Monday July 11th – PricewaterhouseCoppersLLP (Boston, MA)
Today I got to the office at 8:30 am and began by looking over my email. Last week, I had reached out to my campus recruiter, Ann Ulett, and asked her for a shadowing opportunity in Advisory since this is my main area of interest. Because she was out of the office, I received a replay from her today and she told me that if I was interested in going into Advisory for the next internship I had to apply by tonight. I had to send her a personal statement explaining why I want to be in Advisory, my updated resume, and updated transcript. So throughout the morning I wrote my personal statement. Also, today I received my performance Snapshot from my supervisor, which gives me feedback on the five PwC professional. I received positive feedback, she mentioned that I am performing at level, but I have decided I want more feedback so I have requested a meeting with her. I think this is a great opportunity for me to grow professionally as I have the opportunity to get real-time feedback from an expert on the field. After lunch I reunited with my book group and we worked on the presentation since we had a meeting with our mentors at 4:30 pm. Because we have already divided the presentation each one worked on their slide. At 3:30 pm I met with my group briefly to talk about what we were going to present to our supervisor later. At 4:30 pm Allyson and Tiffany, our mentors, came and gave us feedback our product and our rough draft presentation. Their feedback was very helpful, especially since they gave us a perspective similar to the one our judges will have. As our product, my group and I suggested that we should make a compliance requirement, which a mandatory course for all PwC new hires. The reason we came to this product is because we believe that blind spots disrupt the workplace culture, and by making people aware of these blind spots as they enter this diverse environment they will be able to contribute to a better ambiance.
Tuesday July 12th – PricewaterhouseCoppersLLP (Boston, MA)
Today I got to the office at 8:30 am and responded all my emails. Yesterday I reached out to my Assurance Simulation mentor from Friday and asked her for a shadowing opportunity. This morning I got a replay back from her, she had set me a shadowing opportunity with one of her colleagues. We have scheduled to meet on Thursday morning for the shadow. Also, the Partner I email last week returned from vacation so we have also set up a meeting to network. At 10:00 am I had a Tax Panel that was very open. Everyone asked a question and they referenced it. Something I learned from this session was that Tax has busy seasons, which means that their work year is very predictable. For some people, like me who like to have an organized schedule, After lunch one of my colleagues taught our entire group, everyone who had to do a diversity group on Spark, how to edit the page. Once he was done I began to copy paste everything I wrote down on a google docs last week that I wanted to include on the Spark Page. Today my supervisor emailed me my first Snapshot giving me feedback on my performance so far. The Snapshot is based on the PwC Professional, which has five dimensions that include: Business Acumen, Technological Capabilities, Relationships, Global Acumen, and Whole Leadership. My overall performance review was very good, Allyson was happy with my product and she told me I have good writing skills. Something she challenged me on, and this is something I struggle all the time, is that I need to share my ideas more. Allyson told me that I sometimes withhold myself from sharing my thoughts and she would like for me to speak more up. One of my weaknesses if that I like to have my ideas clearly organized in my head before I share them. Even though this can be something positive, sometimes I also need to see when it is a good idea to just share my thoughts on the moment. By giving my input not only am I enriching the conversation, but I am also throwing an idea before some else thinks of it and make other people. Because the client service lines, as Allyson was saying, are very fast paced, it is sometimes good to have a quick reaction and share ideas as they come.
Wednesday July 13th – PricewaterhouseCoppersLLP (Boston, MA)
Today we didn't have work, we had a community and service activity, so I got to the office at 11:30 am. The people who were going today met in the lobby of the office and then we all headed in a bus to Cradles to Crayons to do the community and service. This is an organization PwC works with so they had already volunteered several times. The main purpose of this organization is to provide children from birth to 12 years of age with clothing and school supplies. They believe that high quality clothing empowers children to be successful in school. The organization is set in a warehouse where all the donations are stored and processed. The organization has around 5 stations. Donations come in bags containing many things. The first station, and the one I volunteered in throughout the day, was called sorting. Here all the donations go through a quality check and are separated into different baskets. There are shorts, t-shirts, pants, infant clothing, and more baskets were the different donations are placed. The clothing that is too worn out is put into red bins, which is later re-donated to other organizations. The second station is about sizing so after the clothing is separated into categories it is then divided in sizes. Then the third station is all about separating the different toys into age categories. Moreover, the fourth station is all about checking that the books are in good shape and that they can be used by other kids, considering some donations are broken. Finally, the fifth station is called shopping, here the volunteers have lists with different requests from children. From the sorted things they pick out the things the kids picked and make a package that is later distributed to them. The overall distribution and organization of this foundation is very effective. The systems put into place are so productive that all new volunteers learn their roles and are able to help out a lot. During our time there other organizations were also volunteering. Only PwC people were able to help a lot of kids get clothing and school supplies. It was a very hot day so it was exhausting, but it was a great learning and helping opportunity.
Thursday July 14th – PricewaterhouseCoppersLLP (Boston, MA)
Today I got to the office at 8:30 am and went straight to the office. During my feedback meeting I had ask Allyson, my supervisor, for more work, so today I had a really busy day. During our meeting yesterday we checked if we had gotten any new members for the group, and we had indeed gotten 41 members. It was very exciting, especially, since this group is new and I was part of the creation. I felt very successful and very excited that soon Allyson and I were going to get people involved. With new members my first task was to create a google email group and make Allyson the admin. So I looked over all our members and created the list, as I was doing this I learned more how to use google since I had no idea you could create email groups. Afterwards I created a spreadsheet with our new members names, the spreadsheet included: first name, last name, google email, title, line of service, and interest group (Networking & Outreach, Family Readiness, Education & Mentorship, and Veteran Recruiting). Once I had this list I was able to see the product of my work. My first task was to craft the email that was going to be sent in John Farina's July note, announcing this new diversity inclusion group that Allyson and I started in the Northeast. Then I continued to edit the spark page, because now that we have new members I had to invite them soon to join the spark page. After lunch I met with Dan Grady, the Tax Partner who interviewed me back in November. It was a good idea to connect with him because he invited me to join him on a EPQ deep dive meeting which lasts two days. This meeting is all about reviewing the engagement groups, how they are working, and how they can improve. I think I can get a lot form this meeting and understand more how PwC works and how they provide this services. Again, I really feel the people here genuinely care about their employees. This Partner, who met me 7 months ago, still remembered where I went to school and who I was. Tomorrow, I have to continue working on the VAN project and also my shadowing has been rescheduled so I will be working on that.
Friday July 15th – PricewaterhouseCoppersLLP (Boston, MA)
Today I got to the office at 8:00 am and went straight to the the Pan Asian Community event. This event was organized by one of my colleagues who is also in charge of a diversity network inclusion group, just like the one I work in. In this even there were three speakers, a Partner from each line of service. Some of the speakers were present via video call because they were from other PwC offices. They presented a very interesting perspective, being foreign, how their experience has been with PwC. The most important takeaway from this event was the importance of being authentic and embracing one’s differences. The more you are authentic the easier it will be to connect and network with people in the work place. After this event I had a shadowing with Joe (Giuseppe) Lanni, person who interviewed me for PwC, in the Tax area. He invited me to attend a call, with one of his clients, where he was going to kickoff this year’s work, goals, and services. This client is a fund that invests in other portfolio companies. Even though I wasn’t able to understand much of the content of the conversation, it was a lot of Tax terminology, I was able to get a lot from this opportunity. For starters, Joe had a very organized agenda where he had broke down the different topics that were going to be discussed in the call. On the side of this agenda he left space for notes so that he could remember everything he said. Additionally, even though he was the main speaker, other people were also in this call taking notes. The purpose of this is that they don’t miss any details and write down everything the clients says. This was a great opportunity and Joe invited me next week to attend a meeting were the team will discuss everything the client said on the call. After lunch I had another shadowing opportunity with Amy, from Assurance and more specifically the Utilities and Retail group. Amy demonstrated what her day to day looks like, and she also taught me how Assurance works. Amy told me something which really impacted me, she mentioned that Assurance is the best place to work and learn more about accounting. As it views most of the areas she is able to see the different roles of accounting and how it works overall. She also told me that by doing audit she gets to experience many company’s cultures and she learns more about the business world. I really like this and this is why I have begin thinking that if Advisory doesn’t work for me maybe Assurance is a great place for me to continue learning and exploring.
Today I got to the office at 8:30 am and began by looking over my email. Last week, I had reached out to my campus recruiter, Ann Ulett, and asked her for a shadowing opportunity in Advisory since this is my main area of interest. Because she was out of the office, I received a replay from her today and she told me that if I was interested in going into Advisory for the next internship I had to apply by tonight. I had to send her a personal statement explaining why I want to be in Advisory, my updated resume, and updated transcript. So throughout the morning I wrote my personal statement. Also, today I received my performance Snapshot from my supervisor, which gives me feedback on the five PwC professional. I received positive feedback, she mentioned that I am performing at level, but I have decided I want more feedback so I have requested a meeting with her. I think this is a great opportunity for me to grow professionally as I have the opportunity to get real-time feedback from an expert on the field. After lunch I reunited with my book group and we worked on the presentation since we had a meeting with our mentors at 4:30 pm. Because we have already divided the presentation each one worked on their slide. At 3:30 pm I met with my group briefly to talk about what we were going to present to our supervisor later. At 4:30 pm Allyson and Tiffany, our mentors, came and gave us feedback our product and our rough draft presentation. Their feedback was very helpful, especially since they gave us a perspective similar to the one our judges will have. As our product, my group and I suggested that we should make a compliance requirement, which a mandatory course for all PwC new hires. The reason we came to this product is because we believe that blind spots disrupt the workplace culture, and by making people aware of these blind spots as they enter this diverse environment they will be able to contribute to a better ambiance.
Tuesday July 12th – PricewaterhouseCoppersLLP (Boston, MA)
Today I got to the office at 8:30 am and responded all my emails. Yesterday I reached out to my Assurance Simulation mentor from Friday and asked her for a shadowing opportunity. This morning I got a replay back from her, she had set me a shadowing opportunity with one of her colleagues. We have scheduled to meet on Thursday morning for the shadow. Also, the Partner I email last week returned from vacation so we have also set up a meeting to network. At 10:00 am I had a Tax Panel that was very open. Everyone asked a question and they referenced it. Something I learned from this session was that Tax has busy seasons, which means that their work year is very predictable. For some people, like me who like to have an organized schedule, After lunch one of my colleagues taught our entire group, everyone who had to do a diversity group on Spark, how to edit the page. Once he was done I began to copy paste everything I wrote down on a google docs last week that I wanted to include on the Spark Page. Today my supervisor emailed me my first Snapshot giving me feedback on my performance so far. The Snapshot is based on the PwC Professional, which has five dimensions that include: Business Acumen, Technological Capabilities, Relationships, Global Acumen, and Whole Leadership. My overall performance review was very good, Allyson was happy with my product and she told me I have good writing skills. Something she challenged me on, and this is something I struggle all the time, is that I need to share my ideas more. Allyson told me that I sometimes withhold myself from sharing my thoughts and she would like for me to speak more up. One of my weaknesses if that I like to have my ideas clearly organized in my head before I share them. Even though this can be something positive, sometimes I also need to see when it is a good idea to just share my thoughts on the moment. By giving my input not only am I enriching the conversation, but I am also throwing an idea before some else thinks of it and make other people. Because the client service lines, as Allyson was saying, are very fast paced, it is sometimes good to have a quick reaction and share ideas as they come.
Wednesday July 13th – PricewaterhouseCoppersLLP (Boston, MA)
Today we didn't have work, we had a community and service activity, so I got to the office at 11:30 am. The people who were going today met in the lobby of the office and then we all headed in a bus to Cradles to Crayons to do the community and service. This is an organization PwC works with so they had already volunteered several times. The main purpose of this organization is to provide children from birth to 12 years of age with clothing and school supplies. They believe that high quality clothing empowers children to be successful in school. The organization is set in a warehouse where all the donations are stored and processed. The organization has around 5 stations. Donations come in bags containing many things. The first station, and the one I volunteered in throughout the day, was called sorting. Here all the donations go through a quality check and are separated into different baskets. There are shorts, t-shirts, pants, infant clothing, and more baskets were the different donations are placed. The clothing that is too worn out is put into red bins, which is later re-donated to other organizations. The second station is about sizing so after the clothing is separated into categories it is then divided in sizes. Then the third station is all about separating the different toys into age categories. Moreover, the fourth station is all about checking that the books are in good shape and that they can be used by other kids, considering some donations are broken. Finally, the fifth station is called shopping, here the volunteers have lists with different requests from children. From the sorted things they pick out the things the kids picked and make a package that is later distributed to them. The overall distribution and organization of this foundation is very effective. The systems put into place are so productive that all new volunteers learn their roles and are able to help out a lot. During our time there other organizations were also volunteering. Only PwC people were able to help a lot of kids get clothing and school supplies. It was a very hot day so it was exhausting, but it was a great learning and helping opportunity.
Thursday July 14th – PricewaterhouseCoppersLLP (Boston, MA)
Today I got to the office at 8:30 am and went straight to the office. During my feedback meeting I had ask Allyson, my supervisor, for more work, so today I had a really busy day. During our meeting yesterday we checked if we had gotten any new members for the group, and we had indeed gotten 41 members. It was very exciting, especially, since this group is new and I was part of the creation. I felt very successful and very excited that soon Allyson and I were going to get people involved. With new members my first task was to create a google email group and make Allyson the admin. So I looked over all our members and created the list, as I was doing this I learned more how to use google since I had no idea you could create email groups. Afterwards I created a spreadsheet with our new members names, the spreadsheet included: first name, last name, google email, title, line of service, and interest group (Networking & Outreach, Family Readiness, Education & Mentorship, and Veteran Recruiting). Once I had this list I was able to see the product of my work. My first task was to craft the email that was going to be sent in John Farina's July note, announcing this new diversity inclusion group that Allyson and I started in the Northeast. Then I continued to edit the spark page, because now that we have new members I had to invite them soon to join the spark page. After lunch I met with Dan Grady, the Tax Partner who interviewed me back in November. It was a good idea to connect with him because he invited me to join him on a EPQ deep dive meeting which lasts two days. This meeting is all about reviewing the engagement groups, how they are working, and how they can improve. I think I can get a lot form this meeting and understand more how PwC works and how they provide this services. Again, I really feel the people here genuinely care about their employees. This Partner, who met me 7 months ago, still remembered where I went to school and who I was. Tomorrow, I have to continue working on the VAN project and also my shadowing has been rescheduled so I will be working on that.
Friday July 15th – PricewaterhouseCoppersLLP (Boston, MA)
Today I got to the office at 8:00 am and went straight to the the Pan Asian Community event. This event was organized by one of my colleagues who is also in charge of a diversity network inclusion group, just like the one I work in. In this even there were three speakers, a Partner from each line of service. Some of the speakers were present via video call because they were from other PwC offices. They presented a very interesting perspective, being foreign, how their experience has been with PwC. The most important takeaway from this event was the importance of being authentic and embracing one’s differences. The more you are authentic the easier it will be to connect and network with people in the work place. After this event I had a shadowing with Joe (Giuseppe) Lanni, person who interviewed me for PwC, in the Tax area. He invited me to attend a call, with one of his clients, where he was going to kickoff this year’s work, goals, and services. This client is a fund that invests in other portfolio companies. Even though I wasn’t able to understand much of the content of the conversation, it was a lot of Tax terminology, I was able to get a lot from this opportunity. For starters, Joe had a very organized agenda where he had broke down the different topics that were going to be discussed in the call. On the side of this agenda he left space for notes so that he could remember everything he said. Additionally, even though he was the main speaker, other people were also in this call taking notes. The purpose of this is that they don’t miss any details and write down everything the clients says. This was a great opportunity and Joe invited me next week to attend a meeting were the team will discuss everything the client said on the call. After lunch I had another shadowing opportunity with Amy, from Assurance and more specifically the Utilities and Retail group. Amy demonstrated what her day to day looks like, and she also taught me how Assurance works. Amy told me something which really impacted me, she mentioned that Assurance is the best place to work and learn more about accounting. As it views most of the areas she is able to see the different roles of accounting and how it works overall. She also told me that by doing audit she gets to experience many company’s cultures and she learns more about the business world. I really like this and this is why I have begin thinking that if Advisory doesn’t work for me maybe Assurance is a great place for me to continue learning and exploring.
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