Risk Assurance Review

I really enjoyed the internship! There was so much scope for me to really make me six week there my own personalised experience. Although client work is always prioritised, I was able to arrange shadowing and meetings with various senior staff members to find out more about their roles and career progression, which is why I am really keen to work at PwC post graduation

From day one, you are welcomed into the team not as an intern but as a full-time member of staff. Of course you are not expected to know everything, but your input is extremely valued. I know that working in Data Assurance coming from a humanities background was quite unusual but the staff were really interested to find out more about me and my motivation to work in this line of service and invited me out to lunch on several occasions.

I was definitely given sufficient support and guidance by my supervisor. I was able to sit with them at work which made it easy to ask questions, which they encouraged throughout my whole internship. I was also given free reigns to explore the technical programmes when I was less busy and still ask questions even if it wasn't client work and the team really wanted me to understand all aspects of the technical tools they use on a daily basis.

My internship was in the 'quiet season', meaning that there was not a great deal of client work. Although at the beginning I found this a bit demotivating, as I wanted to get really stuck in, in actual fact it turned out for the best. It meant I was able to get more training on the tools I was using as well as work and speak with different people in the office, attend meetings to find out what was going on not only in the department but through the wider PwC network. This ultimately made my days jam packed as I still had client work and the intern challenge to work on but this provided variety which is something I think most people seek when picking a place to work.

Due to the technicality of the tasks, it was sometimes difficult to take ownership because you would feel like you were asking a lot of questions. However, inquisitiveness is encouraged and I worked on part of a project independently, only checking at the end that my formulas and logic was correct.

There was a great amout of training from business etiquette, personal development and even just how the business operates which was really important for me as an intern as it was my first professional work experience and I wanted to make the most out of my time with the firm. The intern challenge definitely developed my entrepreneurial and communication skills. More importantly, my internship in Data Assurance developed my numerical and analytic skills, which are highly valued throughout any career and our definitely something I can use towards my dissertation.

People definitely interacted and everyone was really friendly but it was still professional.

I had a personalised timetable co-ordinated by my buddy. If I wanted to do more/less of a certain project, he would edit it accordingly. It also incorporated shadowing and meetings with senior partners.

Everything was accounted for. We begun the internship on a residential training course were we got to interact with otu interns but also learn more about the firm and people we would be working with. We then had a business unit welcome to learn more about the building we would be working with and the surrounding area. Moreover, I actually received several days of technical training which was key in helping me deliver on my internship.

I was offered a place on the graduate scheme a long with a few others in my business unit. I believe that the firm are extremely focused on developing their staff and want you to progress through the firm so showing a keen interest in your line of service as well as getting on with your colleagues is extremely beneficial.

All the interns in my office made the effort to arrange socials during and after our internship.

It was relatively expensive in the immediate vicinity. However, a short walk into town provided a range of cheaper alternatives.

There are really nice bars around the surrounding area.

I know that there are many socials throughout the year, but this didn't fall around my internship period.