KPMG and Future First support budding accountants to achieve career ambition

State school students interested in working in financial services have the chance to gain careers insight and work experience with a leading accountancy firm under a programme designed to improve social mobility.

The national education charity Future First has partnered with KPMG to offer a programme for students in London and Manchester which will improve their career confidence, boost their job readiness and employability and provide them with an insight into jobs in financial services.

Under the programme, KPMG staff will return to their former state school or college as ambassadors of their firm to take part in workshops run by Future First designed to raise awareness of future career opportunities and pathways at KPMG. Selected students will also attend insight days at the company’s offices.Future First’s initiative will enable KPMG staff to develop their skills in volunteering with young people who would not normally expect to encounter such prospects and also provides the company with a diverse pipeline of entrants into the company.

KPMG is one of several employers working with Future First to connect their employees with motivated young people in need of role models in the world of work.  Current employer partnerships include The Wellcome Trust, Ashurst LLP, Taylor Wessing and Rothschild.

Future First/YouGov polling shows that 70 per cent of 16 to 19-year-olds think it will be hard to get a job when they leave school or college and 39 per cent don’t know anyone in a job they would like to do.

Future First Chief Executive Officer Matt Lent said:

‘Young people cannot be what they cannot see. It is vital to open young people’s eyes to a world beyond their own and broaden their jobs horizons. Our KPMG partnership will enable students who aspire to a career in financial services to achieve what may otherwise have been impossible.’

KPMG’s Corporate Responsibility director Roisin Sharkey said:

‘We are really pleased to work with Future First and get our employees back out to their old schools and colleges to talk about their own career journeys and routes into the firm. We know that for young people, it is interactions such as these which can have the most impact in raising aspirations and opening up a whole world of future opportunities’