For 11 years, 7city has delivered graduate and intern programmes across the financial markets across the globe. Last year we delivered over 550 days of training. Each one was unique to that client and to that class' requirements. We share with you the vision that this programme is just one step in the overall talent progression of your future business. The better the programme, the higher the likelihood that you keep that talent as graduates are better equipped to fulfil their potential. To meet this promise we have evolved our business.
...from a content team to build a graduate portal pre-loaded with e-learning and your bespoke information...through to a team of tutors who are ex-practitioners and are au fait with apps such as Bloomberg and Factset...to a dedicated simulation arm to build case studies and simulations based on recent examples that populate each day of the course and allow us to generate a graduate scorecard...to a full time team of programme administrators who are based on site to ensure we deliver as planned, mentor call your graduates and generate MI for you to review your graduate population...124 people, working globally...for you.
Click here for a visual sample programme incorporating investment banking and capital markets.
- Will they be bored for five weeks?
Your graduates and interns may be in a classroom, but this is nothing like their university lectures. Filled with case studies and simulations, it is interactive and involving. Our range of scenarios includes:
- Options trading - where graduates work on flow orders and trade their book
- Lifecycle of a fund - where graduates construct a fund and take it to market
- Building an equity research report - where graduates combine quantitative and qualitative analysis
- IPO and M&A case studies
Click here for more examples.
We use these to illustrate best and worst practices, what and how things can go wrong and right. By highlighting real-life consequences graduates are shown a wider view of the marketplace and the wider implications a decision can have.
We also orientate the graduates to tools they will use in the workplace, whether that is Bloomberg, Reuters or Factset. Subjects are taught within MS Excel as this is the tool graduates will be using day-to-day.
The tutor will combine all these elements, whether it is Neil Graham in London drawing on his insights from the money markets, Bob Wieczorek in New York using his knowledge of capital raising or Neil Govier in Singapore drawing on his insights into valuation, they will all live and breathe your organisation before, during and after the course.
- How can I ensure the training picks up on the nuances of my organisation?
Every programme is unique...easy to state, but difficult to fulfill. To ensure we can, we allocate dedicated headcount in tutors, content-writers, simulation builders and administrators. Through research into your organisation, whether through talking to line managers, accessing your company intranet, reading your research documents or meeting with your marketing and communication team, we are able to make direct reference to specific products and services within the graduate programme. This allows us to contextualise your company's offering within the market and ensure your graduates understand how and why your company fits and its individual culture. We embed this in to our material and you are able to review this through our content extranet. Click here for a sample.
- How do I make the university graduate into an employee?
Technical knowledge alone does not necessarily equip your graduates with the skills required to interact within their new working environment. The brightest graduate can damage their reputation within 10 minutes by making the wrong impression. We have five full-time management and personal development tutors who have all worked in the financial markets. They offer short modules on subjects ranging from "how to prioritise between line managers" through to "how to conduct yourself in your first year's meetings" and "how to be polite and assertive". The emphasis is on practical tools based on role plays, using examples of your company's culture. Click here for a sample course.
- What about outside the classroom?
We understand that a graduate programme is a lot more than just the training course and a lot of the learning will happen outside the classroom. We have software teams that build pre- and post-course portals containing learning components for Generation Y...from standard e-learning to virtual team simulations that can work globally after the class has dispersed. We also understand that the training is just one component of your overall programme and offer elements such as pre-course mentor calls to orientate graduates (even if they are hiking through a rainforest!) and helpdesk technology to log and respond to any queries they have, including post-course helpdesk support for any outstanding learning issues where they need our support. Click here for more on our portals.
- How can I assess their performance and offer support for under- or over-performers?
- Do I keep the grads together or break them up?
This is a perennial dilemma for clients. Best practice has changed over the past 10 years. Culturally firms have been keen to keep divisions together to promote understanding for future integrated work. For example capital markets understanding the regulatory and risk challenges that wealth management have when promoting new structures to a wary client base...or investment banking understanding the information that structured products needs before building a hedging solution for an M&A transaction. The difficulty that arises is that the products and services have increased in complexity over the past 10 years, requiring more and more specialisation within each training programme. One solution has been to run a combined series of days where all divisions attend, focusing on the DNA of your firm and your client base. The divisions break into their respective areas for specific training. To ensure integration is maintained, a group-wide simulation can be used where all divisions work together to service a client. We run evening events to help maintain initial bridges.
- Is training best on- or off-site?
Facilitating a graduate programme at your premises can be an easier option if you are involving senior managers from your firm to present (something that we often recommend). It often also allows graduates to orientate themselves within your building. If you choose to do this, you will have the full support of our graduate client services team who will be available at the start of each day to help prepare and set up the room and ensure all props are in place.
However, if the preference is to hold the training off-site, where the graduates are not exposed to the demands of their future line managers, we are able to facilitate this at our training centres - either in London, Singapore, New York or Dubai
- What's the optimum graduate programme length?
If you are planning to rotate your graduates around different business areas, a short, sharp programme introducing your organisation and the financial markets will work well. If your graduates already know the areas where they'll eventually be working, a longer "immersion" programme will be required to ensure that they understand all aspects of the world.
- Regulatory exams - before, middle or after?
We are able to accommodate benchmark exams at any stage. Historically, we recommended that graduates sit their exams towards the end of their programme. This gives them the advantage of having had the full suite of technical training as well as the exam specific course. However, if your culture permits and you can instil a disciplined approach early on, there are some instances where the regulatory exam can be taken before the main programme.
- What administration support should I expect from my vendors?
Modern graduate programmes are logistic behemoths dealing with everything from real-time communication with graduates on the last minute change of a line manager presentation through to offering mentoring support for those that have failed a weekly assessment. You should be able to ask your training partners for as much or as little administrative support as you require. At 7city we have a dedicated graduate client services team who are on hand to answer any administrative queries and organise all of the logistics surrounding the training programme. Click here to meet the team.
