scene was not good. There were the occasional drinking events to honour someone who I'd never heard of leaving the company and one company organised departmental evnt which, to be fair, was enjoyable. The people at work did not do that much together and when they did it sometimes fellt quite cliquey.

London is expensive to nobody's surprise. I could commute from which cleary elliminated any rent costs but a quarter of my salary before tax still went on train fares for this. Food and drink in the centre of the city is costly and with a standard pint putting you often more than five pounds out of pocket socialising was often unviable.

There are plenty of things to do in London, espicially in zone 1 where the ofice is located. This is unless, god forbid, it is a weekend and then the nightlife of the city tends to shut down. While provision and entertainment is ample to enjoy it one is required to remortgage their house to front the entry costs.

I'm not all that sure. While there may have been opportunities with colleagues they were never made abundantly clear to me and I never found the need to go in search of them. I expect that even if there were such opportunities I would simply return home of the evening instead. While I enjoyed the company of some of my colleagues they wer by no means my friends