Vacation Student Review

I very much enjoyed my time at KPMG. It was a worthwhile and fulfilling internship experiencing work at a high profile company. Everyone I worked with was very welcoming and easy to get along with and helped me throughout. The training that we did in London before we got to the office was also very interesting and informative and so this internship was very good as not only did I get a flavour of working here but I also got a taste of what it would be like when studying for the qualifications that are part of the graduate position.

From the start I felt very valued. The team was very welcoming and helped me at the start to get things going. Even more senior members of staff were welcoming and would give me work that I could do. The environment is relaxed and so you feel like there's a good amount of freedom to choose what to do and when to do it. The team was also lovely, they organised a leaving lunch for me and made me feel really part of the team, even hanging out with some people after work, I made some really great friends there.

The recruitment team were very good at guidance and support. Anytime I had a query I would be able to email the recruitment team to ask them for some help and they would reply promptly. Furthermore my co-workers were excellent whenever I needed help with something. However, due to the nature of the particular department I was in, a lot of the work can be very technical and hence I wasn't always capable of doing certain types of work and hence would sometimes have to be very proactive at seeking out work as members of the team didn't always have something that I could get stuck into.

As the job was specifically in tax and my degree is relatively unrelated I didn't learn much in that sense that I could use beyond the internship. However, the people skills, interview skills and just general workplace etiquette that I learnt will undoubtedly be very beneficial to my future I believe.

The structure at the start was great. From the first induction day, to the training that we had to go down to London and even the recruitment team's organisation of socials and corporate responsibility days was really great and very well structured and organised. However, there wasn't much specific work for me to do whilst actually in the office, and as I mentioned previously it was occasionally difficult to find work that I could do on certain days. However this wasn't really a fault of anyone but simply a product of circumstance.

The atmosphere in general was great. Very professional but still relaxed enough not to be stressful or anything. The people were all great, the work wasn't too bad and the general atmosphere felt very comfortable. If I had a chance I would do it again as the experience was enjoyable all round.

I believe the company invested a lot in terms of training. My home office was up north and they sent us on an all expense paid trip to London (including travel, hotels, food) just to do some training in our particular tax area for two full days. Furthermore, organising the corporate responsibility day was very useful in terms of development, we had to give presentations about applying to jobs for people who were long term unemployed.

It helped in terms of learning about the atmosphere and the way things work at the firm, however I didn't get that much a flavour of the actual work that each person does on a day to day as it was a little too technical to understand without having a qualification in tax.

The insight definitely helped me understand a lot about the company's culture, which was actually much more chilled out than I had expected. spending 4 weeks felt like a good time period where I could get a good sense of what it was like to work there but at the same time not get too bored so overall it was pretty good.

In some ways helpful as I knew by the end general aspects that I liked and that I didn't like, however I didn't know specifically the work that I liked and didn't like and also didn't get much insight into other departments in the firm that I potentially may have preferred. But all in all it did help me a little more in making a decision regarding my future.

Payment was good and you all staff members get a £3.20 lunch allowance every day, transport however was not reimbursed.

There were good opportunities within my department however from other departments, although I did speak to a few people here and there I didn't get that much insight into their daily work.

There were a few socials, some with other interns in the same office, some with interns from other locations around the UK and a few with the actual permanent staff members, these were good.

Yes, we were informed of the many societies that KPMG has for different religions, sports and other activities.

Yes overall I would. I had an enjoyable time, the pay was good and the hours are also quite good. Finishing at exactly 5 every day meant that there was always time to do a lot after work. Furthermore the insight into the working world, particularly with a big 4 company was very useful and a good experience in many aspects, finally, it's a very good stepping stone to securing a graduate position as we were told that those who are on the Vacation Programme have about an 85% chance of being offered a graduate role (which of course is dependent on the final interview with a partner or director)