Jefferies Next Generation Diversity Symposium Review

Overall, the Jefferies Next Generation Diversity Symposium was a great experience. The interaction with Jefferies employees, despite being virtual, felt genuine and their passion for working at the firm definitely shone through. The balance between insights to the firms business practices and culture was spot on. It was especially heartening to spend a significant portion of the session not only learning about how Jefferies makes an active effort to include diverse hires, but also how diversity in and of itself informs the culture fostered at the firm.

Throughout the Jefferies Next Generation Diversity Symposium, the firm took active efforts to engage with students, allowing for Q&A at regular intervals. This helped participants feel valued as their thoughts were able to be shared in a timely manner. Additionally, as the session had an emphasis on diversity in the workplace, it was empowering to listen to the panel on how Jefferies fosters a culture of acceptance and mutual respect. Thus, despite the short session, it was clear the firm placed value on students of diverse backgrounds.

The guidance and support throughout the event was evident through the firm's inclusion of multiple opportunities to interact with the employees delivering sessions. Additionally, the staff was highly effective in conveying the scopes of their work, making it very clear what certain businesses do and don't do. Further, during the diversity panel, it was great to have individuals from truly diverse backgrounds not only in terms of race, and gain their support in feeling valued for what each of us brings to the table.

The insight into how Jefferies, a firm whose prominence and involvement in high profile transactions has only been increasing in recent times, was definitely beneficial in understanding what a career in the financial services looks like. Understanding the role of the investment banking, sales and trading, and equity research divisions, and how they collaborate with each other and clients, helped develop a greater understanding of the career options available to me and which ones I am most interested in.

The Symposium event as a whole was very well structured. It began by providing an overview of the firm, including its main front office businesses, and then delved deeper through sessions with senior professionals in each business. This provided thorough and clear insight into the firm's identity and scope of work. Following this, there was a transition into daily life at the firm and how diversity informs the culture. This effectively wrapped up the session with a lasting discussion on the key topic of the day: diversity.

The general atmosphere during the Jefferies Next Generation Diversity Symposium was overall very positive. Students were committed to learning more about the firm, asking questions at every opportunity, and the employees at Jefferies were equally dedicated to providing comprehensive and genuine answers. The importance of diversity was addressed with sincere passion, as was the work that each business at Jefferies does, and this passion would certainly have been transmitted to attendees, despite the virtual format.

The Jefferies Next Generation Diversity Symposium invested in participants by highlighting the important skills necessary for pursuing a career in investment banking, sales and trading, and equity research. They provided timely, first-hand perspectives on how each role is evolving over time, and this better informed participants of the longer-term consequences of potential career choices. This definitely provided more information and therefore better decision making power to students looking to launch their careers in the financial services.

The Jefferies Next Generation Diversity Symposium broke down the three main front office businesses of the firm. It was very effective at providing an insight into what full time employees do, as participants were first introduced to each of the businesses from a senior member of staff, followed by a day in the life session that provided what will certainly be relevant insights for students - as the panelists of the latter session were more recent graduates.

The Jefferies Next Generation Diversity Symposium was crucial in gaining an understanding of Jefferies' culture beyond what can be found online. The commitment to diversity was apparent - not only in the fact that there are numerous organisations within Jefferies dedicated to empowerment and forming connections with other individuals of diverse backgrounds, but also in the sophisticated discussion about how having a diverse workplace can foster more nuanced thoughts and connect with clients better - leading to superior business results as well as equity.

The content of the Jefferies Next Generation Diversity Symposium was definitely valuable in terms of deciding my future career path. Hearing about the firms' investment banking, sales and trading, and equity research businesses, I was able to identify the key differences in each of these roles, and hear about the scope of work of employees in them. This enabled me to become even more certain of my interest in equity research specifically, and network with individuals already working in this field.

There was no payment or reimbursement at the Jefferies Next Generation Diversity Symposium as the event took place virtually over one evening. This was completely satisfactory as the event took place to provide students with an insight into the firm and its business practices, and offered valuable networking opportunities. Thus, despite having no monetary compensation - which was entirely justified - the experience was nonetheless meaningful and valuable for the development of knowledge and a network that will last in the long term.

The Jefferies Next Generation Diversity Symposium included a number of employees from the firm, at various levels and from different divisions. This allowed participants to hear the backgrounds of employees from the divisions they were individually interested in, and hear about their experiences directly. The employees were then very willing to connect via LinkedIn following the virtual experience, and share more insights specific to individual queries. This format was effective in allowing students to gain a broad perspective before learning more about employees who have similar individual interests.

The networking opportunities were promising, as participants were introduced to multiple Jefferies employees from each division. In particular, the "Day in the Life" interview session allowed for participants to gain an understanding of each analyst's background, the work that they do for the firm, and how they see their business evolving - all crucial pieces of information in networking. Given the logistical constraints of organising a virtual event, this was a good introduction to expand our networks afterwards.

At the Jefferies Next Generation Diversity Symposium, participants were introduced to the various diversity-focused initiatives at the firm. These include Jefferies Women’s Initiative (jWIN), Jefferies Ethnic Minority Society (JEMS) and Jefferies LGBTQ+ Network (jMosaic+) - which provide a comprehensive set of societies that employees of any diverse background can find solidarity in. Panelists during the session also provided insights as to how these societies operate, and how individuals can improve themselves by engaging in unconscious bias training.

I would definitely recommend the Jefferies Next Generation Diversity Symposium to a friend. Firstly, it provided interesting insights to the work of a rapidly rising firm in the industry, and secondly, spend a significant amount of time discussion the ever-important topic of workplace diversity. The latter topic is important to understand regardless of the sector one works in, and the level of depth and insights shared by Jefferies would undoubtedly have universal appeal and relevance.