This summer I was an intern for KPMG’s Los Angeles office, remote from Missoula, Montana. I was operating primarily in the Governance and Risk Compliance practice, but I also got exposure to the Application Security and Controls practice by working through their spreadsheets on a semi-regular basis. Being fully remote, technology played a critical role in my internship. I would get on my laptop in the morning and work independently and with peers via Microsoft Teams for the full day. Being a part of the Technology and Society GLI theme, I enjoyed this experience very much simply by looking at the work from the perspective of a GLI student instead of an intern. The work I was doing focused heavily on technology, and how to use tech to make business processes more efficient. I learned a lot about how major enterprises manage and organize all of their resources online, and saw how people are affected by modern technology on an individual scale. 

The culture of Los Angeles may be vastly different than what I am accustomed to growing up in Montana, but I really didn’t have any problems finding my way in the internship. I think that company policies and virtual connection puts everyone on a similar playing field, since nobody has too much of a disadvantage by being located elsewhere. This made it easy for me to find opportunities as a leader, since I could step into a leadership position with people from all over the country. At one point in the experience, we grouped up with several interns from different offices and practices, and came up with plans to help the environment on a corporate level. I ended up being the lead of our group, and was able to assign slides and roles to each person in our team. Even with all of us on a Teams call, we delivered a fully-prepared PowerPoint presentation with a strong plan of action. Everyone had a part to play, and the whole team had fun working on the project together. 

A lot of the job this summer was training, since KPMG would like interns to come back as full-time associates. I have since accepted a full-time offer from the firm, and plan to move to Los Angeles after I graduate in May of 2023. I had a great experience and learned a lot about the functions of major corporations that I didn’t know before. I believe that technology is going to be integral in solving a lot of worldwide problems in the future, but there are many perspectives throughout different societies that need to be taken into account. I look forward to working for KPMG after my time at the University of Montana, and the GLI program provided me with a great set of leadership skills and varied perspectives to take with me into this internship experience.