Sarah studied a double degree in Engineering and Arts, as well as a Dip Ed at The University of Melbourne. She later commenced a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Laws before starting at KPMG as a graduate in 2008.
I had previously spent a year working as an environmental engineer, but I was looking for a position where I could use a broad range of skills and work across different industries. I have always been interested in public policy and how government functions. In this position, I get the opportunity to work with many different government departments and gain insight into key issues and future policy directions for our state.
Broadly, we provide advice to government departments and utilities organisations. This advice can be in the areas of policy, strategic direction, the impact of regulation, economic modelling or financial modelling.
Since most projects run for around 3 months, and each person in our group is generally working on three or four projects at any one time, each week here can be very different. Unlike other parts of the firm, our group is generally based in the KPMG office each day, and we meet with clients and stakeholders off- site as needed. Due to the nature of project based work, I might have to put in a really big week or two, but in quieter times I can leave at 5:30pm, so the work/life balance is certainly possible.
I was involved in a team who developed a customer service strategy for one of the statutory authorities within the Victorian Government. Gaining insights into the constraints and difficulties of the business and balancing these with the wants and needs of the customers and increasing service demand was a very interesting process. At the conclusion of the project, I felt I had assisted in improving the service delivery of an organisation of which everyone I know is a customer.
I’ve found that everyone is very willing to share their knowledge and to help others develop their skills.
There are plenty of opportunities to attend training and development courses at KPMG. Aside from the Graduate Induction, I’ve attended training courses on report writing, managing my career, change management and process analysis.