PWC Virtual Insight Programme

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My DS in year 12 has applied for this summer program at PWC and got a space.
I am quite surprised as I thought PWC was very competitive and was wondering if anyone else here is in it or if you have any previous experience.

I have worked here for over 17 years. Does your DS have questions? A lot of it will be shadowing people in meetings and tasks etc. I’ve had the students work with me before. Asking questions and being enthusiastic goes a long way!

Thank you so much but unfortunately it is only a virtual event.
do you know how many students are selected? Do they get a certificate of attendance or anything similar?

Participation in this and equivalent programmes typically gives your DC an opportunity to:

understand what people in audit, tax, consulting etc actually do because they get to meet (virtually) partners and newly qualified staff, listen to their perspective and ask questions.

evaluate and discuss business case studies in virtual groups and present back; this gives valuable experience in how to cope with assessment centres, as well as seeing whether they are interested in businesses generally and how they work.

fast-track to the later stages of the recruitment process if they decide they want to go for it and apply, in the autumn of Y13, for school leaver apprenticeship roles starting in Sept 2026.

Do you happen to know if your company offers internships for university students and if so, would someone be able to apply after the first two years of uni? Thx so much!

Yes and yes! If a 3 year degree, as it’s penultimate year students.

My DD did this exact thing with the same company in the summer of her second year at university, was offered a post graduate position and is nearing the end of her second year there doing her accountancy training. She loves it.

My son got a place on this in year 11. It's virtual, so probably not super-competitive as they don't need to limit numbers so much as an in-person event. It's useful to go through the application process though, as it's good practice for future applications.

It's a mixture of recorded and live sessions telling students about the company, and a couple of practical exercises. (My son lasted just half a day - found it very dull listening to multiple graduates talking about the PWC values. It actually put him off doing any further virtual careers events, which is a shame because I'm sure many are better).

I was at PwC for about 15 years, having qualified at another Big 5 (or was it 7 in those days), so encouraged DD to do this after GCSEs. I’m not sure if (m)any get weeded out for the virtual week (you can’t tell) unless they wouldn’t have the right visa etc.

It persuaded DD NOT to go down the finance career route-yet!

I sat in on a few bits when she’d lost the will to live and gone out with friends instead . Hopefully they have improved the content and pace.

In contrast, she did an online week with GSK (so mostly pharma) and that was far more focussed on this is what we do and what you could do rather than banging on about corporate values (which seemed to change every 3-5 years and were usually ignored except at the annual conferences as far as I can remember).

That said, it is useful to have this sort of thing on your CV and UCAS for the next few years and probably a great help if you are interested in a degree apprenticeship with an accounting firm/grad employment.

What did your DC sign up for to receive notifications that the applications were open for virtual insights? My DD Y11 signed up for the talent hub early careers but didn’t get any notifications and I see applications are now closed. Although disappointing to hear it’s quite dull I’d like to encourage her to try it in Y12 and would really appreciate some tips on HOW to access the application stage. Thank you

I think I probably saw it advertised on either Linkedin or Facebook as I still know a few employees. I suspect that they start advertising it after Christmas, so may check the webpage from time to time (and make sure you aren't getting their emails sent to junk).

My DC saw it advertised via Young Professionals (who promote a lot of work experience events on behalf of employers).

Thank you for your replies. I’ll check out Young Professionals.