1. Please introduce yourself!
Hi KWIL and readers! I am May Tan and I completed my LLB Law degree at King's College London in Summer 2019. I am now an associate at PwC UK LLP and I am also studying towards the Associate Chartered Accountant qualification. I grew up in a small town in peninsular Malaysia and moved to London for university back in 2016. Being Malaysian, I am naturally passionate about food and I am always keen to tell you where are the best places to dine in London (I even have an Instagram page dedicated to all my food finds!). When not at work or food hunting, I enjoy cooking, strength training, and reading. 2. What inspired you to pursue a career in PwC as an associate for their audit line of service? Although I did enjoy reading law, I was always quite certain I wanted to try something different after completing my law degree. After quite a lot of research and speaking to people from different fields, I had an idea of the ideal graduate role for me - something that would employ my best skills (which were analytical thinking and attention to detail), help build new skills and provide me with a good grasp of business. I chanced upon the opportunity with PwC through a friend and was immediately drawn to how well it fitted the criteria I had in mind. Having then attended events and connected with people who worked at the firm, I was certain the culture of the firm and the training within the audit line of service would really help kickstart my career. 3. How do you think your law degree at King's helped you to secure your current position within the company? During the application process for the role, I felt that my experience studying law at King's helped set me apart from other candidates as I was able to think critically and confidently articulate my thoughts. As I was quite a shy person before university, the tutors that I had throughout my law degree really encouraged me to share my ideas and it is something that I really appreciate even now in my day-to-day job especially when I have to attend meetings with partners and different clients. I do think that the fact that I did not do a typical finance or accounting-related degree also helped as the firm and the line of service itself always appreciates a fresh perspective. 4. I have heard that you are involved in your business unit's Diversity and Inclusion team. What was your experience like being a part of this team? I absolutely love being part of the Diversity & Inclusion team! When I joined the team, I was the most junior member and I was tremendously happy to be able to help promote an inclusive working environment that celebrated differences and allowed for equal opportunities. Since joining, I have helped with multiple initiatives such as the publishing of our monthly newsletter that highlights anything from being a working parent to featuring women and minorities in leadership roles as well as organising virtual events. As a whole, the firm is becoming more diverse throughout all its grades and lines of services and I am really proud to have been part of the team at a business unit level that has contributed to the conversation. 5.What advice would you give to law students who are aspiring to venture into a field outside of the legal industry? (Specifically, for those who are interested in working on the audits of FTSE 250 companies?)
As general advice, I would say go out and explore. I admit it is quite intimidating to venture into something different but I would encourage you to just speak to different people, attend events, read up on areas that you think might interest you and when you're set on something, be brave and send in that application. I like to believe that the skills from law school are invaluable and transferable in any field you aspire to go into.
For those specifically interested in the types of audits I work on, I would encourage you to be proactive and engage with the different professional services firms. There are also plenty of summer internship opportunities that allow you to get some on-the-job experience which I believe would help with figuring out if this is something you really want to do (believe it or not, there are many other different sorts of audits you could work on). I am also happy to connect with you on social media and share my experience if you would like to know the job better!
Interviewed by: Olivia Kim