This post is long overdue but I could not pass up the opportunity to share the latter half of my summer 2017 with you all. Summer 2017 was definitely a rollercoaster ride for me and it taught me valuable lessons that I probably would not have had if I did not take the internship in Dallas, Texas. While I had an amazing experience serving as a Technology Consulting Intern with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), I was battling a lot of personal issues internally and it took a toll on the personal and professional development goals I had set for myself in the beginning of the year.

While at PwC, I was aligned to their Health Industries vertical and I was extremely grateful for this because one of my career goals is to have some sort of impact within the health industry. From my previous internship experiences with SAP, Google, and TBCA/Cocoa360, people were interested to know where I would be working next. To them, since I already had Google on my resume, they were not sure what exactly could “top” my Google experience. Surprisingly, when the recruiting season started for this summer, I already knew that I wanted to conclude my internship experience in undergrad by working at PwC. The first time I heard about PwC, I was still in high school and I was trying to find a way to make an impact in my home country, Ghana. Through my research, PwC Ghana had an impressive reputation around corporate social res CSR and investing in the communities where they worked.

Once I started at Drexel and went through the motions of applying for my first co-op, I knew that I wanted to work at PwC – whether it be PwC Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, or even their London office. I recall reaching out to the head of recruitment at PwC Ghana and expressing interest early on as I know trying to do an international internship can be a long process but she did not reply to any of my subsequent emails. I personally believe this was the doing of the Lord as I was still able to land an internship with PwC US and I had an amazing internship experience while working out of the PwC Dallas office.

Here are my top four reasons why I decided to try consulting:

  • Learning Opportunities

Consultants work at a rapidly fast pace which usually involves trying out different industries, functional areas, and even locations. This usually gives you the opportunity to work with a myriad of companies and you get a chance to experience different company cultures while working with various clients. This is the main reason why most people decide to be consultants because the idea of doing one specific thing every single day is very boring and does not excite them.

  • Instant Network & Support

Since consulting is essentially “companies renting out their employees’ brains,” all projects always have a lead Partner as well as Directors and Managers. Being exposed to senior leadership is definitely a great way to get your foot in the door and could lead to other opportunities.

  • Opportunities to Grow

At PwC, my colleagues were very interested in my personal and professional goals and they encouraged me to take full opportunity of everything PwC had to offer. From the in-person trainings to virtual workshops and the opportunity to pick the brain of my project team from Partners to Directors, my experience was definitely something that I could not have learned in the classroom.

  • Time Management 

If you are in consulting, one thing you must be extremely good at is how to manage your time. Between project work, connecting with client personnel, virtual/in-person trainings, social life, etc., it can be a whole lot to take in if you are not used to it. However, having this experience early on taught me best practices for the future.

As always, here are a few pictures from summer 2017. Enjoy and please do reach out if you have any questions!

Stay adventurous, dear friends, and always remember to stay golden. All ways, always.

Sincerely,

Samuella