Emile James
Find out about Emile's graduate role on the KPMG UK & Graduate Tax Programme.
Can you provide an overview of your current job role and the route you took to get there. Was it what you were expecting?
My current role is quite unorthodox in that I will not be doing any actual work on clients or accounts until next year. My year is enrolled in the accelerated ACA programme that KPMG offer so we are attending college full time and have exams every month or so. The timetabling does look quite intense and it is supposed to be a difficult course but I am quite looking forward to remaining in education for now especially for professional qualifications that are usually very expensive to study without sponsorship and will contribute directly to my future professional career.
It definitely was not something that I envisioned myself doing, I think the sort of route that I went to get here makes it that much more satisfying and interesting for me. If I’m honest, I think I wanted to do project management and was looking into graduate roles in that atmosphere but not particularly at firms anywhere near as large as KPMG. Strangely my flatmate and I were discussing KPMG specifically and how difficult it is to get a look in at firms of their nature the week before Cian (Careers Consultant at Newcastle University Business School) emailed me about an opportunity to visit their Newcastle office. Of course that was an email that a lot of people might have just not responded to or missed but I had met Cian a few times at that point and after my conversation with my housemate I thought I’d reply and say it was a bit beyond my scope but if anything similar came up then I’d like to hear about it. Cian responded encouraging me to go down and I almost reluctantly agreed because I had just finished a round of difficult exams and just wanted a week to myself so the thought of going to somewhere like KPMG just to learn that I couldn’t work there didn’t excite me but then I thought if nothing else it would be good for LinkedIn.
Was this career path what you originally envisioned for your future when choosing your degree subject?
Again, not at all; I was never sure what I wanted to do which is why I decided to take a masters in a more specific subject than history and to give me time to look around. Having a vision of what you want to do is very helpful I can imagine but I also wouldn’t feel discouraged or like you’re behind if you’re not sure what’s for you yet. My mum constantly reminded me that I would end up where I was meant to be as long as I worked hard enough, I didn’t imagine that being this but I’m certainly glad it is.
How have you used the skills you gained in your degree within your career?
As of right now I can’t really say yes or no because of the nature of the programme that I’m on but I think the masters specifically prepared me better for exams rather than the 100% coursework that I had been used to on history. History did a lot for me in terms of being able to comprehend complex theory and be able to rationalise information better which has been invaluable in just making a more rounded person out of me. I did cite a lot of the things that I learned over my studies in my final interview for the job and I have met people from so many different disciplines, there are a lot of law students, politics, philosophy and other humanities amongst my colleagues so not the typical finance or economics route that I expected to find there.
Was there anything that surprised you when taking your first steps out of education and into your graduate career?
The biggest suprise was the breadth of different backgrounds in terms of study I think. Not everyone went to your typical elite universities and you can definitely see the shift that firms are taking toward hiring a wider base of graduates.
How are you hoping to develop your career in the next few years?
I want to finish the ACAs and really get stuck into the opportunity that I have been given by the company. I want to use my people skills to develop a good professional network and to be honest (again I brought this up in my interview which I think was valuable) above all else I just want to be happy because I think that has contributed to me being able to achieve so much without even realising. I was happy the whole time through my studies and if that can continue through my career I believe I will be able to achieve everything else I hope to through that.
How was your experience of searching and applying for graduate employment?
After I applied for the Insight programme advertised to us at the day in the Newcastle office, I just applied for that and was accepted in February. I wouldn’t recommend this to others really but I just kind of trusted that I would do well enough to get the role. This was because of the things that were taught to us on the Newcastle office trip and because KPMG gave me a mentor that I had meetings with every few weeks who gave me a lot of advice and tips on how to perform at their final stage interviews. It did seem very much like they wanted you to get the role and made it as accommodating as possible for people to do it.
From what I have heard from my friends who are all in similar jobs, applying to jobs and spending a bit more time on less applications is better than just applying to as many as you possibly can. I also have friends in jobs that they hate so I’d advise taking time to workout what you DON’T want to do which can be hard when you’re not sure what a job entails but just look around at reviews and people who work there. A lot of the time, if you go on Student Room or Reddit or other forums, employees will be quite open about their experiences in that sector or company specifically. I’d rather have no job at the end of my degree than be working 40 hours somewhere that I hate. You’re always worth more than that.
If you pursued a career outside your field of study what motivated you to do this?
I went after this role partly because the opportunity just came about and partly because I knew it would give me flexibility later. A lot of the managers and directors at KPMG were open about the amount of times they’ve left the company and come back or changed their career all because they had the qualifications and experience that KPMG or other firms of that nature can provide. I’m still not sure if I see myself accounting forever but I’m sure being qualified will open doors for me that a degree in history will prove useful in.
How did you find your experience studying at Newcastle University?
Genuinely unbelievable from start to finish. All of my friends have the same opinion and I think it is a very unique university in a very unique city. I’ve always recommended to younger people looking around at universities that they stop wasting their time and just apply for Newcastle. I don’t think I can write it in a reasonable amount of words how good it was to study there.
Tell us about any work experience or extracurricular activity you were involved in during university and what you gained?
I did some of the careers events offered by Newcastle University Business School (NUBs) which were mock group assessment centres and some project management introductions then the KPMG Newcastle visit. I also received a lot of advice from Cian which was invaluable in completing the process that I did and providing the confidence I needed to do it.
I would strongly encourage anyone who was in my position this time last year to use the resources that the University and NUBS offer as going about it alone does work but there are opportunities that you are bound to miss if you don’t take advantage of their help.