Spring Week Review

This insight day was organised as a substitute for us all meeting in the London, due to COVID. The day was very well organised and enjoyable. All the speakers were enthusiastic when discussing their role in the firm, this made the event engaging and prompted students to ask many questions. In my view the event was a nice level of formality, obviously students took it seriously as they wanted to learn but also the speakers asked us to raise a hand and asked questions whenever we wanted.

This event lasted just shy of 7 hours, so it's difficult to feel that you're doing something particularly valuable in this time. However, it was nice to see that the recruitment team was making notes of what the students were saying and bringing up our points at different points on the day.

This event was crammed with guidance and support. It was difficult for them to set us tasks to do in the short time, so a lot of the time was spent advising us on how the Jefferies recruitment process works and identifying which division best suits us. All the speakers gave lots of support and offered to keep in contact with us if we had further questions.

Near the end of the day, Jefferies brought in someone who teaches their teams how to Read the Financial Times effectively. This was much more interesting then initial thought! He taught us why the newspaper is laid out the way it is and things we should look out for to help us get an idea of what's going in in the industry.

We were emailed the itinerary a few days before and all the resources needed for the different speakers were given the night before. Speakers were very enthusiastic so some events over-ran but on the whole the day was well structured. This was very pleasing to see as plans had to be changed dramatically due to Covid.

Fun, informal but focused and engaging. It was nice to see so many students asking questions and the Jefferies team were very happy to answer them. We had 10 minutes breaks at different points which were welcoming and there were also times when the group were split up into breakout rooms to have more personal chats; this meant the day never felt boring or that it was the same thing being repeated.

I was given a mentor on the investment banking desk as soon as I was given the internship, he was very approachable and we had a number of phonecalls where we would discuss what my thoughts were on market conditions and he would then give his thoughts. He pointed me in the direction of resources that could help me learn further.

The speakers included students on a graduate program, members of diversity boards and members of senior management. This meant we received a broad range of perspectives and it really highlighted how the day-to-day life varies as you move up through the company. The diversity board also covered what Jefferies does to support employees from varies backgrounds.

Jefferies, puts a lot of focus on its culture. How the firm is relatively small compared to other major investment banks, and it's like being part of a family. They described how the office is laid out to allow students to freely ask questions to people and they discussed how the firm plans to expand and how this is communicated throughout the firm.

The insight day focused on giving us exposure to 3 different areas, these were investment banking, equity research and sales and trading. From the beginning the recruitment tea, said they wanted us to listen to all 3 areas and it would give us a better understanding of which career path we would want to take within the firm.

There turned out to be no expenses for the virtual insight day. All the assessment and interviews were done virtually and the event happened on Zoom so there were no costs incurred. If the internship was to go ahead as planned, I believe the firm advised us that they would pay for our expenses.

The whole event was set up so we could meet and interact with Jefferies employees. Everybody was keen to offload information and often we ran out of time because they had so much to tell us. Everyone offered to answer more of our questions and be there if we needed help in the future.

The speakers came from various backgrounds so this was very useful when it came to networking. Unfortunately, as the event was only one day and held virtually, there was no opportunity was social events however I believe if the event did go ahead in London, social events were planned with other inters and employees.

Yes. A big part of the day was hearing from the employees that manage the various societies within the firm. Ranging from encouraging woman into banking, supporting people from the LGBTQ+ communities and the societies to support people from diverse ethnic backgrounds. There was not so much discussion about what employees do outside of work in terms of social or sport.

Yes, definitely. Jefferies is a growing firm and they really take interest in recruiting the correct candidates. Jefferies take big emphasis on the culture of the firm and this was showcased throughout the insight event. Because the firm is relatively small, it meant that you get great exposure to senior member of the firm from this event.