Today was the first official day of my summer internship. The majority of the day was spent on administrative housekeeping, such as going over the PwC ethos (which was basically a day-long version of the PwC mission statement), imprinting laptops and identifying resources for both help and professional development.
PwC has a rather extensive digital knowledge base that I hope will end up being useful in practice and not just in theory. A SNAFU with the network they set up at the hotel conference room forced us to trek to the actual PwC office in order to complete the laptop imprinting process. I also found out that parking is going to cost me an arm and a leg.
I met up with several interesting people from all over the country and beyond. Some people were from as close as the local college and some were from as far away as Ghana (the country in Africa in case you failed geography). One of the ice-breaker exercises was to meet people that fit a list of criteria. For example, we were supposed to look for someone who had caught a foul ball at a baseball game or had been bungee jumping or sky diving. One of the tasks was to meet someone in the armed forces... Out of the 80 interns that were there, it seemed that I was the only veteran among them. The end result was my meeting EVERYONE. There were obviously some pretty bright folks but... there were also some folks that can only described as low watt bulbs. However, it's only the first day and far be it for me to judge a book by its cover.
Part of today's agenda included the breakdown of coaching groups and teams. Some of the teams have interesting names such as Gold Rush and Mavericks. My team is named PCS, which I can only assume means Private Company Services. I also happen to be the only intern assigned to that team (every other team has 3-6 interns). I have no idea what this means for me and can only hope it's an honor rather than a disgrace.
I've enjoyed the socializing I've done with the people I've met thus far and hope to create some long lasting professional relationships across the many disciplines of accounting.
The second round interviews for the summer internship were held at the nearest PwC office, which was 120 miles away from my school. Part of the invitation that was extended to me included a per diem for gas/food and a stay at The Fairmont. My interview was scheduled for a Friday with a Thursday night mixer/dinner. I arrived at the hotel as early as possible on Thursday (and found out that PwC also sprung for valet parking) so that I could get ready for that evening. I had a feeling that the events of Thursday night would be just as important as the interviews on Friday.
THURSDAY
THURSDAY
PwC has co-opted a banquet room in a restaurant that was within walking distance of my hotel. I arrived early so that I could introduce myself to everyone get my hands on. I was afraid that I might be under/overdressed in slacks, knit shirt and blazer but I soon saw that the range of clothing spanned loosened-tie business casual to evening wear. I noticed that some of the other intern candidates wore full business suits and they looked out of place and uncomfortable.
A buffet style dinner had been scheduled for 6:00 but wasn't actually served until 6:30, giving the intern candidates a chance to meet the PwC employees. I met for the first time H.H. that evening, who is a tax partner. There were many others that I met that night but I mention H.H. in particular because he ended up being my partner-interviewer the next day.
Seating was arranged at several tables with 3 intern candidates and 3 PwC employees at each. During dinner the employees would all get up and move to a different table at 20 minute intervals. I met some amazing people that night from all levels of PwC and had a great time sharing jokes and stories. It was a very low-stress environment and the PwCers were all very outgoing and approachable.
FRIDAY
Friday was divided into three periods. Two periods would consist of interviews and the remaining period would be allocated to an office tour by our interview "buddy." My buddy was M.B., who was a second year associate at PwC. He was tasked with showing me around the office and making sure that I made it to my interviews on time. I was scheduled to have the office tour first and then my two interviews.
M.B. took me around the office, introducing me to his friends in the different departments. Each of them took a few minutes to informally (very informally) tell me about their work. I must say that it was a bit intimidating to see a young Asian woman dual screening spreadsheets and tax forms in both English and Japanese. M.B. assured me that I would be fine and that if I really wanted the internship that he would make sure I got it.
(Random note: I noticed that a great majority of the employees at that PwC office were female.)
My first interview was with a managing director who greeted me with a smile in her office. I noticed that she had a picture of her and a golden retriever on her desk and I immediately got a good vibe from her. IMHO, dog lovers are usually very nice people. We got to know each other and talked about her dog as well as her duties at the office. Her work was actually a specific interest of mine and I was able to glean a lot of good information about the industry and the associated tax nuances.
