MBAs Wanted at KPMG

Stricter accounting rules enacted in the aftermath of recent corporate scandals has led to a hiring boom in the accounting industry, and experienced hires are in especially high demand. BusinessWeek.com reporter Kerry Miller spoke recently to a KPMG recruiter about the company's undergraduate hiring. She also talked to Cheryl Levy, KPMG's national director for experienced hire recruiting, about the company's rapidly expanding opportunities for MBAs.

How do you position KPMG as an attractive company for MBAs?
The fact that we are a large organization with larger clients and great benefits has been very attractive to the MBA students we have approached, and I think the majority of the people we hire are interested in a long-term commitment with a well-established organization where they can see their career grow. We have a lot of moms that are rejoining the workforce and are interested in a more flexible schedule, maybe even a part-time schedule, and we're able to offer that to new hires.

How many MBAs are you looking to hire this year?
We've been doing MBA recruiting as a huge push for about three years now, and the interest in MBAs has increased now that of some [divisions] that were questioning how they could use MBA grads have seen their success in other practices. Last year we had a goal of 40 and we hired 60. This year our target is for 120. So we're doubling our hiring rate this year, and our anticipation is that over the next couple of years, we'll be able to continue doing that.

Do you offer internships to MBA students as well?
We just started doing that. Right now we have a couple of offices that are pursuing interns, and the information we're receiving from them is that employers are more successful in their actual hiring numbers if they are able to offer an internship and then a full-time position to those interns once they're finished with their program.

We've been speaking with a lot of our partners this year to see if they can...

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