Operational Management Placement Review

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Fidelity. Everyone in the company is very approachable and will seek to accommodate you wherever possible. You have a good support network to rely on if required too. The only downside I found with the Operational Management placement was that you were required to work in the call centre for six months. Despite being very beneficial, was a long period of time considering you are only with the company for 12 months.

I genuinely did not come across a colleague at Fidelity who I did not get along with. Everyone who I interacted with were genuine and the encounter always felt meaningful. I received feedback through many different work streams throughout my placement year and this helped me to improve as a whole.

I completed two rotations during my 12 months with Fidelity. The first six months was in the call centre and the second rotation was in the Workplace Investing Retirements team. I got along extremely well with both of my managers. We were very open and honest with each other and they always looked to provide me with useful nuggets of knowledge which will benefit me in the future.

During the six months in the call centre, you are not especially busy as during the times you are waiting for phone calls you do not necessarily have specific work to do. Of course you spend that time learning more about our processes and how we operate, but it was not especially busy. During my second rotation, I was given a lot more responsibility and formed part of a scrum team helping to deliver automation, in which I was a key part. I was fairly busy during these times.

In the call centre you are not given a significant amount of responsibility as you spend at least half of your time on the phones. The remaining time you have is involved with projects which are designed to deliver benefit to the business, but did not give significant responsibility. On my next rotation, as part of the scrum team, I felt I was given lots of responsibility and was regularly asked to sign certain things off.

This will certainly benefit me going forwards. On a personal level, i understand the investment industry and its products much more. In terms of assisting my degree and future career, Fidelity give you the opportunity to complete qualifications which will certainly provide a foundation of knowledge to build on in my degree and future jobs.

Overall there was a very positive vibe in the office, which I think can attributed to the good work life balance of employees at Fidelity. I did not meet a colleague who was clearly dreading coming to work, and everyone tended to be in really good spirits around the office.

The initial part of the placement was organised well, as there were weekly lunch and learns in which you would be provided food and have the opportunity to learn about other functions in the business. However, this was more tailored towards the summer interns and unfortunately there were less events of this type after the interns left.

The company were prepared to put you through the IOC exams as well as IMC1 and IMC2 which are recognised across the industry as good qualifications to have. Also, in my second rotation, they were prepared to pay for me to work towards a pension qualification also, which is really good.

The idea of a placement within Fidelity is for the company to find talent for the future. When hiring you as a placement student it felt as though the intention was for you to be offered back in a graduate position, provided your performance was satisfactory. In terms of the graduate role, I think this is certainly a good opportunity.

This was probably not as good as I would have liked, we did not socialise all that much as a group of placement students and graduates. I had a group of mates from university who were on placement in London and I regularly socialised with them so it was not awful.

I lived in Sutton as the company is based in Kingswood, Surrey and Fidelity offer a free coach from Sutton station at regular intervals. In terms of travel, I managed to save significantly by living in Sutton. The gym was only 16.99 per month too which was good, and there is a Morrison’s, Sainsbury's and ASDA all in walking distance of Sutton which is good. The only expensive side of things tended to be alcoholic drinks in local pubs, which were often similar to London prices.

In Kingswood there is not any nightlife! Unfortunately, there is not such a thing as drinks after work as there is not much at all in the area and a lot of people drive to work. Thankfully, London is not too far away and there is a direct train from Sutton station to London Bridge, Victoria and Blackfriars, where the nightlife is good!