The KPMG Lift Off Program is an awards scheme designed to give graduate students a significant head start in their international finance and consulting career. The fullness of the scheme is wide-reaching, comprehensive and generous.
Felicia Wilsen is a KPMG partner, and Lift Off Program chair. She broke down the variety of opportunities available for students: “The Lift Off Program is designed to provide skills development, an opportunity to interact with our client engagement teams, as well as providing exposure to professional networking to accelerate a graduates’ career.”
The list of opportunities students can look forward to taking part in include the work shadow program, scholarships, summer internships, co-op placements, and the Lift Off Program proper.
Ms Wilsen disclosed that the work shadow program offers access to KPMG’s “Audit, Tax, Advisory, Finance, HR, Markets and IT departments to high school students interested in observing, gaining insight and exposure to our professionals’ day-to-day roles in an office environment.” This program, which takes place over two days in April, is where students not only shadow an employee, but they take part in presentations, hearing from various KPMG staff members.
Perhaps the most generous component of the KPMG scheme is the KPMG Scholarship, an annual financial award of $30,000 for up to four years. This scholarship is provided by the partners of KPMG, and is awarded to high-performing Bermudian, BOTC and PRC holder students who are either entering, or are currently in, university. Successful candidates must be interested in pursuing a career in accounting.
“Since 2021, KPMG has also collaborated with Frontier, an Artex Company, to award an accounting Scholarship which is valued at $15,000 per annum for up to three years. The KPMG and Frontier scholarship recipients will take part in KPMG’s Global Advantage Program. The recipients will travel to one of our global KPMG offices to attend a four-day global leadership program designed to attract top KPMG talent. At this program, students will experience development training, networking with over 100 students from over 10 countries, historical and cultural activities, and client interaction.”
These scholarships also offer successful applicants full-time employment within KPMG’s Lift Off Program upon successful completion of their degree, paid summer internships, access to an in-house professional coach, along with invaluable mentorship opportunities.
The KPMG summer internship is a 10 to 12 week paid internship offered to, “a select group, 10 – 15, of Bermudian, BOTC and PRC holder students. During this time, interns take part in charitable projects, network with industry professionals and plan our annual summer ‘K-Nect’ student networking event. At this event, parents, teachers and students can find out how KPMG can help shape students’ interest in business and financial services into a rewarding career.”
KPMG also helps successful applicants with professional exposure, offering work-experience placements with their co-op placement program. This is designed for students who may require work experience as part of their university degree.
This comprehensive scheme sounds awesome, but what kind of candidates are KPMG looking for – and what should applicants be mindful of when they are compiling their application packages?
“We are looking for inspired students and graduates, who want to become the best at what they do, innovate, effect change, drive for results, stay passionately committed to excellence and take a global view of both the accounting profession and their role in creating their career.
“When students are submitting their application, they should ensure they have all the requested information that is asked for in the application, have someone proof-read their application, and supporting documentation to check for typos, and ensure their social media pages have a positive outlook, as we research candidates online.”
Once a candidate has secured their place within the KPMG scheme, they have access to local and international coaching and training:
“KPMG in Bermuda has a dedicated Learning & Development team that not only provides training, but provides in-house coaching to students. In addition to the local training received, the global firm also provides training sessions that the Bermuda firm employees can attend. KPMG also has a secondment program which allows them to be placed at other member firms within the KPMG network. In the past, employees have been seconded to offices in the UK and Australia.”
