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On the morning of December 3rd, a group of 10 students from Stevenage set out on a journey to discover what the World of Work looks like at KPMG.
We joined the flock of commuters on their train and tube journey to Canary Wharf. We were lucky to spot the Shard and the skyscrapers of the City from the train! Canary Wharf was also really impressive with its forest of tall buildings!
We spent the day with the Tech Department, who designs new ways of thinking and working for KPMG’s clients.
First, Anja from Human Resources welcomed us and told us about all the activities that they had planned for us. She told us a bit about her career path and it was interesting to learn that she didn’t go to university and could develop her career at KPMG. We also heard from Rhys, an apprentice at KPMG who told us about what he’s learned so far.
We then went into their “Museum of Curiosities” where we met KAI, an artificial intelligence robot you can have a conversation with! Everyone was really impressed with this.. The students also used the gadgets available in the room: an interactive board you could draw on with your finger, Virtual Reality goggles that made us see dinosaurs, an iPad with an Augmented Reality app. The Tech team also told us about how they use data to help their clients solve problems, such as scheduling the numerous NBA games or finding out the best place to open the next Pret a Manger store.
The students then had the opportunity to meet young employees from KPMG to ask their questions about what they liked about their job or advice they could give to them. It was great to meet so many people with different stories to share !
Over a delicious lunch, the students had more opportunities to network with employees and play with technology: some designed their own playlist while others learned how to build an online robot.
The last activity of the day was to draw a storyboard to create a new digital experience. The students were in groups with a specific challenge to solve, for example how to make people recycle more. They then had to draw the different steps of their story to explain their solution and present it to the rest of the group. It was an amazing opportunity to be creative and present in front of other people.
The students came away from the trip with very positive thoughts. Some of them even told me they could see themselves work at KPMG. They found the experience fun and the people really nice, so a big thank you to KPMG’s Tech Department for their time!