"Stepping Into helped me build the foundation to my career. All my hard work and experience leads back to the Stepping Into team's commitment and support to help individuals like myself to gain amazing career opportunities."
For Akshay, an internship seemed like a valuable opportunity to put his university knowledge into practice and to build on his soft skills, particularly communication. That's when he applied for a paid internship through Australian Network on Disability's Stepping Into program, which matches talented university students with disability to roles in leading Australian businesses.
Akshay still had 2 years of study to go before he completed his degree, but from the start he felt positive about how Stepping Into would help him with future employment. Now recently graduated, he's been offered a graduate position at global professional services firm KPMG, and he puts his success down to participation in Stepping Into.
"If it wasn't for the AND program I would have not gotten this far in my career and education, and because of all the experience I received from the internship, I was able to successfully secure a graduate role as an Audit Data Analytics Graduate at KPMG starting next year." Said Akshay
Akshay's internship was with global technology leader, Cummins South Pacific, who has provided ongoing support to students with disability, hosting 9 interns since they started Stepping Into in 2016.
During his internship, Akshay learnt how the finances of huge projects were run, including the process and procedures in place to ensure project goals are achieved. With continual feedback and mentoring across a range of areas, he not only improved his knowledge of project accounting skills, his rich understanding of how companies are run gave him deeper insights into which pathway he'd like to take in his future career.
"I honestly felt the company I worked in accommodated my learning needs and experience and helped me discover my actual potential and passion for the future." Said Akshay
Akshay feels the Stepping Into program has kickstarted his career, and he can't wait for his new chapter at KPMG.
"The people at AND are eager to support individuals such as myself to gain real, engaging and practical experience and this program provided more than what I expected."
About Stepping Into
Stepping Into is a national internship program run by the Australian Network on Disability. It matches skilled university students with disability to internship roles at leading organisations.
Since Stepping Into started in 2005, more than 1200 students have gained internships with over 110 organisations across Australia. It has become a valued talent pipeline and an effective foundation from which organisations can:
- Change attitudes
- Build disability confidence
- Improve hiring practices
- Enhance inclusive leadership
- Cultivate a diverse and inclusive workplace culture.
A rewarding experience for both the intern and their host, 96% of Stepping Into supervisors said they'd do it again.
