Ronak joined Lehman Brothers' graduate training programme last autumn after completing a computer science management degree at Warwick University. He now works in a team of two within the equities mid-office region of the bank's global portfolio trading support.
What does your role involve?
It is all about handling the bookings and confirmations for portfolio equity trades and sorting out any discrepancies or difficulties. As soon as it leaves the desk and the front office, we take it under our wing. We are the centre point after the trade leaves the floor.
What prompted you to go into operations?
All the way through school and university, numbers have always been the thing I have been strong on, so it was a logical step. I was also attracted to the problem-solving aspect of it. We are encouraged constantly to look at ways of improving how we work, to automate things more.
What does a typical day for you involve?
I get in at 7:30am and will check my emails from New York or Tokyo, and make sure everything has been properly booked out from yesterday. I'll then move on to the Asian bookings. You have to keep on top of the bookings during the day. You tend to get a lot of queries from London, New York and elsewhere, so it can get very busy. It is very reactive; there are new problems to solve every day, but if the front desk is quiet, then we can have a quiet day too.
Solving endless problems each day – isn't it frustrating?
No. It means every day is completely different, it is very dynamic. But it also means we are often under a lot of pressure from the traders and sales managers, as we are the first point of contact for them. You need to be able to handle it and you need to be good at dealing with people, something that is not often associated with operations.
Ronak's tips
- Try and look at how the role fits into the whole scheme of things, how it affects things downstream and how you might be able to improve the flow.
- Don't be afraid to ask questions. No one expects you to be able to do the job straight away, and that's the only way you are ever going to learn.
- Try to get some work experience or get on a graduate training scheme. Even if it's just temping in an office, sell things like how you've dealt with customer complaints or handled yourself on the phone.
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