The event, taking place from 17 -20 September 2012, is an amazing opportunity for you to get a look inside a range of different city firms, take part in seminars and business games aimed at showing you how the various parts of the City work together.
Confirmed organisations taking part are: Accenture, Bank of England, Bloomberg, Financial Services Authority, Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Slaughter and May and Standard Chartered
This is a course only open to students from the University of London, and last year Queen Mary Students had the second highest number of attendees on this course (and a record number of attendees).
Here’s a video of last year’s event:
Here’s what some previous Queen Mary attendees thought of the session:
Punit Ghumra
Accounts, Operations Division at Gordian Knot Limited.
What did you enjoy most about the City Course?
The aspect of the city course that I enjoyed the most had to be ‘networking’, not just with the host and company representatives but also the other students participating in the program. I used this opportunity to build contacts both seeded in accounting and finance and those looking to pursue a career in it, this had benefits such as being able to gain advice in applying to prospective employers and buildings strong friendships.
How did the City Course help you clarify what you wanted to do in your career?
The city course opened my eyes to a career as a Chartered Accountant, listening to the talks at the Chartered Accountants Hall provided light on the course content and the practice of studying whilst working, it aided to the extent that I am now looking to become a qualified ACA.
What one piece of advice would you give to someone who is thinking about a career in City and Finance?
Find out as much information about your probable career path now and do not leave your applications until after you graduate. The economy is still recovering and many recruiters have reduced their intake is a precautionary measure, by researching certain sectors prior to applying to them you will better your industry awareness which will follow through to an application standing more chance of success.
Punit Ghumra graduated in 2010 with a BSc(Econ) in Economics from Queen Mary, University of London.
Naresh Bhojwani
Business Analyst, Deutsche Bank
What did you enjoy most about the City Course?
The City Course is one of the best career advice courses I have attended during my final year of my university degree. It also has a good network and resources with various different financial companies and will always be recognised for its networking exposure it provides to the students. What I enjoyed about this course was that whilst it covered advice and guidance, it gave me the chance to participate in some of activities / workshops. This gave me an understanding about the job responsibilities and provided an exposure to day-to-day functions. The organisers were very helpful and motivational and made my learning experience all the more worthwhile.
How did the City Course help you clarify what you wanted to do in your career?
With exposure to the networking sessions, presentation sessions and advice received through the course, I was able to understand various career opportunities and paths available for me. Even during the various Q/A sessions within the Finance companies helped me to clarify my questions about the various career paths which I was interested in.
Could you give a brief description of your current role and an idea of typical activities or issues you deal with?
I’m currently working in investment banking technology and my job involves providing innovation, speed and accuracy in technology which is the backbone of Deutsche Bank’s competitive edge.
My current role as a Business Analyst is to be responsible for analyzing the requirements and requests of business and operations, including the coordination of User Acceptance (UAT) exercises. Overall my role is to act as the contact for the various internal business divisions and technology solution providers.
A part of my day to day activities involves performing data analysis on business requirements. This helps me to define and collect business requirements in collaboration with the various internal business lines. Once I’ve documented the requirements I collaborate closely with the functional analysts and developers to close out any issues with the proposed design solutions.
How did you find out about this option and how did you get into it?
Through the knowledge gained at the City Course I decided to pursue the banking sector because I’m interested in business and IT and technology roles within the Investment Banking sector. I come across Deutsche Bank’s graduate programs via their careers website. The opportunities were appealing from what I had read on its website and therefore I applied for the relevant role. Upon successfully completing its application, I was invited to attend an interview. I had to research into the company’s functioning, history and its most significant achievements/awards. In addition I practised interviews, numerical, verbal and logical reasoning tests. This provided me with an idea of what would be expected from me. Eventually I was successful and was offered the role in November 2008.
What are the most and least enjoyable aspects of this role?
During my role, I enjoy liaising with various different people cross the investment banking business areas. Hence during this process I learn about investment banking products and subsequently increase my knowledge within this area. Moreover there have some great challenging experiences during the steep learning curve in a short period to understand how various different business lines operate. This certainly has become one of my strong skills on the business knowledge.
What one piece of advice would you give to someone who is thinking about a career in City and Finance?
- Read materials to find out what job options / opportunities are available to you and then filter out what job interests you as a career. It is also very important to read about the company and get related information about the company for the job that you are applying for.
- Evaluate your skills, strengths and weaknesses and improve them by doing activities during the university. I did voluntary work and internship in order to gain some practical work experience. . The work experience gave me an insight of banking and enabled me to confidently respond to interview questions about working in bank
- Go for any presentations or courses that you can such as the City Course run by The Careers Group. I went on this course and the training and exposure gained through the course was highly valuable to me and helped me secure my job.
Naresh graduated in 2009 from Queen Mary with a MEng in Communication Engineering.
Applications close on 22 June 2012 via www.careers.lon.ac.uk/city