Bursary Specialist

Job title/position: Bursary Specialist

Number of positions: 1

Function and Business Unit: Infrastructure – Recruitment: National

Description Of The Role And Purpose Of The Job

The purpose of this role is to assist in the coordination and management of KPMG bursaries and the bursary system to ensure that KPMG recruits a diverse pool of graduate talent to meet the challenging needs of its business.

Reporting to the National Bursaries and Recruiting Manager the graduate recruitment bursaries specialist will have the primary responsibility of the day-to-day operations and administration of the national bursary scheme.

The Bursary Specialist will be responsible for the end-to-end bursary process including new applications, renewals, payments, recoveries, reporting, drafting and requesting approvals for bursary contracts within set response times for all KPMG offices in South Africa. The Bursary Specialist will be responsible for reconciliation of payments and keeping the system up to date, including following up on outstanding matters with bursary holders.

Key Responsibilities

• Oversee end-to-end administration across applications, renewals, contracts, payments, recoveries, reporting and stakeholder communication (both internally and externally)
• Monitoring and reconciling bursary payments, accruals, recoveries and outstanding balances
• Managing the bursary budget through tracking spend against budget and flagging risks/ overspend early
• Producing regular spend reports to management on a monthly basis
• Liaising closely with internal stakeholders to ensure accurate and timely processing of payments
• Ensuring compliance with the bursary process; firm policies and governance requirements
• Maintaining complete and accurate records for audit trail purposes
• Identifying process breakdowns, control weaknesses or non-compliance and escalating where necessary
• Supporting statutory and internal reporting requirements accurately and on time

Collaboration with the national recruitment teams; finance; shared services; university stakeholders and bursary recipients

• Collaborating with the National Bursary and Recruiting Manager as well as the Senior Manager to keep the bursary policy as up to date as possible (this includes updating the screening criteria and eligibility criteria on an annual basis)
• Managing high volumes of queries professionally and efficiently
• Escalating complex or sensitive matters appropriately
• Stakeholder management to ensure all deadlines are met and required documentation has been provided
• Maintening bursary pipeline- this includes but is not limited to; Ensuring all documents required for a bursary recipient is uploaded onto both the bursary application system as well as the Graduate Recruiting shared drive; obtaining proof of registration at the beginning of the year for the bursary recipient; mid-year grade capture for all bursary recipients; suspension of bursaries in line with policy and processing cancellations of bursaries in line with policy
• Overseeing the bursary team (ie, bursary administrator and bursary intern)
• Using social media and the firm’s website to communicate with potential bursary applicants and developing marketing campaigns to assist in attracting new bursary applicants.
• Provide support for the recruiters and administrators with initiatives at the university campuses, career fairs and other special projects that may arise.

Core Competencies

• Exceptional administrative and organisational skills
• Strong attention to detail and accuracy
• Financial acumen and confidence working with reconciliations, payment data, and reports
• Strong follow-up discipline and ability to manage large volumes of work
• Ability to prioritise and meet deadlines under pressure
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• High level of ownership, accountability, and professionalism
• Systems-savvy and comfortable using recruitment, document management, and finance-related systems
• Process-improvement mindset
• Strong Excel proficiency
• Team management and collaboration skills
• Stakeholder engagement skills
• Able to work in a fast-paced environment with multiple deadlines, high query volumes and strict turnaround times

Minimum Requirements

• Minimum3- 5 years’ experience in a similar role
• Experience in bursary administration is required, particularly managing large bursaries and volume students
• Good verbal and written communication skills
• Experience within a high-paced professional services industry will be advantageous
• Must be comfortable with supervising a team