Analyst Review

The placement organised by M&G was an extremely well thought out and enjoyable experience. I feel M&G have given me a fantastic insight into the world of finance and more specifically the buy side. I have felt valued and supported throughout, and have learnt and participated in a huge amount.

I felt valued by my colleagues regardless of where I was working at the time, and that reflects the fantastic culture M&G is well known for. Irrespective of what I previously knew about the work/team, my colleagues would take time out of their days to sit down and explain things to me, and were always on hand to answer any questions I had. The work I did had real impact and was of clear value to the team.

Management were essentially there all the time, and were more than happy to put whatever they were doing on hold to help explain things to me. I felt comfortable asking questions, no matter how silly they sounded and always was guided through what I needed to do instead of just being told. This atmosphere was not limited to just my team however, and I felt happy going to people outside of my team for guidance and advice.

The workload varied depending on how much the teams had on at the time, as well as the time of year; naturally the Christmas period was slightly less exciting. The second team I was with were very deal focused and always had an impressive pipeline, and so there was always things going on. The first team were less busy, although this was a result of the market (at that period of time) being unattractive and so there was a lack of investment opportunities and therefore less work to do. I therefore used the first team as more of a learning experience.

I was given a huge amount of responsibility, but this was placed upon me when I was ready and willing. As I got more comfortable with the team and the work, I was given the same responsibilities as a full time analyst, and often shared live projects and deals with my colleagues. This allowed me to get the best insight into actual working life, as I was doing exactly what I would be doing had I been at M&G for a number of years.

The skills I have picked up were mainly technical, and therefore more applicable to work as opposed to being directly applicable to university. A bit of the knowledge I have picked up will directly benefit relevant modules in my final year. However, my general social and interpersonal skills have also vastly improved and these will be useful for both my degree and beyond.

The atmosphere is different across teams and floors. The first team floor in general is quite siloed. This means the floor is quiet with very little interaction. However, this does not imply an intense atmosphere, and the atmosphere is hard working but quite relaxed. The second team was much larger and there is more interaction within teams and across the floor. This makes it a more comfortable and laid back atmosphere. M&G is well known for its great working hours, especially in the world of finance – I was rarely in the office past 6:00pm.

The placement is probably less well set up organisationally than the summer internships or the graduate schemes. This is probably due to only taking on 2 placement students in different parts of the business, and as a result is not as structured as the other more common and well defined schemes. However, the HR team were extremely accommodating to extend my placement beyond the time it normally runs for, and the seamless manner they did so deserves great credit.

The main training we had consisted of multiple introductory sessions at the start of the year introducing the various areas of the business, and ongoing on the job training. This was followed with regular meetings with your manager regarding your ongoing progress and development. I feel that a couple of technical and role specific knowledge sessions at the start of the year would have made settling in easier though.

I am invited to an end of year assessment, upon which I will be offered a grad job. This will be held with the summer interns. M&G pushes internal promotion and advancement, so as an employee, career progression is promising once you are in the business.

There was a very healthy social scene during the summer, with the summer interns. When they left, there were only 2 placement students left and so there weren’t any company social events. In the first team I was with, the team was fairly small (3 including myself) and both the fund managers had family commitments, so social events were sparse (bar the floor wide Christmas and summer events). The second team was much larger and so went for drinks fairly often, at least once a month.

London is known to be a city with a high cost of living. Rents and transport costs are particularly high, and socialising can be quite expensive. There are plenty of cheaper alternatives though.

Nightlife in London is well documented, with multiple bars and clubs to visit. A lot of the city is out during the later days of the week, so the area is near enough always buzzing.

M&G have various committees that you can join if you wish, and so there is a lot going on in the social scene company wise. The interns/placement students had to spend some time volunteering, and M&G offer days off for employees to volunteer. I played football on Mondays with colleagues, and there are other activities going on, but some are slightly harder to find.