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The work involved in audit is often uninspiring and repetitive. Whilst this is part of the job, it was not the defining point of the internship. PwC is a company that invests a lot of time in its staff; the scale of its operations makes it easy to gain exposure to a variety of areas of the business. Having said this, I originally applied to consulting and was disappointed to learn that moving across business areas is not as fluid as I was promised at interview. I should say that I vastly underestimated the amount of travel involved in audit, assurance grads will spend far more time on client sites than at the office. This often involved unpleasant journeys and unpleasant client ‘audit rooms’ but equally I know many interns valued this part of the role.

It is intrinsically difficult to find interns work. I think PwC coped very well with this and were able to invest enough time in interns that they could produce meaningful work that was valued by colleagues. This is an impressive feat when, after training and other events, there are only about 5 weeks of project work.

The scale of PwC’s graduate recruitment program meant an excellent array of channels are available to interns if they find they have any queries or difficulties. Things can and do go wrong so it was important to have people to contact to seek advice. Opinions on the ‘buddy’ system were varied across interns, the success of this program was entirely dependent on who you were allocated. I ended up working alongside my buddy and this was extremely beneficial to my learning.

Whilst project work was allocated centrally and as such interns had little control, there were many days spent in the office where busyness depended on proactivity and how many internal contacts you had amassed. It was easy to find shadowing opportunities if you wanted them, including with directors and partners. In terms of project work, this varied on team and client. There were times where we were waiting for information from a client and, since I had no other work, I was left to complete eLearns and other ‘time-fillers’. Equally there were busy times where I had 4/5 tasks on the go and days would pass very quickly.

Whilst project work was allocated centrally and as such interns had little control, there were many days spent in the office where busyness depended on proactivity and how many internal contacts you had amassed. It was easy to find shadowing opportunities if you wanted them, including with directors and partners. In terms of project work, this varied on team and client. There were times where we were waiting for information from a client and, since I had no other work, I was left to complete eLearns and other ‘time-fillers’. Equally there were busy times where I had 4/5 tasks on the go and days would pass very quickly.

The training I received was ideally weighted to complete the work set. The soft skills I learnt will be extremely useful for any career in the financial sector. Some technical skills such as excel were developed enormously. Some more audit specific technical skills are redundant outside the company as software and strategy varies considerably from firm to firm. Coming from a science background, many of these specific skills will be redundant when I return to my degree program. It must be said that the internship was extremely worthwhile and I learned a great deal about PwC and assurance.

The nature of audit meant that not a lot of time was actually spent in the office. On the days spent in the office, I found the general atmosphere relaxing and friendly. A hot-desking policy is run across PwC internationally, whilst this works well for long term members of staff, a lack of discrete place to work can be a little disorientating for an intern.

As mentioned previously, the scale of PwC Î÷¹ÏÊÓƵ recruitment meant the placement as a whole was very well set up. A three day training residential in Winsor was an excellent opportunity to meet other interns across the country. In terms of training for work, this was mainly done on the job.

PwC state that training and development is a priority for them. I’m not sure that their efforts extend beyond that of competitor firms, however I felt satisfied that I was equipped with the necessary skills to perform the job. Beyond the initial week of induction/training, further investment was limited to paying expenses to take up shadowing opportunities, however even this was valuable over the course of a six week internship.

During a dinner with a partner in the first week, we were informed that only violence or a narcotics conviction would stop us getting a job offer. This made the internship a much more relaxing experience and allowed interns to invest their time in trying to understand if PwC was right for them, rather than vice versa.

Despite being told we were welcome to attend social events, a lot of interns felt they were non-intentionally excluded. On the major social event during our time, only a small amount of interns had been informed, in most cases on the day by a member of their team. This related to a wider problem of interns not being included on relevant mailing lists. Amongst interns themselves, the social scene was much better. We organised a few nights out and drinks amongst ourselves.

Birmingham is reasonably priced. Most interns decided to commute from home but I believe reasonably priced accommodation could be found for those that required it. In terms of socialising, I think pricing is fairly in line with non-London locations but with still with an enormous variety of options given it’s the second city.

Birmingham is reasonably priced. Most interns decided to commute from home but I believe reasonably priced accommodation could be found for those that required it. In terms of socialising, I think pricing is fairly in line with non-London locations but with still with an enormous variety of options given it’s the second city.

Interns were in theory entitled to all the same sports and activites as full time members of staff. Unfortunately as previously mentioned, lack of inclusion on mailing lists meant that those who were interested had to be very proactive to find out the details. This is a shame as I feel there was a lot going on that we were never exposed to.