One Year Business Placement - Tax Review

The one year business placement involves getting involved with your designated departments projects. You have a lot of choice in what projects you’d like to take on and can get involved in each part of the delivery process. There’s also a lot of volunteering events that happen with the firm that you can get involved with to add variety to your day.

KPMG is very good at giving placement students the ability to take on a lot of responsibilities. It isn’t uncommon to be independently working through each part of a project by yourself with your manager checking your work at various intervals when you finish. The feedback process allows you to learn on projects and there is a very helpful growth culture in the firm to ensure you reach your full potential.

I’ve massively improved my ability to work in a team and have definitely massively improved my clarity of communication which you naturally improve on projects. I’ve built upon my technical skills with using excel and my ability to use legislation which are helpful skills to develop at the start of your career.

As a placement student you’re allocated a buddy (mentor) as well as a performance manager. Both are helpful contacts that ensure that you’re settling in well and getting on well with your workload and general well being. Both my buddy and PM were very helpful on placement and helped make it manageable whenever I felt stuck.

The working environment is very different to university and school and it can take some time to adjust to at first. I found the fact that KPMG has social networks like the Badminton Club as well as their volunteering initiatives that you can get involved in to be helpful in allowing me feel comfortable at work. I think it takes time to settle in but you do have some people around who are mindful that you are new and help you settle in.

Overall I did enjoy my placement, I felt like I’ve learnt a lot since I started and have come out of it a different person. As the working environment is very different to university it did take some time to adjust and understand how to navigate through things. It can feel a bit disorientating but I think the fact I had a supportive buddy and PM as well as a mentor allowed me to make the most of it and learn a lot. There are times in the year in which work seems really quiet and where it’s hard to find any chargeable work and then other times where it’s really busy which can feel a bit strange at first but I think it’s normal for a line of service like tax and you can get used to it. As my placement was in Manchester which is a different city to where I went to university, I also had a chance to explore and experience the culture of the city. Overall, I learnt a lot and had a good time

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