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David Tupou's Intern Journey with Deloitte and journey to landing a Graduate role

Deloitte New Zealand

Hear from David Tupou who Interned with us from November 2021 - February 2022 and is joining us as a Graduate mid 2022 in our Risk Advisory team in Auckland.
Tell us about your journey to Deloitte

Through a lot of YouTube videos, reddit posts and stalking the Deloitte careers website, I knew Deloitte was for me. The thing that stood out the most was that Deloitte had Pas Peau, a Pacific organisation within its company, their flexibility with people in what they wanted to do and their corporate responsibility programmes such as Deloitte Grow which is in line with my interests of helping under-resourced youth in low decile schools. The vast spread of Deloitte offices in globally was also very attractive. And as I did some researching on the University of Auckland’s sites to see when applications were due and who could help me, I saw a clear path to creating my application. The Careers team at UoA helped me sharpen my CV, clarify my vision for what I wanted to do and thus helped my cover letter reflect that. From there, it was a matter of improving my interview skills with friends and family to be ready for the interview and after that it was out of my hands.

Tell us about your Internship

I had a wonderful experience with the TORR team, namely being involved in different projects and companies that I never thought I’d get to work with. My favourite part about Deloitte are the people who are so supportive of what someone wants to do and how to see to it you grow towards your goals. Having a buddy and coach really helped me feel comfortable in asking questions and genuinely learning from my team and about other teams. Although some of the internship was online, connecting with other interns really helped me network to see what the other service lines got up to as well.

How did you react when you'd found out you were successful in being offered a Graduate position with Deloitte? 

I am very grateful to the Deloitte staff for offering me a graduate opportunity. As an international student with a Tongan passport, it meant a lot to my family to get a Deloitte job offer. My parents were almost tearing up over the phone and that’s when it properly hit me. It also meant a lot to somewhat repay them for their hard work and support for me. I’m almost impatient to start working here after my studies!

If there anything you would change if you had your time again through this process?

I would definitely take more people out for coffee catch ups. As a natural introvert, I find it hard to ask for a chat with non-team members via email but I’m taking steps to improve that.

What is your main advice to prospective students? 

In the internship, annoy your buddy and coach with a lot of questions. In general, try to form a clear vision for what you want out of a career (type of work, for who and the likes). You can always pivot but it’s good to have an initial understanding of your interests and passions and then go from there. 

What is your favourite thing about working for Deloitte within Risk Advisory?

I love the diversity of experience within my service line! Through talking with a lot of the team, I’ve noticed some having police, engineering, financial backgrounds that you wouldn’t think a Risk Advisory (Technology Operational Risk) team would have.

What is your favourite thing about Deloitte outside of your day to day role?

How supportive everyone is of what you want to do. This is my first experience in the private sector and it is the opposite of what I naively imagined.