Ryan works as a rates sales analyst in capital markets. He joined Dresdner Kleinwort in August last year as a graduate trainee after completing a degree in economics at the London School of Economics in 2005.
What does your job entail?
I sell European government bonds to institutional investors (asset managers, pension funds, insurers). I sit on a trading floor and spend most of my day on the phone talking to clients and following the markets. As well as speaking to clients daily, I usually go out about twice a week socialising with different clients – dinner, lunch, after work drinks and so on.
What was the Dresdner Kleinwort graduate trainee programme like?
I applied specifically to this desk; the training programme was essentially a 10-week classroom-based crash course in finance, covering things such as bond maths, options, equities and accounting. After that I had three weeks' regulatory training to get my FSA exams. There were about 80 of us on the graduate programme altogether, but we were divided into classes of 20. There was also a day's training in communication and presentation skills where they brought in experts from the RADA drama school. We had to do lots of role play, which was a lot of fun.
What did you feel you got out of it?
You can only be taught so much in a classroom setting, as a lot of what you learn in this type of role you learn on the job because it happens on the trading floor. My team is very supportive, and I am encouraged to ask questions, but going through the graduate training programme was invaluable because it gave me a chance to learn away from the hectic day-to-day and to ask as many questions as I liked. It was very intensive, and I got to speak to and question a lot of senior people, which was a real opportunity."
Ryan's tips
- Have a good idea of why you want to do the job. You don't have to know everything, but you do need to understand that sales is different to trading and so on.
- Ask as many questions as you can, especially from experts and senior people. Enjoy it!
- Speak to previous graduates and look at what's being offered. A programme of one or two weeks, for instance, may not have much depth to it.
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