Insight Day Review

The insight day helped me gain additional knowledge in the buy-side of the industry. The day was well organised and the trading exercises ran perfectly. The speakers clearly were very insightful and had a lot to offer and talk about. This meant the lectures were not boring and were enjoyable, being able to listen to people passionate about their jobs.

Every individual was greeted with a warm welcome and the reception was very friendly. Though out the whole time here I felt as though I could easily talk to any member of staff if I needed help. It felt as though the staff actually wanted to be there to help everybody, instead of being forced to.

I understood all the tasks given and therefore did not need the receipt of any support from staff members. Despite this, I feel like if I did need that support, there would be someone there to assist me and I would be comfortable in asking for that assistance given the friendliness of the staff members.

One of the skills I developed further was my ability to effectively network with individuals. Networking is a key competency, and having networked with a number of people at the events, I feel as though I have further progressed that skill and am more confident and less fearful of networking.

The insight day was very well structured. The lectures were broken up throughout the day so that students did not lose interest and attention from listening for too long. These were broken up by speed networking and the trading exercises. Both of these were well organised and helped achieve a solid structure for the day.

The general atmosphere was very positive during the entire day. From the moment I entered the door to the second I left, I felt welcome and felt the atmosphere was friendly and accommodative. This was helped by the friendliness of staff members and people in the networking event. Having spoken to a few staff members, they all seemed to be happy with their working environment and there was a sense they enjoyed working at M&G.

The insight day provided a huge understanding of what it would be like to have a full time role in M&G. Not only did the speakers have a good understanding of what it is like to work here, but they have comparisons from other firms and they were able to make these comparisons and this pointed in M&G's favour.

I got a great understanding of what the culture is like at M&G. Having listened to the lecturers talk about what it is like to work here, it is evident that there is a lot of investment in making sure employees are happy here and there is no evidence that suggests each employee is just a number. Which is contrary to sell-side firms.

The content of the day backed up my decision to follow a career in the buy-side of Finance. The culture of the firm and the description of the roles aligned perfectly with what I would want to pursue in the future. This is contrary to sell-side firms where the culture is much different.

Yes. I took full advantage of the networking opportunity during lunch time and spoke to a range of people and understanding their opinion on life at M&G and asking for advice if I wish to take a career path down the buy-side. I followed these connections up by connecting on Linkedin afterwards.

Yes. From the presentations given, I got a great sense that M&G is a firm that actively promotes people doing other things rather than being in the office all day. For example the volunteering leave that employees receive as well as the ability to join sporting clubs or take in a movie after work.

Yes