Through its Access All Areas (AAA) programme, professional services firm KPMG is bringing rewarding careers in companies including its own closer to young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Social mobility in the accountancy profession has been in a significant decline, according to the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission. Recognising that this presented a substantial business risk, KPMG responded with AAA, a suite of educational and outreach programmes that aims to increase career awareness, motivation and employability among young people who face challenging circumstances.
Working with 328 schools and colleges, KPMG sees AAA as a long-term investment in its future and the future of young people across the UK. In 2014, KPMG provided 231 school leaver and internship roles, and supported 12,000 young people with careers advice, employability workshops and work experience. Among these, 44% of those on STARS, a 12-month school leaver programme, secured permanent roles at KPMG, 52% went to university, and 4% pursued other opportunities.
After taking part in “work ready”, the company’s employability skills workshop, 91% of students had a better understanding of what employers want and 84% felt it improved their CV writing and team working skills.
These are just a fraction of the programme’s successes and the company is now one of the government’s 12 “social mobility business compact champions”. The selection panel praised the way KPMG targets young people facing some of the most significant barriers to unlocking their potential.
To make sure AAA reaches those communities where the challenges are greatest, the company continues to evaluate its process for targeting schools. Recent improvements include the introduction of an algorithm to assess schools on socio-economic disadvantage and educational attainment.
Having expanded programmes initially launched in London to other locations, KPMG’s next task is to open its doors to more school-leavers around the country.
