Right after graduation, Štěpánka Havlová landed an interesting starting position at PwC. Thanks to her perfect knowledge of German, she works with German clients and has been involved in larger projects from the very beginning. She owes her success to her extroverted nature and the fact that she is not afraid of challenges.
You have been working in Technology Consulting since last October and focus on German clients. What exactly do you do?
Although I work in Technology Consulting, not everyone at our company has to be a programmer or have extensive experience with technology. I am more of a business consultant, but I am happy to learn whatever is required of me (laughs). When necessary, I do all sorts of things, so I’m a bit of an odd-job man. I also work in Excel and PowerPoint, and occasionally attend trade fairs. But mainly, we advise clients on how to comply with various regulations and what technologies they need to implement. There are currently about six of us in the German team, and we are looking for new people to bring the total to around twenty.
Did you join PwC with the intention of using German?
Actually, PwC approached me while I was studying in Zurich, Switzerland, in the German-speaking part of the country. The position offered included banking, consulting and German, which I didn’t want to forget. As an economics graduate, it made sense to go for it. I have a bachelor’s degree in economics and a double master’s degree – international business from abroad and management & consulting in the Czech Republic.
Do your language skills give you access to important assignments right away, or are you not yet given greater responsibility?
It depends on the situation. For example, I was recently in charge of a small part of a large project. But it definitely wasn’t a case of my manager asking me to fill in a field in Excel or tick a box in PowerPoint. It wasn’t a huge task, but at the same time it was independent and complex.
How do you generally get on with your more senior colleagues?
At least in our team, everyone is great. That’s why I feel like I can ask anyone for help, even if they’re much more experienced than me. I’m also quite an extrovert, so I’m not afraid to pop into a partner’s office (laughs). Anyway, people here are really friendly, open-minded and willing to help with anything. What’s more, they’re very young, with an average age of around 25–30, which I think is great because we have things in common and understand each other.
Apart from the people, what do you enjoy most about your job?
The funniest part is managing others, but I’m not a manager yet (laughs). Well, seriously, I really enjoy the regulations themselves, but I also enjoy stepping outside my comfort zone and trying things that I would never have thought of otherwise. For example, our recent task was to work with macros in Excel, which I considered to be quite an advanced and complicated assignment. And now, after a month, I’m trying macros on my own. I like the fact that I’m constantly learning something new that I can actually use. In my case, it’s mainly technical skills.
What do you like to do outside of PwC?
I’m an active person, so I play sports and I also play the transverse flute in a wind orchestra. I’ve tried to play at every stage of my life, for example in a marching band at football matches during a year-long stay in America. Currently I play in an amateur wind orchestra for adults in Prague called Pralinka.