at Otago - School of Business, University of Otago, New Zealand ...

GRADUATE PROFILE
Will Dougherty
Senior Associate in Assurance - PricewaterhouseCoopers
BCom (Hons)
Studying Information Science at
Otago has enabled Will Dougherty
to forge a rewarding career both in
New Zealand and overseas.
Will believes his BCom(Hons)
equipped him with a wide range
of skills that have been essential in
his career. In his second year of
study, Will was involved in a group
project building an information
system for a local company. This
led to an honours dissertation on
project management.
“Embrace group projects – they
provide an excellent insight into
work, which will be helpful in
interviews and as you start your
career.”
After graduating,Will gained a place
on the graduate programme at
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)
New Zealand. His role as an IT
auditor was to assess clients’ IT
risks, particularly in relation to
system change management and
security. This role provided the
opportunity to apply his technical
skills to business situations –
translating IT problems into
business risks.
“As daunting as entering the
workforce was, I found that I was
able to use the base skills from my
time at university to be confident
to research, learn and understand
new areas.”
He has now transferred to the
PwC UK firm, in the Edinburgh
office, where he is working as a
Senior Associate in Assurance
reviewing the controls used to
manage IT risks, with a key focus on
banking and insurance clients.
“Although the transfer [to the
UK] has meant I have moved
to a new role in a new country, I
had a solid grounding in how the
business operates, and what my
role entailed. In fact, I was able to
facilitate a methodology training
course for junior staff within a few
months of arriving.”
Will recommends taking advantage
of the breadth of disciplines
taught within Information Science
(especially in third year and above)
as “they provide an opportunity
to find what you are passionate
about”.
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