Zara Stevens

I’m currently part of KPMG’s Technology Strategy and Transformation team. However, my interest and love of Technology started in my Account Executive role, a role that I started right in the middle of the covid pandemic – we all had to adjust to virtual ways of working, relying on technology more than ever. While the pandemic was an incredibly different time for everyone, I loved how technology enabled us to still see our peers, work collaboratively and ultimately allowed us to keep our jobs secure as we could continue to deliver client work virtually. I used this love and knowledge that I have built up of Microsoft products to land a secondment into the Technology Strategy and Transformation team. I feel incredibly blessed and honoured to be part of such a supportive, understanding, and knowledgeable team.

My team are incredibly supportive of my needs and adjustments, I have an amazing performance manager to has helped me to better articulate my needs and put my wellbeing first – with any type of neurodiversity, you always want to push yourself to be able to do the same as your peers, which doesn’t always work out as we are all different! My team have enabled me to understand this better, relax into myself and seek support when and where I need it.

We have some great services at KPMG that have helped me access the support I need. We have workplace adjustments, coaching offered for ADHD and Autism, Occupational Health, Neurodiversity mentoring scheme and a Neurodiversity network.

I’d say above all, being neurodiverse has made me incredibly tenacious and compassionate towards others – I always want to do my absolute best to prove to myself that being neurodiverse is not a disadvantage and I understand how it feels to not understand concepts straight away or feel inadequate, meaning I am able to better help and motivate my peers. That coupled with my creative thinking, problem solving skills and honesty (sometimes maybe too honest!) makes me a valued member of the team.

The advice I would give to disabled students applying for jobs is to be honest ALWAYS and be proud of what you can do. We are all different, we all bring something unique to our teams.