A Culture of ‘Together’ Even When Physically Apart

Within the first week of my internship with KPMG, the organizational culture has become evident. Most of the experience has shifted towards training modules, networking, and learning more about the firm. I expected that it would be easy to get lost in the virtual numbers while doing an online experience at such a large firm, but one of their core values has stood out against that expectation; this value is Together. During this past week, I had the opportunity to listen to multiple webcasts of partners and chief officers at the firm who each stressed how much they still want to connect with us interns to provide advice or to hear about how our experience is going. This proved accurate when I heard from two of these speakers personally after listening to their remarks. They have also assigned us a new mentor for each week of the program in an effort to meet more employees and gain the most holistic view of the company possible in this environment. In my first mentor meeting, we talked about all of the support groups KPMG has internally as well as the dedicated paid hours given to each employee annually to do whatever community service they would like whether that be a series of company run events or a personal undertaking. While they are a large corporation, they are clearly dedicated to the people who work for them as well as the larger community which I admire.

That being said, their expectations for us this summer are clear: this virtual experience is nothing like what was originally planned, so the most important thing we can do, in their eyes, is to demonstrate a strong desire to learn both about the firm, our peers, and the work they do. I am excited to see what the rest of the programming has in store.

On large webcasts and orientation calls, all interactions have been quite formal. However, the more personal calls with our mentors have been a far less formal setting. From previous recruiting, networking, and externship experiences, I know the company is a very professional and formal environment. Their work, at large, is centered upon keeping their clients honest and ethical while meeting non negotiable deadlines. This type of environment requires the utmost professionalism and formalities in the workplace, yet I greatly appreciate the informal setting of our mentor calls as they provide a more personal view of the organization and allow for discussion on personal inquiries and concerns.