Jolisa Whitehead scores sought after role with KPMG

Te Puke High School student Jolisa Whitehead.

A Year 13 Te Puke High School student is to get a head start in her career - and her accounting skills won’t be needed to calculate her student debt.

Jolisa Whitehead has scored a role with KPMG that is akin to an apprenticeship, working towards an accountancy qualification.

Called Junior Private Enterprise, Jolisa will be studying at the same time as working for the firm as she aims for a degree and her chartered accounting qualifications.

She says it was a surprise to hear, after an initial interview, that her application had been successful. At an earlier information evening for students to find out more, it had been said there would be a second round of interviews.

“At the [first] interview, they said they would get back to me. "

She then got a phone call in which the caller was telling her what characteristics the interview team liked about her.

“That’s when I started thinking ‘they don’t want me, but they are trying to lighten the blow’. But then they said ‘we’d like to offer you the job’.”

School head of careers Sonya Burggraaf says it is a sought-after role.

“She beat a lot of kids - it’s a really big deal.

“It’s an opportunity to get your qualifications without the debt as well as getting valuable work experience from a big company like KPMG which is everywhere. It’s a fantastic start straight from school.”

Jolisa had approached Sonya at the start of the year saying she was thinking of going into agribusiness or accountancy but didn’t know how to go about it.

Jolisa says she had always wanted to do something to help people run their businesses.

Sonya suggested she go to the information evening.

“She said ‘it’s a good opportunity’, so I did and I ended up applying for it. I hadn’t done accountancy and [thought] ‘I probably won’t get it but I’ll just take a stab in the dark with the application’.”

Having been brought up on an orchard and now living on a farm as well as having her own small beekeeping business, it seemed natural to want to go into agribusiness, although specialising will come later.

The role will combine working with study through Waikato University, and will mean it will take longer to gain her accountancy degree than if she was studying fulltime, but without the student loan.

“That’s a massive boost. It may take longer, but I am getting more valuable experience and I personally think I will be better off than somebody who is going to just study then find a job.”

Jolisa is house captain of Blake House.

“Academically she has been getting excellence endorsements for years 11 and 12 and is probably heading that way for Year 13. We are very proud of her,” says Sonya.