Employer visit: Bank of America Merrill Lynch

I went to a pretty refreshing meeting at Bank of America Merrill Lynch the other day. The focus of the meeting was an overview of their hiring patterns for the 2011-12 session, and involved a realistic view of the challenges facing recruitment at the Bank, and by extension the rest of the industry.

By no means was this a downbeat session, but instead felt more human than some of similar events I’ve been to (particularly some of those pre-2008).

Several themes came out of the event:

1. Hiring is fairly level across Internships and Full Time hires with 310 Interns currently at the bank and 250 full time hires coming onboard for the 2011 intake. Hiring looks to have similar numbers for 2011-12.

2. Growth areas in the business are in Global Risk particularly looking at Market Risk. There is also a focus on getting potential hires interested in a range of areas within the business with around 35% of hires into the Middle and Back Office.

3. Emerging Markets are very much seen as the future of the business and this means particularly Central Europe and Latin America. Business level language skills appropriate to the regions are highly sought after particularly on the Sales & Trading desks.

4. Last recruitment cycle BAML had around 20,000 applications for the UK arm across Internship and Full Time positions, and around 65% of those were fromUK institutions. From the Platinum level of campus (of which QMUL is one), 1 in 25 applications were successful.

5. In Technology there is a strong desire to compete with other Banking technology divisions as well as against the large technology firms. A former QM Computer Science student I spoke to at the event said she found the Java skills she learnt on her course were really useful, and the Bank is moving towards Python as the main language, so it would be useful if applicants could demonstrate they’ve used this in some way.

6.  BAML are very serious about Diversity issues. If you feel you have a barrier that could prevent you applying or undertaking a role at the Bank they recommend you disclose this as soon as possible, this can be done even in a phone call to their recruitment team. For information about disability and disclosure, see our recent blog post.

Check out Prospects for more about future trends in banking and finance.

James Weaver
Employer Liaison and Events Officer

Employer visit: Deloitte

Recently on a visit to Deloitte I was surprised to find the total number of hires for 2011 is now only just under the peak 2007 hiring level, and looking to grow for the 2012 start. They had 1100 full time places across the business (just a note they are still hiring for people to start in this cohort, despite having opened the 2012 vacancies).

Competition is pretty tough for these places though and I was chatting with Head of Graduate Recruitment Rob Fryer who said that they had around 15,000 applicants although from the sound of it most needn’t have bothered as they fail at the first stage simply because their application forms are poor.

So why are these applications so poor?

Lack of motivation demonstrated on the application

Each application is read, and they look for motivation in a number of ways from the content through to the accuracy of the spelling. The age old story of the wrong company name or job title on the application sprung up. Please don’t embarrass yourself by doing this! Get a friend to proofread your application form, or at least spell check! Not doing so shows you don’t really give a damn about the job.

Research about the role and company

A large number of people simply regurgitate EXACT copy from the company website when saying why they want to work for an organisation, and often don’t actually understand the role they are applying for.

One way to do this is to recommended that you try and do an Internship at the firm, and many of people from the business I spoke to found out during their Internship that there was a totally different role that was an ideal fit for them be it the type of work, hours, or pay.

Another thing to do is to keep an eye out for the company you want to work for at events either on or off campus. Get involved with these and talk to the people attending.

A final tactic is to simply ring up the Graduate Team and ASK. Remember faint heart never won fair lady!

James Weaver
Employer Liaison and Events Officer

Muffins don’t sell themselves!

Last week QM Careers hosted the Marketing and PR Panel discussion with an enthusiastic flow of questions from an audience of QM students. Panel members hailed from a variety of organisations and companies including the Home Office (PR and News), PayPoint.Net (an e-commerce services company), the V&A Museum of Childhood (Marketing and PR) and Elvis Communications (a creative marketing agency).

So what did the panel reveal about the qualities needed for a successful career in Marketing or PR?

• Digital (although not an entirely new medium) is a big vehicle for marketing and PR campaigns.  What does this mean for students who want to work in this area? Well, an appreciation of the role of digital media in marketing is a start (you wont be expected to know all of the technical details involved).
• The panel also agreed that you never stop learning in these jobs, so it’s important to have a committment to gaining knowledge and skills and to take on new challenges.
• Having ideas and opinions and not being afraid to share them was also seen as a really important quality in marketing and PR roles.

But how can you demonstrate to an employer that you have these skills and qualities? Well, there are things that you can be doing now to show that you have your own ideas and that you are in touch with the digital world:

Create your own experience?

Successful blogging and Tweeting is a way of taking the initiative, showing your drive and determination, and  creating your own practical experience. Not only does it provide a voice for your opinion (often called “thought leadership”),  this can also help you make new contacts and network with people in the industry – people who may have valuable insights into the world of marketing and how to get your foot in the door.  In this industry, employers look at what you’re like online when they’re recruiting, so it might be worth googling yourself to see how professional the result is.

Make the most of your experience

As with any industry, it is important for applicants to have had some relevent work experience.  But what about people who have not worked in marketing? One student asked “how can I get relevent experience when I have to work 20 hours a week in a coffee shop, as well as study”.
“Muffins don’t sell themselves” replied one of the speakers – and she was right. Working in retail gives practical experience of understanding customer needs, sales skills, promotion skills and product knowledge – all really useful in the world of marketing. You need to make this link for the employer and make the most of the experience you DO have – your CV becomes a marketing document for you.
Another way you could make the most of your part time job would be to spend time in the marketing/PR department at the Head Office, or get involved with marketing at your local branch. Even designing and distributing fliers for a special offer is a marketing campaign.  No matter how small the example, it shows you are exploring ways to develop the skills needed in marketing and PR.

Research what you want to do

There are a wide variety of roles in marketing, and an Assistant Marketing Manager in one company may do entirely different tasks to an Assistant Marketing Manager in another.  Get to know the companies or agencies you are interested in applying to before you send off your CV.

Find out more using the resources below:

• The Prospects website has careers and industry information for many job areas, including marketing and PR http://ww2.prospects.ac.uk/p/sectors/marketing_advertising_and_pr_sector.jsp
• One of our panelists has written a blog on getting a career in Marketing:
  http://blog.rochelldancel.com/2010/10/how-to-get-in-marketing.html and there are more out there too, for example, this one on getting a first job in marketing: http://theblogpaper.co.uk/article/business/03feb10/getting-first-job-marketing
• Visit QM Careers – WG3 Queens’ Building, for more resources, or book a 1-1 appointment with a Careers Adviser to discuss your options or applications.
• QM Careers in part of The Careers Group, University of London. Check out details of thier course on Careers in Marketing and PR: http://www.careers.lon.ac.uk/output/118.asp?ad+460

Vicki Tipton

QM Careers Adviser

Growth areas during a recession

Even during a recession there are some industries who will not only survive, but may even benefit from the economic situation.

As companies are having to take particular care of their spending, the credit control and billing specialist areas of accountancy are becoming increasingly sought after. Auditors and procurement managers are also needed to help with cutting costs. Businesses may also look to develop or maintain their computer systems to help improve their efficiency, so may be looking to recruit more IT roles.

According to a recent article in The Guardian, graduates can “beat the recession by adjusting their ambitions towards a related but less obvious goal as big business learns to make do and mend”.  So this means thinking about what is happening in the world of business right now, and how this links to job areas. For example, lawyers dealing with employment law will be needed to help advise on redundancy and compensation packages.  With pensions being in the spotlight, actuaries and pensions avisors will also be in demand.

As many companies have a green / environmental agenda, combined with the government’s renewable energy targets, positions within sustainable energies are also likely to increase.

For further information see:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/oct/23/graduate-careers-recession

Keeping Your Ear to the Ground

My job is to know what the labour market is doing so that I can ensure we are getting the right companies onto campus for you to meet with, as well as creating a balanced view of the job market through our events so that your expectations aren’t overly raised or needlessly crushed. Quite a balancing act sometimes!

One of the ways I do this is by keeping my ear to the ground, talking, and corresponding, with a range of people from different job sectors, and another way is by keeping an eye on a range of news outlets.

I’ve copied below a few handy links that you might want to bookmark, and use as a jumping off point for your own research.

Law

Roll On Friday – www.rollonfriday.com

Lawyer2B – http://l2b.thelawyer.com

Finance

eFinancialCareers – www.efinancialcareers.co.uk

IT & Technology

The Register – http://www.theregister.co.uk

Computer Weekly – http://www.computerweekly.com

General

Guardian – http://careers.guardian.co.uk/

Independent – http://www.independent.co.uk/student/career-planning/

I’ll post some more for different sectors like Engineering and Politics in the next couple of weeks, but perhaps you’d like to share a few in the comments?

James Weaver
Employer Liaison & Events Officer

Employers plan to raise graduate recruitment targets

Good news if you are graduating this year and are looking for a job: Almost 40 per cent of employers are planning to raise graduate recruitment this year. This is according to research by the Association of Graduate Recruiters. A  snapshot survey of almost 100 companies, found that almost 60%  say they are still open for applications and 55%  are more confident about the economy compared to three months ago.

These findings are supported by the careers website Graduate Prospects, which has experienced a 50 per cent increase in advertising from recruiters in the first four months of 2010 compared to the same period last year.

“Companies are taking on more graduates as the economy is rebounding,” says chief executive Mike Hill. ” We hope and expect this trend to continue into 2011.”

Click here to read the full article.

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www.prospects.ac.uk has detailed job profiles and industry information to give you an insight in to different areas of work. The site also has vacancy information and lots of work and study related articles covering topics like taking a gap year, working abroad, work experienc and postgraduate study.