360 Apprentice Review

My apprenticeship involves rotating around departments within the firm in order to come to a decision of where I would like to specialise in the future. I am currently working within the audit department in KPMG. On a day-to-day basis, I am rarely in the office as my role is client facing so spend most of my time on client site. On the days where I am not booked to work on a client, I complete training which is mostly online, however I also attend college.

I have developed my organisational skills as its important to be on top of my workload so that I am able to meet deadlines with the rest of my team. I have also really improved my excel capabilities as I hadn't really used it much before I started at KPMG.

I thoroughly enjoy the programme I am on at KPMG. It enables me to learn new skills each day both on the job- eg. skills that are related to the work I am completing in my department, and off the job eg. college/ other training programmes offered to me during my apprenticeship.

Although I haven't been here for long, my programme does seem well organised. There is a rotation schedule each apprentice follows which shows when we will rotate into a new department. There was department-specific training delivered to me as soon as I started in my current department. We also have opportunities for all of the apprentices in the country to meet up and work together at apprentice forums.

KPMG offers a lot of support to employees. We are sent to all relevant training and can also choose any training to allocate to ourselves via our 'eLearning' portal. Not only this, but all members of the teams I have been in so far have been more than happy to help me and teach me anything I do not understand.

We are given study leave for the duration of our college tuition in order to attend college. We are also given one day of study leave prior to our exam and then study leave on the day of the exam. Other than this all revision should be done in our own time which can be hard to manage as well as the work load we receive from our department.

As I am only at the start of my apprenticeship and have only done 2 exams so far, what I am learning isn't that relevant to the work I perform day to day however I can see how it links in. I think the more experience I gain in my role the more relevant my training will become.

There are numerous extra curricular activities at KPMG, eg. climbing, rounders, running club etc... the list goes on. We also have social events, so there are first Friday of the month drinks, as well as some social events solely for apprentices which are arranged by apprentices too. I also attended the LCASS ball with KPMG colleagues however it wasn't run by KPMG.

Yes

Its a brilliant place to work: - Colleagues and management are always very supportive - We work with a range of clients so there are many opportunities available - KPMG are happy for you to be flexible to suit you eg. working from home when you need to - They support you to learn whilst you work there

Be well prepared for your interview- look into KPMG's values and understand them ahead of your interview. Be prepared to work hard. Take every opportunity that is given to you even if it is one that you wouldn't usually take, because pushing yourself out of your comfort zone will better you as a person.