Whatever graduate programme you join
at Fidelity, you'll enjoy the scope to gain a
real breadth of experience. But don't take
our word for it – here's what some of our
graduates have to say.
Richard, Investment
“Lots of companies talk about early
responsibility, but it's a firm reality at
Fidelity.”
Lots of companies talk about early
responsibility, but it's a firm reality at Fidelity.
I cover 30 stocks in the hotels, leisure and
gambling sector, so I need to get up to speed
on different industries very quickly. My
work as an Equity Analyst involves financial
modelling, meeting companies and doing
my own individual research. To get an edge
versus the market, I try to talk to a variety
of people in the industry, meet with middle
management and use external research for
surveys and market research. This helps me to
build the financial forecasts for the company
and understand its growth profile in relation to
its valuation. This then forms my investment
thesis and I rate the stock as a buy or sell and
discuss any investment opportunities this
may offer with the Portfolio Managers. This
involves a lot of qualitative and quantitative
work.
I try to go and see companies as much
as possible as it's a good way of really
understanding the company and industry
dynamics first hand. Although it is fairly
daunting running meetings with CEOs
(Chief Executive Officers) and CFOs (Chief
Financial Officers) of companies, the support
is there and you learn very quickly. Although
there are dedicated training sessions, you tend
to learn more on the job with exposure to the
Portfolio Managers and Senior Analysts.
The freedom that Fidelity gives you means
you can make recommendations and choose
your own path. It enables you to work to your
own strengths. When doing your research,
you can be as innovative as you like and this
is encouraged. It's very rewarding to actually
see the value of my achievements. When
you're right, it's very satisfying seeing your
expectations materialise. On the other side,
it's very important to learn from the ones that
don't work and understand why.
“I was given the opportunity to find my
own way of doing things, but I had support
and guidance when I needed it.”
I've worked in very different areas, and each
time you gain very different experience. I
enjoy lots of variety because it gives you a
chance to gain a broader understanding of the
various departments. Working with different
people in these departments also helps you to
build new contacts.
One of the things that attracted me in the first
place was the international element – and I
haven't been disappointed. I've worked in
Luxembourg for a month and Hong Kong
for six weeks. In Hong Kong, I worked on a
number of projects for the Head of Business
Compliance for Asia Pacific. One of my first
projects was to embed a conflicts of interest
policy across the Asia Pacific business.
This was a challenge because all of the countries
in the region are run fairly independently
and each has its own Compliance team. I
had to find the best way of embedding the
policies into each country and coordinate
the implementation across these different
teams. It also gave me the opportunity to lead
a project for the first time. Finally it pushed
me because there was a business need to
build relationships with clients, but I needed
to ensure that people disclosed everything,
so it touched both personal and professional
issues. I was given the opportunity to find my
own way of doing things, but I had support
and guidance when I needed it, so it was the
right balance.
I recently joined the European Risk
Management team where I'm involved in a
huge project, ensuring that we are comfortable
with our approach to risk across the European
business. I've had to look at lots of different
departments and businesses, which has given
me the opportunity to learn many things in a
short space of time.
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