Women of PwC: Meet Kristy Van Horck

Why are learning and development important to you?

I have a curious mind and need to feel like I am always learning, developing, and progressing to be satisfied. I believe that the more I learn, the more I can add value to others. This includes everyone from my clients and my team. I know I feel my best when I'm being curious.

At PwC, I am always doing something new and learning new skills daily. Whilst this can be uncomfortable at times, the result is worth it for me. I also know it's a safe space to learn in with incredible support networks to help me along the way.

How has PwC helped you learn and grow??

How has PwC helped you learn and grow?Even though I've always been an "auditor" at PwC, I've had tons of opportunities to work with so many different clients and industries. I've worked on different types of engagements and alongside lots of talented people. I've never felt short of learning opportunities.

And then, obviously, there's a lot of structure and discipline around professional development at PwC; this includes technical training, setting goals, and getting regular feedback. There has always been an active focus on my potential, learning, and growth.

What learnings have helped you grow and succeed?

There have been many "aha" moments for me over my career. Some of the ones that have stuck with me are:

Don't overcommit yourself - if you fill up your schedule and then something goes wrong - you've got no capacity left to respond.
Spending time talking to people and getting to know them is just as important (even more so) as just getting the work done.
Watch the self-doubt talk - we are all just people who get out of bed in the morning and put one foot in front of the other.

How have your leaders coached and mentored you along your PwC journey?

During my 5+ years at PwC, I've worked on a wide range of projects, from incident response cases for large global companies to providing intelligence reporting and data to clients across multiple industries and government agencies. One of these projects culminated in one of the highlights of my career so far. In 2017, we were working on numerous incident response cases that led to the publication of the "Operation Cloud Hopper" report. My team and I spent seven days locked in an office writing a report that exposed malicious cyber activity. Our report allowed us to help clear out the threat actor from client networks and build the PwC cyber brand, showing that we aren't all just accountants!

Please talk us through the technical work and what that’s like.

I've felt humbled by how generous so many of my leaders have invested their time in me throughout my career. These leaders have coached and mentored me when I've needed it. They've even sponsored me into development programs and different job opportunities.

What I've found helpful is having the opportunity to work closely with so many different leaders at PwC. People who have different styles or leadership approaches. I've learned by watching the different ways that people operate and manage different situations. The thing about growth is that you can take bits and pieces away from each of them to help you shape who you are. That's really what development is all about.

What do you want to learn next?

From a technical perspective, I would love to learn more about digital tools and technologies and how they can help my clients and teams. I'm a hands-on learner and I know that I learn best through doing. So I'm hoping that as these become more common in our everyday work, the technology will be more accessible.

When it comes to relationship building, virtual work has changed the game. So I think there's always more to learn about how to build meaningful and effective relationships with people, especially as we continue down this path of more virtual working.

Journeys like Kristy's happen every day at PwC. See if your journey is waiting by checking our open roles.

The Learning-Mindset: Creating a career driven by curiosity