Summer is over. The schools are back. Standing room only on the trains again. And just when you could realistically expect the newspapers to resume 'normal service' with proper news, a story emerges about a disgruntled PwC student who fires off a vitriolic e-mail on his last day in the office, having been 'let go' for having failed his exams. Within minutes, the e-mail has been forwarded outside PwC, and soon it is 'an internet sensation'. Oh dear.
I have just spent a few minutes reading the comments on the London 'Evening Standard' website. They seem equally divided between those who think that the offending student has been foolish and will live to regret his outburst; and those who have elevated him to hero status for having spoken his mind and not having fallen into the trap of becoming a corporate clone.
Such views miss the point. I believe that the student has been naive, not just for sending the e-mail in the first place, but perhaps more importantly for not having taken responsibility for his own career at an earlier stage.
Accountancy is not for everyone; but that does not mean that it is not a vital and rewarding profession. Large firm culture suits some people; but others prefer a mid-sized or smaller firm environment. And students considering a career in the profession need to take responsibility for making the right choices and if, at some stage, they realise that they have made the wrong choice, they need to have the courage to take appropriate action and realign their careers, either in a different type of firm, or in a different field completely.
Clients are beginning to realise this too. Recent recessionary pressures have accelerated this process with more and more businesses beginning to realise that big is not always best, and that high levels of technical expertise and international coverage can be found within firms that are part of the professional associations, of which MSI Global Alliance (www.msiglobal.org) is one.
None of this is very new. Students have always had to make choices - and sometimes that means recognising that a change of direction is necessary. I did - when I resigned from Deloittes after 6 weeks as a graduate trainee in 1979. But, as with so many problems, the way that a problem is handled reveals so much more than the cause of the problem itself.
And, of course, in 1979, there was no e-mail.
James Mendelssohn
CEO, MSI Global Alliance
