Shadow a Female Leader Review

I really enjoyed the programme because it gave me a valuable insight into the role of a senior female member in the organisation. During the week, I was able to attend a number of meetings with senior members in the office such as directors and partners and learn more about their discussions.

Each day I was given opportunities to attend meetings with other senior members or clients including getting involved in activities. The people were very friendly and supportive. They would be willing to answer any questions that I had about the work they were completing or general questions about the graduate programme.

The female leader I was shadowing would explain the agenda of the meetings and explain the tasks that were being carried out. She would advise me to research about the clients before attending any meetings and provide materials about the discussion.

It gave me a good idea of the different clients that I could possibly work with in the future. Shadowing a female leader was a good experience as it allowed me to see how to deal professionally with clients or team members. Most importantly, it thought me about the skills of leading a team on a specific client which I believe would be useful in my professional career.

I was informed of who I would be shadowing each day and briefed about the different meetings that I had a chance to attend. During my first day, I had my laptop set-up completed along with having a tour of the office and being briefed about hotdesking.

As it was not the busy season, the office would be a little empty but I would manage to keep myself occupied by going through the pwc website for staff and getting to know more about the firm. But overall, the people I interacted with were very friendly and helpful.

As it was only a one week programme, I did not receive any training but the female leaders who I was shadowing would explain their work. Being able to also carry out small tasks such as tieing in stats of financial statements gave me a better exposure of the type of work that I would likely be involved in the future if I joined this firm.

It gave me a good feel about whether I would like to work in this organisation's office. I was able to understand the culture of the organisation better and improved my understanding of career progression in the firm.

The people that I interacted with were really friendly and approachable. I also got an idea of the types of clients that the office had connections with. Furthermore, I had exposure to senior members of the firm and thus it gave me an idea of how my relationship would be with them whilst working under them.

As I was mainly interacting with senior members in the firm, I did not get a good idea of the work carried out by recent graduate joiners but had an opportunity to ask questions to people working on different clients. .

I was paid and reimbursed expenses however, I only able to claim my travel expenses for journeys made from the office to client sites. However I would have appreciated if I could claim my travel expenses from and to the office as I was not living in the town where the office was located.

I also took part in a social meeting on the last evening where I had a chance to do some activities with other staff members and discuss about leadership and team working. This was a good exposure as it was informal and I got to meet recent joiners.

A good experience that was worthwhile.

Not really

A good experience as there is also a chance to be fast tracked for a graduate role.