first steps programme Review

I really enjoyed the insight day as there was lots of good information provided to us about both the company as well as what it's like to work in investment banking. This helped me form a better idea of the kind of career i want in the future. We were also able to network with professionals to further give us a good insight.

The graduate recruiters were really friendly and made us feel welcome right from the beginning which was helpful. Members of staff were always very attentive to our needs and would spend a lot of time one to one if you had a number of questions that you wanted to ask. They really valued each individual there.

We received a fair amount of guidance in terms of how the application process worked. They could have explained the spring weeks more clearly as some people were still a bit unsure as to how the processes work and when you should apply. They did have a clear agenda for the day which was helpful and provided guidance on what we were doing next.

I don't believe that a lot you learn there is actually particularly useful as they spoke a lot about getting jobs in the future in 3 or 4 years time which is too far ahead to be thinking about. The information given was not really relevant to my degree but it was still interesting, just not particularly useful for the near future.

The day was supposed to be well structured and there was a clear detailed agenda which was very useful for the beginning of the day however the hosts did not stick to time which meant that the trading activity in the afternoon was unfortunately cut short which was a slight disappointment as that would have helped me develop lots of skills.

The atmosphere was fairly good throughout and the hosts were as lively and engaging as possible. I felt they could do more to encourage interaction between the students such as moving tables instead of spending all day with the same group of people which did tend to get a bit tiring as you were not able to meet other people there on that day.

The company did some investment in terms of branding as they gave us pens, notebooks, water etc. They could have done more in terms of trying to develop our personal skills as opposed to being given a huge amount of information to process. I felt that i learnt a lot and they seem to care however i did not get the chance to develop much as i had to just listen for most of the day.

I think the day overall was too brief to give a significant introduction to any one part of banking as they tried to give information about every department which got very confusing at times and was sometimes not relevant to my interests. This meant that i went away still unsure as to what it would be like to work in the department that i think i would most enjoy.

The company culture was discussed a fair amount and was compared to culture at other banks which helped us understand a number of different places. All guest speakers spoke about the culture a lot and there were lots of examples and information provided verbally and in our packs about what it would be like to work at that firm.

Before the day i knew i wanted to go into investment banking so the day did not really change my mind or help me decide on much as they just explained the things i already knew. i did find out about how i could personally get involved with that particular brand and how i can stand out in their application process.

I was not paid and i was not reimbursed because i live in london however i think they could have paid for tube travel as it is still quite costly. Overall i would not expect to be paid for a one day insight day and it was an attraction that they do pay for the spring weeks if you are on their two week programme which would encourage me to apply.

there was both a panel and a networking lunch which was very helpful and i did enjoy however the people we spoke to were not the jobs i was interested in getting involved in therefore it wasn't very useful for me. we did get to speak to some senior members of staff which was interesting and helpful.

It was not great as there were more people from roles such as hr and compliance as opposed to people from the invesmtent bank or the global markets which was a dissapointment as those are the areas that i would be most interested in joining therefore i did not get to network with people who would be useful for the future.

we did not get to hear about many opportunities outside work in terms of groups you can join however we did get a tour and were told there is a gym onsite and the canteen which was nice. there was some discussion of travel however this was not spoken about in enough depth for me to know hat it would be like to travel with nomura

overall yes i would recommend it to a friend if they were interested in learning about investment banking and the different careers you can get invovled with however if they already know a lot about it they may find they will be bored or things will seem a bit repetitive in terms of skills workshops.