Women Immersion Program Review

Absolutely enjoy the two-week Women Immerison Program. It is full of workshops, opportunities to meet people from all the divisions, front desk activities and situations where you are constantly proving what you are capable of doing.

The first days, everything is a little bit intimidating as you cannot help your team with their current work, however throughout the 2 week you get to receive small training sessions from you team which help you to research about a task and being able to help them progressively. Meeting other teams can be also very useful, because you can help them too.

Almost everyday we had a short 2 hour session on training from different divisions and departments. MD (managing directors) and ED (executive directors) would come to these sessions, therefore you learnt from really highly qualified expertise. Furthermore, you could ask them any question as they were very happy to answer all types of doubts.

At the beginning of the two-week insight I had basic knowledge (or no knowledge) of how an investment bank was structured. I am writing this on my last day and I can fully assure everyone that I know understand how each department works and how they also work with each other to offer their clients the best quality services. I highly recommend living this experience as you not only learn from investment banking but you also learn about Nomura and the flat structure that it has. In addition, you can learn a lot of skills that you are later going to use them in future situations (networking, presentation, communications, problem-solving...)

It was very well organised. We had a small booklet where our schedule was included and we also had the names of our colleagues from the program. All the workshops worked perfectly and on time and I had no problems at all throughout the whole time.

The atmosphere was very sociable. You will have the possibility to meet people from everywhere in the program (also in the teams around Nomura) and you also learn a little bit about different backgrounds and cultures. The good thing about this programme is that you don't have to study something related to finance, you just have to have a passion for it, ex: a chemist was In the program. So again, it's the passion for what you are doing that really matters.

I believe that Nomura invests a lot in their training, therefore you really feel that the firm wants you and that motivates you to push yourself a little bit further and give back high quality standards of work.

During the insight you really get a feel of how the different departments have different working hours and different moments of excessive workload, so you get to understand what your daily tasks would be when having a full time role in the company.

Nomura company culture surprises you from the first moment because you would imagine the culture they have for a investment bank. It is really concerned about the environment, provides health food options, the quality of the food is outstanding, the flat structure is really important and the processes work very quick. So it's a great environment to work in.

During the programme you really get to know if the department you are working is what you would like to do in the future. The good thing is that you can also explore other departments and receive other views of the whole investment banking structure.

Absolutely, at all time. You just have to leave your comfort zone and be able to meet people from other departments.

Your have all types of clubs, a gym and other activities that you can get involved in.

Yes, absolutely, I believe that this experience is strong opportunity to push yourself and learn about a field that you are really keen on working.