I am now a 4th year BSc Business Accounting student, meaning that I’ve already had two placements previously with PwC, and I will soon be going on to my third placement.

Before my first placement I was quite nervous to start my first ever corporate job at such a prestigious company. However, both PwC and The University of Manchester had prepared us for it and gave us the support needed throughout. Upon starting your placement, you get a ‘buddy’, who is another Flying Start student from the year above. You can relate to them and you can ask them for guidance on small, everyday matters. As well a buddy, you also get a ‘career coach’ who has a few years of experience at PwC, and they will be your main point of contact whilst you are at placement. My career coach has been a huge help to me and made me feel comfortable to ask anything if I was unsure. I highly recommend keeping good connections with them and having a chat frequently with them, especially in the first year of placement when it can be daunting. Of course, you can also ask anyone at PwC other than them, such as your team members.

The role at PwC is professional, as you would expect, where we get to apply the knowledge we have learnt at university to a real client. Sometimes you get long term clients, working with them for a few weeks/months, and sometimes you can get shorter term clients, which could mean working with them for a few days to a week. PwC usually gives you a mixture of both. I think this is good learning process to be able to adapt to different types of clients and to meet more people in different teams.

Although in the first year you may be quite scared of ‘messing up’ or not feeling so confident with your work, for every single client you work with, you get a team as well. I suggest communicating with your team, as they know that you are just starting out and are happy to help you when you ask; it’s important to communicate to them what types of tasks you’re already familiar with and which ones you aren’t.
My studies from university really helped me during my placement because they helped me to overcome jargon and I already had a lot of the accounting knowledge. In terms of the actual applications you use, PwC gives you training just before starting, to help to get familiar with the applications used.

I think undertaking a placement each year is really beneficial, because sometimes you get to work with the same client you worked with in the previous year, so you are already familiar with them and the team, helping to build stronger relationships and making it feel less daunting. Also, with each year of placement, the responsibilities increase, so it sets you up for success when you graduate and work full time.

You will have a really good time at placement as well as learning so much from the professionals around you and by applying your knowledge to real life clients.

The key definitely is communication!

Written by Farzana, a 4th year BSc Business Accounting student

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