Sacked graduate signs off his last day at PwC with incredible email complaining that work is BORING
Durham grad Oliver Alcock wasn't cut out for accounting and admitted he found the work stressful and unstimulating
A cheeky grad signed off his last day at PwC with an outrageous email complaining the work was boring and he didn't learn anything.
Durham grad Oliver Alcock landed a cushy finance job straight out of university but wasn't impressed.
In the no-holds-barred email sent to his colleagues, he complains: "In all honesty I haven't particularly enjoyed much of time at PwC largely related to exam stress and having a low boredom threshold (sic)."
He also says he doesn't feel the job was what he signed up for, listing things he never did on the job.
This included stock counts, self-reviewing work, understanding bank reconciliations, and learning anything in his company training courses.
Oliver eventually lost his job after failing his accounting exams (ACA).
In his email he puts the failure down to a mixture of his own laziness and inadequate help from his employers.
He says: "In hindsight scraping a B in GCSE maths and getting a Social Sciences 2:1 from Durham [...] possibly wasn't the best prep for the ACA.
"Even if we'd actually had some tuition and a decent amount of time to complete the exams my selfish desire to have a social life would probably still have been my downfall..."
He rounded off the email saying his colleagues had been "the only thing that has made any of this bearable".
He also commended their "superior boredom thresholds and willingness to sacrifice free time."
Oliver claims his junior colleagues found the frank email funny.
But the email also attracted the attention of his superiors, who were not pleased.
After he left the company, Oliver's former manager informed him he would no longer be invited to PwC's summer ball after the board saw the email.
He is now exploring career options outside the finance world.
related stories
PricewaterhouseCoopers is one of the biggest accounting and auditing firms in the UK and its grad scheme is extremely competitive.
A spokesperson for the company wished Oliver well in his future career.
Laura Hinton, head of people at PwC, said: "We're sorry it didn't work out for Oliver with us."
"The majority of the 1,500 graduates who join PwC each year find the training they receive opens up doors to a range of career options, both within our firm and across other industries."
She added that Oliver's experience was not typical of PwC's grad scheme employees, as the company has been voted the UK's Top Graduate Employer in The Times for 13 years in a row.
'I COMMEND YOUR SUPERIOR BOREDOM THRESHOLDS': GRAD'S EMAIL SIGNOFF IN FULL
Afternoon All,
For those of you who didn't know the Stoke-on-Trent dole queue is about to get one man longer as today is my last day at the firm.
In hindsight scraping a B in GCSE maths and getting a Social Sciences 2:1 from Durham that consisted of £1.50 pints and fifa with some light work squashed in, possibly wasn't the best prep for the ACA.
Even if we'd actually had some tuition and a decent amount of time to complete the exams my selfish desire to have a social life would probably still have been my downfall…. I don't really go in for wishy washy 'thanks for memories' emails in all honestly I haven't particularly enjoyed much of time at PwC largely related to exam stress and having a low boredom threshold.
To chronicle my magical journey through the meat grinder of PwC I've compiled a couple of lists of things that I did and some that I didn't.
What I didn't do:
Stock counts
Understand bank reconciliations
Learn anything about excel
Play table tennis well
Much overtime
Read library procedures
Self Review Work
Ever make it to Lola's after the 3 Summer Balls I attended
Learn anything in a PwC training course
Use Spark
Mince my words in the you matter survey
Consistently pass exams
Give a toss
What I did do:
Resided in three business units gradually getting further and further away from the work I signed up for.
Wear a purple lab coat whilst physically inspecting a hydrocarbon testing lab.
Work on 7 different types of engagements (Jack of all trades doesn't really cover it).
Fudge
Chat absolute shite in EGA's
Claimed a lot of mileage money
Seen the inside of lots of grim local government and NHS buildings
Had to bring my own tea, milk and mug to said buildings
Helped to uncover the 'Clownbridge Clounty Clouncil' £142 Million assets under construction blunder (Real credit to James Yianni I was at least present there)
Physically verified a breast cancer screening van in Dereham
Spent last summer sat in basement in Theford testing housing benefit payments
Did a tour of Stoke on Trent's finest supermarket pharmacies
Physically inspected an operating table as a patient was being wheeled onto it
Attend peergroup meetings completely dominated by (ed: name removed) talking
Met Matthias
Picked Mahrez from the start of the season in the office fantasy football league (still didn't win)
Felt relieved when I was told I was being sacked
As you can see the highlights make it sound interesting but as we all know it generally isn't. To those determined to get to the top of the PwC ponzi scheme I say good luck but there's certainly easier ways to earn money, but I commend your superior boredom thresholds and willingness to sacrifice free time.
All things must however come to an end just like my career prospects and going on facebook at work, so I'll close by mentioning some things I'll miss and some I won't:
I certainly won't miss explaining that I'm not from Yorkshire, getting mocked for speaking differently and explaining that Stoke City are in fact an established Premier League team.
What I will miss is the people I've met. The only thing that has made any of this bearable (in fairness its probably just having someone to moan at), oh and milage money.
So its time for me to roll off this audit permanently leaving a bucket load of unanswered coaching notes, some suspect testing approaches and incomplete testing templates.
Audits' loss is definitely benefit streets' gain.
In a bit….Oliver P