KPMG 360 Apprentice Review

The title of my job within my organisation is KPMG 360 apprentice. KPMG360 is an apprenticeship programme whereby we have the great opportunity to 'rotate' around the 3 large functions that our firm operates in - audit, tax and advisory. By doing this, we gain great experience that we can take forward with us into our careers. Currently I work in an advisory role and the day to day tasks that I am faced with are completing internal audit reports, carrying out business development work, work related to large projects that are on-going and any other ad-hoc pieces of work which may come up. At KPMG we have quite an open culture, and therefore we sit around colleagues of any nature - from assistant manager right up to partners and senior partners and therefore our daily interactions with internal colleagues can range on this scale. In terms of external interaction, we speak with clients in some capacity whether it be over the phone or email every day.

As part of my apprenticeship so far, I have qualified at AAT level 3 and am currently working towards AAT level 4. From there on, after my third year, I would like to continue and do a further three years to be qualified at chartered status. There are many other pieces of internal training that we can get to take part in as well as KPMG have a great focus on developing people's skills. Day to day, using Microsoft applications such as Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Powerpoint helps to better my skills with these and I would say since joining KPMG I have become more confident using these.

The team I currently work in are really nice and good to work with. They have been welcoming and accepted me in to the team and provided me with work that I did not think would be possible until I gained more experience. The thing about working at such an organisation is that they understand that the way to gain experience is to be given the opportunity in the first place and so at times the work can be challenging but the people around you are always on hand to provide help with any questions or issues you have on a day to day basis with work. I never feel like I am less valued due to my apprentice status.

I think the structure of the KPMG360 programme shows the extent to which the firm value us as apprentices. They are not only sponsoring us through qualification training but they are also providing us with so much experience that we would not be getting if we took the university approach to a career. I gather regular feedback from my managers and other colleagues and it has thankfully been positive which shows to an extent that I am doing my job to a good standard. On large projects, I have been given tasks to own that, without a good standard of completion, would have meant the project could not run as planned and therefore I see that as great experience for myself but also see it as my colleagues valuing my work and my role.

When joining the firm we completed a week long induction course which set us with the expectation of what life would be like to work at KPMG. Throughout our first couple of years we have completed exams and internal training that will benefit our careers in the long run. The structure of the programme I feel has been carefully thought out to ensure that we maximise our potential and maximise our knowledge. We are given study leave breaks as well that is a great help in the run up to sitting an exam. There is an amazing level of support given by our management team and we have forums 2-3 times a year where we meet up as a cohort and get to use the opportunity to work together. This in turn helps to broaden our network.

Our training provider BPP help our studies massively. The tutors are always friendly and approachable. They are always contactable by phone and by email and are always ready and willing to help out with any issues or to answer any questions we may have that relates to a course. The courses that they run are always engaging and interesting.

We have a management team on our programme who are specifically in place to help with the KPMG 360 programme. This means that they are always on hand to answer any questions or to advise on any issues that we are having at work. Within every placement that we rotate in to, we are given a 'buddy' who is on hand to answer our day to day questions. Performance managers are also assigned to us and we are able to gain an understanding from them of our performance and the vibe they are getting about our performance from colleagues within the firm. By doing this we are able to gauge how well we are doing and the potential that we could reach while being on the programme before moving in to the wider firm at the end of the apprenticeship.

The salary package for the KPMG360 one is great. It helps me to meet my costs of assets such as my car each month and leaves me with plenty of money that I can use to do things that I enjoy doing such as socialising. I consider the package of being on the KPMG 360 programme to be wider than just my salary costs. I look at and include the costs of all my qualification training in my package as well and am grateful for the sponsorship that the firm gives me on the apprenticeship. If it wasn't for KPMG and I wanted to complete the qualifications that they offer with AAT, I would be forking out a great amount of money out of my own pocket.

There are always social events at KPMG and the firm each year picks a charity to sponsor throughout the year. We can therefore find that there are many things going on that we can use to raise money for the chosen charities. The firm also give us an amount of time each year that we can use towards volunteering for community projects and encourage us to use this each year. There are also initiatives that run constantly whereby colleagues go to schools and help children with numeracy and literacy skills and this helps to prove our benefit to the community that surrounds us.

Yes

I think they are a great organisation to work for as we are fully supported in our development. The people that work alongside me are all helpful and very welcoming. I had a worry that when coming into the firm, people would have disregarded me for my lack of experience however that has certainly not been the case. Every one I have spoken to has always seemed interested and enthusiastic about the KPMG 360 programme which is very reassuring.

I would give the advice that during the interview process, be engaged with the interviewer and when given the opportunity to ask questions, ask plenty. It is a lot more encouraging for the interviewer when they are interviewing someone who is showing a genuine interest in their role within the organisation and the organisation as a whole. It shows them that you are not just there as you want a job, but that you are there because you really are wanting to be a part of their organisation and want to find out information about working at the organisation that you can use and take forward in to your career.