Apprentice Review

My current role involves ensuring our presentations are up to date, with the correct data in the correct format. This means I need to consistently download new data and ensure that I am aware of new releases.

I have developed my existing skills and capabilities in Microsoft Office, particularly in Excel and Powerpoint. I have also developed accounting skills which I did not have before, such as simple book keeping. Alongside this I have done basic training in functions such as Tax and Audit in order to compliment the work I have performed whilst being involved in certain teams or on certain pieces of work.

I have had a varied experience; really enjoying working with some teams and on some pieces of work, and not enjoying others so much. I enjoy the aspect of being mobile around the business, therefore I have been able to experience many different areas of the business despite working for KPMG for only around a year and a half.

Again, it varies a lot between each team. Generally I would say that I feel valued, however certain teams go above and beyond to make apprentices feel welcomed which is great.

The induction, training, support and studying we receive as apprentices at KPMG is overall very good. However some aspects could be improved such as allowing us to integrate into the business more, rather than occasionally being structured so that we feel a lot lower than others.

We receive a lot of support from our training providers. Whilst we are at college or even when we are not we are able to contact our tutors to ask question. We are also prompted to submitted mock papers which are marked very quickly from my experience.

Again, this can be very varied. We receive a good deal of support from our performance managers, however unlike the rest of the business, our performance managers do not sit within the team we work in so sometimes there is a barrier to how much they are able to understand about the issue we are facing/the work we do.

I believe our salary is fairly reasonable, however it is not great if you own your own home/rent. I do not believe it has fully been taken into account that many people commute long distances to work in London and therefore our salaries should probably be slightly higher, above the additional Inner London Weighting we receive.

There are a lot of voluntary opportunities and social committees. Also each team seems to organise drinks on special occasions e.g. Christmas, promotions etc.

Yes

It is a good place to experience a wide variety of work and also a wide variety of people. It would build your personal and interpersonal skills rapidly.

Be prepared for interviews by reading up on KPMG and its values, and any recent news articles. Think of some scenarios where you have worked well in teams or communicated well, as these are questions often asked in interviews. Also ensure you think of a question to ask back to the person interviewing you to ensure that you seem interested.