Interning at PwC

Last week, I wrapped up my 6 weeks of MBA Summer internship at PwC. Within the Financial Services Advisory line, I was in the Corporate Function Transformation practice. PwC is a massive organization and has a large intake of MBA interns – about 180-200 this year just within Financial Services Advisory. I was very happy that, despite the current Covid situation, PwC made our internship happen, albeit, virtually, and gave us a sense of what Management Consulting is at PwC.

I was on a billing transformation and revenue innovation project for a Financial Services client. The main aim of the project was to redesign the operating models around revenue management, billing, invoicing and payments. It was a long-term project and I was present for a very short time of it. To start with, my team made sure that they included me in all the necessary calls and meetings to help me get up to speed with the project. Gradually into my 3rd week, I started to contribute meaningful value to the team. The tools that I used extensively were Alteryx, PowerBI, and of course Excel and PowerPoint.

The disadvantages of being virtual are that you don’t get the feel of working with the team, and you miss out on the networking and the spontaneous (or planned) dinner and drinks. I am not in the same room as the team, and I can’t simply walk up to my colleagues, tap their shoulder and ask questions. Despite these, I was happy with the challenging work that I was given and with what I was able to produce. You also miss out on the travel and ‘living out of a suitcase’ experience. My Sunday nights or Monday mornings were not spent on planes (you could argue whether this is good or bad, but at least in terms of experiences during the internship, I did not get to do this).

However, being virtual has its own advantages. I was able to get on video calls with so many of my fellow interns, other associates, managers, directors and partners within PwC. Hearing about their work, their experiences, and what their teams or practices do was very enriching. I am not sure I would have been able to ‘explore’ outside of my team/practice as much if the internship was in person. Talking to a wider group made it a little bit easier to figuring out the big matrix that PwC Advisory is. Being virtual also allowed me to connect with about 10+ UNC KFBS Alumni who are at PwC.

The best part of the internship was when I emailed the PwC US Chairman Tim Ryan whether he had 10-minutes to get on a call with a few MBA interns and within a couple of hours we had a 30-minute call scheduled. Honestly, I was not expecting to hear back. But his immediate response and willingness to talk longer than requested was just a prelude to the fantastic conversation we were going to have. As expected, the video call with him and 20 other interns was very inspiring. He fielded various questions ranging from ‘What were his top 3 advice for us going back to school for one more year in this environment’ to ‘What were his favorite employee benefits at PwC’.

Overall, I was very happy working at PwC. Everybody was very willing to help, work as a team, and ensure that I had the best experience possible. PwC’s digital trainings were a treasure, nobody said no to a video call request, and the work was challenging.