M&G Investments Insight Day Review

The insight day was highly informative, engaging and interesting, and not at all stressful. Talking to senior employees over lunch was very enjoyable and the most useful part of the day. The immersive investment game was a great ice-breaking activity with a healthy competitive nature and kept everyone engaged throughout the day.

Our team won the investment competition, and we were given chocolate as a prize which was a nice touch. We were constantly reassured throughout the day that we were doing the right thing by attending and showing our interest in the firm and the industry. Every question was answered - there was no such thing as a stupid question.

We were talked and guided through the entire day, and were never without something to do or someone to listen to and learn from. There was a clear agenda which we were made aware of prior to arriving and they kept to their timings. The senior employees were very friendly and easy to talk to, often coming up to people to insinuate the conversation for those who were more introverted.

I am significantly more aware of what asset/investment management entails, what their specific graduate programme will be like and what they are looking for in an individual. Although I had already applied to the graduate scheme before the insight day, I felt that it would have given anyone an advantage for their application process.

Presentations for both investment management and technology. An immersive investment competition in collaboration with other like-minded students. A panel of recent and current graduate employees who answered questions about the graduate programme. Networking opportunity over lunch. Couple of 10 minute breaks in between activities. A clear and well structured agenda.

The atmosphere was friendly and light-hearted, everyone is there ready to engage with activities and ask questions to all speakers. We were made to feel welcome from the outset and throughout. The networking over lunch was again very light-hearted. I spoke with the Head of Infrastructure for Fixed Income who made us feel very at ease as he answered all of our questions and was interested in our careers to date.

There's only so much you can achieve in one day, and the purpose of the day was to inform us about the firm and the industry rather than develop our skills. We were given a careers workshop which was informative with regard to what they were looking for in a candidate.

There was a vast range of speakers from all different areas of the firm from Investment Specialists to a Senior Developer to Investment Risk Graduates and an Investment Director who all spoke about their backgrounds and day to day activities. Then networking with the senior employees like portfolio managers, and head of divisions, we were able to extract any additional information about the business and working full time.

They spoke at length about the great work/life balance often leaving the office at 6 and only staying later during peak seasons. There is very much a flat structure, open-door policy and less of the hierarchal structure that is so common within the sell-side industry. If you are willing to put the time and sufficiently demonstrate your interest, it is an environment where you are able to change direction; changing from technology to investment management for example.

Of course they are going to make it seem like the best place to work in the city as they want to attract the best talent, but from the activities and speakers, they coherently told us what is and isn't asset management and the kind of individuals it would best suit. It therefore reassured me that investment management is the career destination for me.

The day is provided at their expense, we were given lunch and snacks and drinks throughout the day. There was no need for any kind of reimbursement, since the day was attended by prospective applicants who were simply looking for an insight to their profession and the culture of the company.

There was a networking opportunity over lunch where many different employees were present and willing to talk and answer any of our questions. This included: fund managers, market risk analysts, equities analysts, fixed income analysts, heads of departments, investment specialists, graduates, technology, developers and investment directors - all levels of seniority.

The networking opportunities were highly informative and very useful. everyone was very approachable and didn't mind answer what may have been less sophisticated questions about their business. However, they knew that we were entry level candidates and so were prepared to answer all of our questions. Demonstrate your intellectual curiosity.

I spoke to an equities analyst about their social events which tend to bee more of a thing for the new graduates who would go for drinks after work sometimes and he ran a five-a-side football team for the equities guys. He said he'd worked there for 7 years or so and so the social events became less prominent as his graduate class moved to other companies etc.

I would highly recommend this insight day to anyone thinking about a career in asset management. They accommodate 1st, 2nd, 3rd year students and recent graduates like myself. This was the best insight day I have been to and I feel much the wiser having attended. I would advise attending in 1st year and subsequently applying for their internship.