Asset Management Insight Day 8th April 2019 Review

I enjoyed the insight thoroughly. It was my first one and I came with the main aim of gaining a better understanding of investment management. This was achieved thanks to the speakers on the day who described the company culture, structure and the services offered to clients. Working alongside like-minded individuals in the trading game, made me think in a strategic way and allowed me to use my communication skills effectively.

I felt valued and I thought my presence was appreciated both by other applicants who attended the insight day, as well as the employees at the company. I approached and was approached by several M&G employees, where I discussed the company and asked them questions about their roles. I especially found the graduates helpful as I was able to relate to their situation when applying to the M&G programs as they recently had joined the company.

Support was provided where possible. There were several representatives in the talent team including [This section of the comment has been removed by a member of the RateMyPlacement Team because it did not meet our site terms and conditions], who made sure the day ran smoothly and any unanswered questions were made clear to me if I asked. Also, there were several employees and company representatives outside the main seminar room, when there were short breaks and networking opportunities.

The information gained from the insight day will definitely be invaluable because I will take the advice given and apply it next year, especially when submitting applications for summer internships, which will be important for me next year. Having not applied for any spring weeks, I feel I need to understand the recruitment process more than the average applicant, to gauge what I need to include next year in my application to stand out. Also, I had exposure to meeting several new people, in a new environment, which i felt like I handled well and managed to push myself and initially take a leading role to ensure the team I was in collaborated instead of working in sub-group of 2-3.

The insight was well structured- times were provided for different activities such as breaks, lunch and networking in advance and these were very accurate on the day. I could clearly see that [This section of the comment has been removed by a member of the RateMyPlacement Team because it did not meet our site terms and conditions] planned out this insight day and did preparation beforehand as it went very smoothly. Obviously certain activities lasted longer than anticipated for instance, the second presentation by Cecile overran, meaning that there was less time for Q&A. However, another good point I thought was that there were frequent breaks to make sure there were no long blocks of activities or presentations.

The atmosphere was good, It was enjoyable being around new people and like-minded people who have the ambition to pursue a career in finance. I think [This section of the comment has been removed by a member of the RateMyPlacement Team because it did not meet our site terms and conditions] did a good job of keeping everyone engaged and keeping energy high throughout the day. I think I would of preferred it if there were several activities instead of one trading game and if there were more opportunities to meet other people. I felt like I was quite close to my team throughout the whole day which was good, but I didn't get to know the others as well

I think in terms of personal development it would have been very difficult to teach anyone a lot of new skills or enhance them within a day. With that said, I think [This section of the comment has been removed by a member of the RateMyPlacement Team because it did not meet our site terms and conditions], as well as the guest speakers made it clear what M&G's culture is like and what qualities are expected through the activities and trading games, which instinctively made us use and work those skills such as team-working and effective communication.

The insight definitely gave me more clarity as to what its like to be part of M&G. Speaking to the graduates and employees, and asking them various questions such as their role, hours of work, their management and support, as well as the resources available to them gave me a lot of useful information.

The insight gave me quite a bit of understanding of the company culture, as previously I hadn't really been involved in any M&G activity or insight, although I was aware of its presence and vaguely what it does hence why I applied. I learnt through the employee presentations of [This section of the comment has been removed by a member of the RateMyPlacement Team because it did not meet our site terms and conditions] that developing a good client relationship is imperative for M&G, one that consists of trust as that is what underpins long term success.

Before the insight, one of my desired career paths was towards investment management. Having gained some more knowledge from the insight day as to how investments work and how funds are invested, depending on the level of risk clients are willing to take, I think this insight day has only firmed my choice more that this is what I would like to do. I found the presentations from the internal employees and the networking with employees most important as we were able to ask questions.

I was not paid or reimbursed for this experience, however I gained something much more out of this experience and that was a real insight as to what it is like to work at M&G, and what a career within investment management entails, as prior to this I did not have any industry insight. All in all, the value of this day was worth the expenses incurred.

There we several opportunities to do this. After each planned/scheduled activity there were short 10-15 minute breaks, where we were able to leave the seminar rooms and speak to the talent team, investment director [This section of the comment has been removed by a member of the RateMyPlacement Team because it did not meet our site terms and conditions] for e.g and especially during the lunch break where we had an hour to speak to several employees from recent graduates to senior managers about their roles.

The network opportunities were great. As mentioned above there were several opportunities to meet employees of the company or firm. There were a lot of representatives during the lunch break whom were all happy to talk and answer my questions. Even after the day was over there were networking opportunities. Even though we were given a sheet with all the representatives of the company and their roles it was impossible to talk to all of them or even find them as there were so many people there.

Yes, this was covered by [This section of the comment has been removed by a member of the RateMyPlacement Team because it did not meet our site terms and conditions] briefly during her talk. She discussed that M&G has their main corporate brand, but internally all the employees within her department are close and do other non-work related activities together, such as charity events to raise money for a good cause and engage in PR.

I would definitely recommend this to someone who wants to find out more about investment management and is looking to pursue a career in it. I think that overall it was a good experience for myself to network and talk to employees, especially as I am looking to apply for the summer internship and now know what I need to include in my application to stand out. I think that for anyone this would be an informative day and is not worth passing up if given the opportunity to attend.