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I very much enjoyed my time at PwC! Although the audit work at times was slightly menial and a bit unexciting, it was fantastic to be able to work alongside a range of professionals, from recent graduates all the way up to partners, and the office had a great environment. Also it was really beneficial to be able to work on a number of different clients, and experience a range of different industries. All the interns in my office really bonded as a group, which was fantastic.

I very much felt valued by my colleagues. I was lucky enough to be involved with a group away day which was brilliant for getting to know everyone I would subsequently be working with in the office (the teambuilding activities were surprisingly effective!). Throughout I felt as though my colleagues appreciated the work I was doing, as it reduced the number of tasks that they had to do.

I was given lots of support by my supervisor and whoever else in the team that I was working with on an audit. Right from the start PwC made clear that no question is a stupid question, and if you get stuck or do not know where to go on a particular task, then you can (and should) ask for help. At no point did I feel uncomfortable asking for guidance. Also you set objectives at the start of the internship, which meant you had something to target through the six weeks.

The amount of work I had to do varied throughout the internship. On one client which I worked on for a fortnight I had lots of work at the beginning, but by the final days I had much less to complete. But, if I ever ran out of things to do that were client-related, there were learning activities and crowdsourcing tasks for interns to be able to complete. On my first client I had consecutive 11 hour days which was extremely busy, but others there were days which were far less intense.

Again this varied depending on which client I was working on. Obviously I did not have the required expertise to do some of the more complex tasks, but on most jobs I felt like the work I was doing was contributing to the final audit. On some jobs I had the opportunity to have a one-on-one meeting with the client in order to confirm some information, so you were trusted to interact directly without supervision.

The audit work I was doing was quite different to my economics degree (which I found quite surprising), so I am not sure the training I received will be particularly relevant in that regard. I also felt the working day was very different to university. However, post-graduation I feel as though the skills developed will be vital in the world of work– even if I decide not to go any further with PwC specifically. I am sure the experience will be transferrable to any professional environment.

Fantastic! The atmosphere was just the right level between being too relaxed and too serious. It made for a great working environment, where everyone was still very productive but also had periods that were more casual. For example on one client the team had a daily Sporcle quiz competition, which was a nice way to break up the work.

It was reasonably well organised, although sometimes you were booked onto a client very last minute (i.e. notified late on Friday afternoon for something on Monday and had to book travel and accommodation over the weekend to go ). Everything else was very organised, with weekly email reminders from the development team to jog your memory about general events and things you should get done. The initial induction ran very smoothly, with only minor mishaps (mainly to do with IT), which must have taken a lot of organising.

An unbelievable amount! The internship started off with a three day induction in a hotel near Windsor, for all the interns nationwide, where we were given a brief (but intense) introduction into accounting and the firm in general. It was also a great opportunity to network, both with other interns and current employees (there was a chance to speak to one of your office partners at a dinner). Also throughout they were keen for you to refer back to your objectives, which would increase your personal development. The whole internship was tailored towards your training and development really.

Very appealing. If gaining your accountancy qualifications is something you want to aim for then I don’t think there is a better place than PwC. Also, as it is such a large firm there is a clear career progression, as there are lots of positions at most career levels, which would not be the case at a smaller firm. There are also loads of other benefits of working for such a big firm.

Yes, we really bonded as a group, and we were able to all meet up to have lunch together in the canteen if we were in the office, which was far preferable to eating alone at your desk. Also, we often went out for drinks together after work, and there were cinema trips and nights out too.

I was living in Selly Oak, in the Î÷¹ÏÊÓƵ house which I was already renting for use when at university, which is about average in price compared to nationwide. However I can’t really comment on how much rent would have been if I had just wanted accommodation for the 6 weeks, as I didn’t have to look. Socialising is quite cheap too, if you go to the right places both drinks and food aren’t too expensive

Birmingham is a big city, so there are plenty of places for nights out, whether you enjoy clubs or pubs, for all kinds of music. Also, most clubs are relatively cheap, so I would definitely recommend nightlife in the city. I didn’t really go out on the weekends as I was mostly busy, but as I go to Birmingham Uni I have been on a night out or two!

Not really, although sports (which I was particularly interested in) and other activities were mentioned during the induction, there wasn’t a great deal of information on it (e.g. who to contact), and it felt like these would be more suited to a permanent employee, rather than an intern. Also, as we weren’t on the internal mailing list, we weren’t notified if a team were short of players or something similar.