When talking about working at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), people may instantly think of the roles of professional auditors and accountants. However, there are other supporting professionals important to the firm’s operation. For the past two work terms, I have had a chance to work in the Learning and Development (L&D) department of PwC’s Hong Kong firm. The L&D department provides administrative and logistics support to employee training, and oversees the firm’s learning management system.

During my first work term, it was sort of an off-season for my team; hence, sometimes I was borrowed by other teams in the department to help with various tasks. Throughout the four months of my co-op term, I helped different teams with work ranging from clerical, like preparing hard copy learning materials for classroom training, to editorial, such as editing a curriculum catalog using Adobe InDesign. It was a refreshing experience and the variety of work greatly improved my ability to pick up and apply new skills and knowledge quickly.

In my second term, I worked as a substitute for an officer. My duties included managing and reviewing the work of several co-workers to ensure timely submission of accurate and complete reports, as well as assigning appropriate online courses to new joiners, assisting managers in ad-hoc problem solving, and responding to inquiries from training participants and co-workers. This position was a challenge because it was my first time having to manage others at work. It substantially improved my organizational, communication, and problem solving skills.

Before landing this co-op placement, I didn’t have work experience in an office setting. Therefore, the work experience and skills (both practical and soft) I gained and developed during these eight months at PwC Hong Kong are invaluable to my future career.