Inspiring Grads: Commerce 2

Stephen Price

Job history

2021–Present Manager: Digital Consulting (People and Change), KPMG

2018–2021 Junior Consultant: Management Consulting (People and Change), KPMG

2017–2018 Graduate Recruitment Officer, KPMG

2016 Careers Service Peer Support Team Member University of Cape Town

Academic history

2016 MCom Organisational Psychology University of Cape Town

2012–2015 BBusSc Organisational Psychology University of Cape Town

Describe your job – what do you do?

I am currently a Manager in the Digital Consulting unit at KPMG. In short, we help clients find solutions to some of their hardest problems and help them transform their operations to deliver value in an ever-changing world.

How have your degrees helped you to get where you are?

Both of my degrees were fundamental in getting me to this point in my career. The minimum requirement for the KPMG consulting graduate programme in my field was a Master’s degree in my field, so it gave me access to this exciting career. The combination of the Business degree with the fundamentals of human behaviour positioned me well for my consulting roles.

What’s been a highlight of your career so far?

The first big highlight was having the opportunity to complete my internship and registration as an Industrial Psychologist. A second great highlight for me was working on the development of a strategic roadmap for the South African government on how to expand the use of a specific renewable energy carrier for the benefit of our society.

What advice would you give to students that want to follow in your footsteps?

Your dedication to your studies and getting as much experience as you can is very important to future career opportunities. In addition, building relationships is a great way to get and keep your foot in the door, so actively build up your network. Jobs can be hard to come by, so apply, apply, apply and keep persevering. You will hear a lot of “Nos”, but you only need to hear one good “Yes”.

What’s the next thing you want to achieve or learn?

My current core focus areas are to learn how to manage larger teams and projects well and to improve my leadership skills and experience in the workplace. In addition, my personal priorities are to enhance my work-life balance, as consulting can be a very demanding environment.

How do you see your industry evolving?

Consulting, like every industry, is consistently becoming more techfocused. You have to have a good understanding of how you can use technology to enhance what you do, while still sticking to your core skills that you have to offer.

BOOK & COURSE recommendations

“Indistractible” by Nir Eyal - I subscribe and listen to a lot of podcasts, so I would advise grads to do the same as you can learn so many amazing lessons this way and they are free!