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CANADA’S TOP EMPLOYERS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 2019
KPMG starts its relationships with young people early
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all her a KPMG baby. Kim Brecci Solidum first got to know KPMG LLP in her second year of university, when she heard about something called KICC. The event was a program now known as the KPMG Innovation and Collaboration Challenge, and Solidum plunged in, working with a four-member team to solve business issues and present ideas to senior people at the professional services firm. She may not have known it then, but it was the beginning of a continuing relationship with KPMG that eventually led to a job with the firm after her 2018 graduation. “KPMG was always in the back of my mind,” she says, “especially as I got to know their people.”
Everyone has been so welcoming and friendly. It’s a really amazing place to work. _______ Kim Brecci Solidum
Audit Staff Accountant, Consumer and Industrial Markets
In the summer before her third year in the University of Toronto’s Rotman Commerce program, Solidum joined the Experience Community Leadership program at KPMG in Toronto, working as a volunteer for the group ME to WE. “These were values that aligned with mine – giving back to the community,” she says. After third year, she did a summer internship at KPMG, meeting more of the firm’s people, and became a KPMG Campus Ambassador. But the icing on the cake that summer was going to Berlin as
p KPMG employee, Kim Brecci Solidum, shares her Global Advantage experience with students at an event
part of the KPMG Global Advantage Program, a three-day conference involving people from KPMG member firms around the world. “It was my first time in Europe,” she says. “I met people from so many different cultures.” In October 2018, after completing a graduate diploma, Solidum joined KPMG in the Toronto suburb of Vaughan as an Audit Staff Accountant within Consumer and Industrial Markets. And she couldn’t be happier. “Everyone has been so welcoming and friendly,” she says. “It’s a really amazing place to work.” Solidum’s journey highlights KPMG’s approach to bringing in young people, says Julia Innis, Candidate Experience Leader in HR, whose team oversees candidate programs. “We put a lot of effort into engaging with students long before they may end up working at the firm,” she
says. “Our programs offer them professional development as well as allowing them to learn more about our culture, meet our people and discover what opportunities may be available. But most importantly, the students learn value-added skills that they can use both as students and later in their careers.” She notes that in addition to the programs Solidum was involved with, the firm also offers the KPMG Ideation Challenge, designed to attract students from STEM disciplines with challenges in such areas as artificial intelligence and augmented reality, and Executive Look, a three-day summer leadership conference in Toronto involving the firm’s CEO and leadership team. Students can also apply for a Global Internship, in which they spend half their summer with a member firm abroad –
such as in South Africa, Ireland or Australia – and half at home. “In all of these programs, we always include social activities and opportunities for the students to network and just enjoy wherever they are,” says Innis. If they finally join KPMG, many of the new recruits will go through Avenues, a multi-year program that moves them around the firm and provides them with strong mentoring and coaching. They will also undergo foundation training and receive support for professional accreditation, such as a CPA. Soon, too, many new employees may find themselves in surroundings like Solidum’s at the renovated Vaughan office, which now features open-concept workspaces, standing desks, bean bag chairs and games such as foosball and air hockey on hand. “I really like it,” she says. “It’s a concept I enjoy as a Gen Z-slashMillennial. It’s very modern.” Overall, says Innis, “we’re very proud of the vast number of career opportunities we offer, and the vast breadth of experience you can gain as a young person due to the incredible range of KPMG’s clients.” ¡
617 NEW GRADUATES, 649 INTERNS & CO-OP STUDENTS HIRED LAST YEAR MENTORSHIP AND PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT IN-HOUSE TRAINING, FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR CONTINUING EDUCATION FLEXIBLE AND CUSTOMIZABLE TOTAL REWARDS BENEFITS
Proud to be one of Canada's Top Employers for Young People for 6 years in a row.
kpmg.ca/careers