Global Mobility

Global mobility – SA today, London, New York, or Sydney tomorrow. Exceptional people, world experience.

The international perspective and networking knowledge of our people are particularly important in enhancing value for our clients.

To create such a group of global citizens to rely on, we invest in one of the world’s largest global mobility programmes. PwC creates an advantage for our clients so they can compete successfully. One of the ways we do this is through the mobility of our people worldwide. We are sure we can bring the right resources to deal with our clients’ complex business issues. This mobility is also an advantage for our people: there are exciting international career opportunities available in a variety of locations worldwide.

Building international business expertise is essential; it gives our firm an excellent advantage anywhere in the world because we can be more competitive. International expertise has also become an important part of our staff’s career development. International assignments benefit our clients, our people, and the firm. Serving our clients wherever they operate is an essential part of our philosophy of serving clients; another essential plan is developing people who can approach client problems from both sides, local and global. For the global manager of the 21st century, experience in working on multicultural teams will prove to be a distinct professional advantage. International assignments also offer personal enrichment; these are experiences you will enjoy remembering long after you have returned home.

Benefits of the Global Mobility programme can be both personal and professional, such as:

• Progress in your career
• Personal development
• Improving your skills and expertise
• Cultural awareness
• Global networking/relationship building
• Creativity and innovation – meeting new ideas and processes, and
• Opportunity to travel and live abroad.

Popular destinations for Southern African staff:

Long-term international assignments are typically for two to three years, but may last longer. They provide tremendous opportunities to gain a deeper understanding of the host country’s culture, language, business practices and clients. There are various types of long-term assignments:

• Deployed assignments, which are driven by the benefits they will bring the home firm by developing skill sets of selected individuals. These individuals then also have a guaranteed right of return to the Southern African firm.
• International transfers fulfil an important role in finding resources, meeting operational and project needs in host countries and providing opportunities for our people to achieve their own objectives.
• Short-term assignments last from three to nine months, and they meet a range of needs for the person who is sent and for the firm – finding resources, getting staff for projects, transferring knowledge and skills, strengthening the network and developing the individual.

	Lizanne Barnard
	Home office:	Sunninghill
	Host office:	Amsterdam
	Period of assignment:	3 months
	“Working in Amsterdam was very similar to Johannesburg! I was booked on a banking client and coming from TICE that took a bit of adjustment, but it was interesting! ” Would you recommend international assignments to other PwC staff? “Yes”

	Martina Ling
	Home office:	Windhoek, Namibia
	Host office:	San Francisco, California
	Period of assignment:	4 months
	“Best working experience: Senior of a team of at least four people, multitasking, US GAAP experience. Worst experience: Social security card application! San Francisco is a beautiful city with people from all over the world (very multicultural). I met so many new and friendly people and made very good friendships.” Would you recommend international assignments to other PwC staff? “Yes, definitely, it opens your eyes, you start to see things differently (from another perspective) and it broadens your horizons.”

	Kevin Moodley
	Home office:	Kimberley
	Host office:	Canberra, Australia
	Period of assignment:	3 months
	“With PwC being a global company, the audit approach used by South Africa and Australia is the same, thus making the transition easier. Work ethics portrayed by client personnel in the private and public sector were of an extremely high standard. The only thing that surpassed the work experience was the friendliness of staff, which I know seems contrary to the atmosphere in a cricket and rugby match between the two countries! ” Would you recommend international assignments to other PwC staff? “I would definitely recommend people going on international secondments to gain experience and learn about other cultures.”