Summer Intern Review

The work was interesting and everyone I worked with was very nice. I received constant feedback from my managers and had plenty of opportunities to work on my development areas. This allowed me to learn so much more than I expected throughout the internship. I had the chance to work on different workstreams which helped me gain a general understanding of strategy consulting.

Everyone I worked with encouraged me to contribute to discussions and valued the ideas I gave. They were also very patient when I was picking up the necessary skills in the first few days. I was given the opportunity to own certain pieces of projects that formed significant parts of deliverables to the clients.

I was encouraged to obtain feedback from our managers and work on my development points regularly. My managers also made an effort to assign tasks that would present the best opportunity for me to work on my development areas. They also put a great amount of emphasis on my well-being, making sure that I did not work longer hours than expected.

I had tasks to complete almost all the time during the internship, which is good for my learning and development. Hours in strategy consulting is generally longer than other 9-5 jobs and it is definitely the case at Strategy&. However, it is not too hard to work out a schedule that can help you achieve a good work-life balance!

I was in charge in a substantial amount of work that had direct impact on the projects. My tasks include conducting interviews, analysing market reports and modelling. The outputs from my work formed significant parts of deliverable to the clients. I was not given much responsibility to directly engage with the clients but this was expected.

I do not think that the skills I developed will help me much in my degree but they will certainly help me in my future career. Core technical skills like Excel and PowerPoint will definitely be useful in my future regardless of my career path. Being able to work well with a team is definitely helpful if my career involves working in a team.

There is a diverse group of people in the office. People are friendly and approachable and are usually down for a quick chat over coffee! PwC adopted an open-plan office which encourages active collaboration among team members. Warm lighting and playful colours are used which makes working in the office quite relaxing.

The internship was organised relatively well overall but it would be much better if on-boarding instructions could be given much more clearly - make them a little bit more succinct and less wordy. It would be helpful if more FAQs are included on the documents so that most common questions can be answered without us having to email or call HR.

I received intensive training on the business in general, tools and resources to use, as well as core technical skills at the start of my internship. Throughout the internship, I regularly attended training sessions that were conducted by the experts on the subjects and was encourage to apply the skills I learned on the job.

Promotion within the firm is based on performance rather than seniority. There are plenty of opportunities to work on different types of projects and sectors, which allow us to develop an understanding of different industries quickly. There are also opportunities for secondments which are probably interesting to people who want to explore another work environment or country.

Cost of living in central London is probably the highest compared to those in other cities. Rents are high but if you choose the right location you might be able to find a good balance between proximity to the office, travel costs and time and rent! Eating out is expensive but you can save a lot by actively hunting for perks and discounts! If you are still a student, be sure to make full use of student discounts.

Within the firm, there are different teams and networks that one can get involved in, ranging from sports to charity. Outside the firm, the list of activities is almost endless. There are various types of sports clubs or gym classes as well as charities to join. Since our weekends were work free most of the time, we could explore so many things.