On January 10, 2020, 15 students of the Elite Graduate Program “Honors in Business, Economics and Information Systems" had the opportunity to gain an insight into the recruitment process at KPMG. The exciting application training covered both the employer's perspective and the associated expectations for a successful application as well as practical exercises in preparation for future applications.
The application training seminar in Regensburg began with a brief overview of the company and the five major business units of KPMG moderated by the four speakers Julia Weigert, Arno Stranegger, Dr. Sandro Urban and the recruiting specialist Alexandra Kurz, who had travelled from Munich especially for the seminar. Afterwards, the internal personnel selection process was presented, from receiving the application, through the centrally managed pre-selection by a screening team, to the interview with the corresponding department. Some exciting discussions arose about whether the traditional letter of application was already outdated or how a good CV needs be designed to replace a motivation letter. The hints on how to properly create a letter of application so that it would pass a computer-based pre-screening were also interesting.
Applying what has been learned
Thereafter, Alexandra Kurz, together with the students, reviewed the preliminary submitted application documents regarding typical mistakes and possible suggestions for improvement. The seminar was completed by the simulation of job interviews. In each of the small groups, one speaker conducted a fictional interview with a student. For both the "applicants" and the observers it was exciting to witness which unusual questions could be asked and how to keep calm in this case.
The concluding joint lunch offered another opportunity to exchange personal experiences and questions related to the topic of applications.
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Thomas Rußer, Elite Graduate Program "Honors in Business, Economics and Information Systems”