Top tips for ambitious graduates
Experience and intricate industry knowledge are essential to career success. This philosophy has long been the cornerstone of companies’ hiring practices.
For recent graduates, however, the mention of experience – which they do not have – is frequently met with frustration, with many turning to unpaid internships as a solution.
Demanding hours with zero compensation are frequently regarded as unavoidable commitments that are necessary to gain a foothold in one’s industry.
In a stagnating economy, a graduate’s options and job opportunities can be further stifled by financial forces that drive decision-making.
All of these intersecting influences mean that the pivotal role of choosing the right company is often overlooked and underestimated.
The first company that ushers you into the working world invariably shapes your career’s trajectory.
Greater emphasis should thus be placed on selecting the right company, right out of the starting blocks.
We have chosen to highlight one particular programme that can assist you in this endeavour.
Monocle Solutions offers an exceptional, uniquely tailored Graduate Programme for young professionals that want to start a career in Financial Services.
The Monocle Analyst Graduate Programme provides tangible guidance and a usable framework for the parameters that should be shaping your decisions.
Monocle is an international consulting firm that works as a change execution partner for their banking and insurance clients.
The company offers a prestigious programme where participating analysts are picked from a hand-curated group of applicants, hailing from a wide variety of fields – including finance, engineering, mathematics, economics, and information science.
When selecting an applicant, the firm considers academic performance, but more holistically, they consider the applicant’s formative years as well as their individual personality and attitude.
Vitally, once the analysts are selected for the programme, they are immediately offered permanent employment at Monocle and earn competitive salaries.
Monocle’s CEO, David Buckham, notes that the collaborative environment and secured employment foster feelings of “camaraderie” and “goodwill” while allowing analysts to enjoy the “healthy competition” and social interactions.
Buckham also emphasises that “The original idea for the programme stems from the concept that if you take graduates with raw talent, the right personality and value systems, you can teach them the requisite knowledge, which allows them to flourish.”
During the programme, analysts are immersed in a growth-orientated environment.
Initially, they are taught how to navigate the corporate world, ranging from work ethic to effective and professional communication.
They are then exposed to core industry knowledge such as, inter alia, ‘The Fundamentals of Banking’, coding in SQL, and mastering business analysis.
There is equally a critical thinking element where analysts are engrossed in textual analysis, poetry and abstract thinking.
Throughout this process, there is constant input from the company’s C-suite.
This type of involvement is characteristic of Monocle’s prolonged investment in its employees.
Willie Ehlers, Monocle’s COO, reiterates this, saying, “It is critically important to choose the right company, for the right reasons.”
“You should weigh up the short-term gains versus your wider career.”
“Monocle, for example, aims to provide each employee with a clearly laid-out career path supported by world-class training, effective mentoring and progressive development.”
“Ideally what you want is to join a firm that focuses on your career and development as an individual, both technically by gaining skills, and socially through interactions and enjoying your work with colleagues.” – Patrick Byrne, Monocle’s Executive of People and Culture
Overall, there are numerous factors that should be taken into consideration when you accept job offers, internship opportunities or positions in graduate programmes.
The following checklist is inspired by insights from Monocle and will aid you in your selection process.
- Is the company reputable?
- Do they compensate you for your time?
- Will you have secured employment after the internship/programme?
- Are your skills being cultivated?
- Do the short-term gains measure up to your future career goals?
If you want to join a programme that allows you to say ‘yes’ to all of the above, then click here to apply to Monocle’s Analyst Graduate Programme.
Whether or not you sign up for Monocle’s programme, you should still be choosing the right company.
Click here to see if other positions at Monocle are more in line with your skillset.
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