Public Services Industrial Placement Review

I had the most amazing time at PA Consulting. I learned skills that I will be able to apply when going back to university and for my future work life. The placement offered the perfect balance of challenge and support and let me shape my time with the company depending on my interests.

I felt very valued during my time at PA Consulting. At most times I forgot that I was 'just' the placement student and I felt like any other employee supporting a proposal or an assignment. The feedback process let me identify what my colleagues valued and how I could improve.

There was a very healthy mix of support / guidance and having to figure out things yourself. Generally, everyone I worked with during my placement at PA Consulting was always happy to give me advise and offer their support. I quickly learned that you just have to ask because everybody wants you to do well.

How busy I was depended mainly on the project I worked on and whether there were any deadlines. If the client work itself was a bit quieter, I could always ask where else to support or I could work on some internal projects and activities such as the newsletter team and intern group.

My colleagues were very trusting with the level of responsibility I was given. At no point I felt like it was too much or too little and I was always asked for my view on my responsibilities and workload. I really felt like my colleagues wanted me to strive and learn to take on work myself.

This placement provided me with many skills that I will seek to apply for the rest of my life (which is not an exaggeration), from time management to networking to discipline, I just feel very well equipped to face my final year at university and other challenged that my future might hold.

I loved the atmosphere in the office. To me, it was the perfect mix of business and casual feeling, you could always have a chat with anyone you met when making a coffee or a cup of tea in the kitchen, but you could also put your head down and work hard.

I was welcomed by the team very warmly after two days of initial onboarding with the other interns. I was explained the ways of working in the team and once I sent out my introductory email, I started networking and have not stopped meeting new people since. We also created an intern working group to further improve the structure and set up of PA's internships / placements.

On a daily basis, senior colleagues invested time in training me up on a task and explaining some basics to me which was an amazing experience. When considering the official internal training, I managed to access several fundamental training courses that were very well structured and taught be valuable core consulting skills.

Due to the COVID-19 epidemic, the future recruitment of most companies like PA consulting is rather uncertain at the moment. I am however optimistic that I will find my way back to the firm when the circumstances allow. I also know that under usual conditions, the company is keen to invite interns back to work with them as graduates.

All London-based interns attended two days of onboarding together which allowed us to connect early on. Throughout the whole year we kept in contact and learned a lot about each other, for example that we come from a range of different university courses. We are planning to stay in contact after our placement as well.

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