Find out what our Guest Bloggers are getting up to. Throughtout the year we will be following the progress of our Guest Bloggers as they find a placement or keep us updated as to what they are doing on their placement. Click here to read all entries from our bloggers or click here to meet them.

Name: Julian Reddick University: Loughborough University Course: Computing and Management Company: Credit Suisse Job Title: Summer Internship

Bonjour, I am writing this introductory blog from the sunny climate of the south of France where I am spending 10 days relaxing with my family before starting my placement on June 29th. This summer I will be working for Credit Suisse at their Canary Wharf office in their derivatives division. I have recently finished my finals at Loughborough University where I studied Computing and Management, so this holiday is a much needed break before the busy summer ahead.

So the natural question is to why I’m going to be interning this summer rather than looking for a graduate role. Next year I will be studying for my MA at Warwick, in order to make the most of the summer I decided to gain some experience in the financial sector. However this wasn’t always my plan.

The third year of my degree was a “sandwich year”; this was spent working in the Finance division at Lehman Brothers. Upon completion of this year out I was offered two jobs (great!) within the IT department and upon the general management program. The Friday I received my job offer was the Friday before the announcement of Lehman’s declared bankruptcy. Obviously having worked at the bank for the previous year I knew there were problems at hand, however I didn’t, nor did anyone else, think that the American government would allow the bank to go under. After this news I was back to square one, no job offer and stuck in a rapidly contracting job market. This in reality presented a great opportunity to continue my education in the form of a post graduate degree and it also allowed me a free summer to gain more experience.

From the work I had done at Lehman, the people who I had met and the high level of expectation placed upon staff, whether interns or not, I knew I wanted to work in the financial sector. Lehman being an American Bank had a very distinct culture, so I wanted to experience a new culture and with British Banks offering little distinction between their Investment Banking divisions (where I wanted to be) and more commercial activities I decided to apply for roles with European Banks. The Banks I applied for and successfully navigated the plethora of questions, online tests et al were Credit Suisse, UBS and Deutsche Bank.

Credit Suisse invited me to come in for assessment centre and interviews almost immediately, this was a great sign. As I’m sure many of you students know it can be an eternity between steps of an application. With little to no correspondence, one enters a land of hope with every ring of your mobile potentially being a job offer. So for Credit Suisse to be so prompt was impressive.

The assessment centre and interview process was a really enjoyable experience, I am lucky enough to not really be phased or nervous before such events. Having other options at other banks gave me a bit of a stronger position regarding finding the company which fitted in with my personal ethos and plans. So the interviews were really a two way process, I probably asked more questions than they asked me! The assessment centre consisted of a group activity and three interviews. The interviews were conducted by managers who were looking to bring interns in to their teams, this was the first time I had seen this and thought it was a great idea. The managers could align their expectations and needs with the prospective candidates to see whether they would fit in.

The whole process went really well and I was offered a job in the Asset Management division. Perfect! I accepted this offer almost immediately: the people who had interviewed me, the role they had offered and the culture of Credit Suisse seemed like a perfect match for me. I informed the other banks of my decision and whilst they tried to talk me out of it I stuck to my decision.

As I stated initially I will be working in the derivative division, but I had been offered a job in Asset Management. As it turned out, through the economic down turn Credit Suisse decided to concentrate on their core competencies which didn’t include their Asset Management team; this was sold off so I was transferred to their to derivatives team.

This in all honesty is a better fit for me. Due to the change of division I was invited to their head office to have a chat with an MD in derivatives and to see where I would fit in and the type of work I would like to do. This level of personal contact between someone so senior and an intern I really appreciated and showed the approachability of all their staff.

Phil, the MD, allocated me a team he thought I would be suitable for and I met my prospective manager at an event organised by the recruitment team. All the successful applicants were invited down to the head office to meet one another, the current placement students as well as their prospective managers. I saw a bunch of friendly faces from the interview process which was great, had many of my questions answered, a tour around their very impressive Canary Wharf office and a long chat with my manager about what was to be expected of me during my internship.

This summer will be full of new experiences and will be a great learning opportunity and I look forward to sharing it with you all.

Cheers, Julian