OW gives advice on careers in banking

It was wonderful to welcome Diya Batra (OW 2021) to our careers’ slot this week – to hear more about her experiences since leaving MCS and her great advice for those considering a career in banking.

Reflecting on a Sixth Form during the Covid years, Diya explained how the mixture of mathematical and humanities skills developed through her A levels – in maths history, economics and Spanish – had given her an excellent basis to study Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Warwick University. It was there she joined the Finance Society and first began to explore opportunities in financial services. Many of her peers were gaining work experience within investment banks and this spurred her on to apply for finance-based internships in her second year, where she was able to explore the different areas of the sector – including investment banking, asset management, private equity, and corporate banking.

Indeed, Diya’s detailed account of the internship scene was incredibly useful to pupils already thinking about how best to use university as a springboard to work. Her advice was to apply early and although not essential, consider applying for placements during ‘spring weeks’ in first year, to get on the fast track to more substantial internships in the following year. She explained that a good number of interns are able to convert their longer summer placements into a graduate role and she too had joined the team she had previously interned in – at Standard Chartered.

Also valuable were her insights into a typical grad-scheme application process – which could include a paper stage of CV and application form, followed by online tests and a video or telephone interview stage. Interestingly, she shared that some processes now rely on AI, body language and so on. For those sifted, the next stage might involve an assessment centre at company HQ; an interview; written and analytical tasks; a group exercise; and presentation.

For Diya, having her successful internship turn into a job offer had really taken the pressure off in her final year.

As a new OW, Diya was a caller and talked to many OWs and parents during our 2021 Telethon appeal. It was fantastic to catch up with Diya’s news and hear about her successful start to a career in corporate finance.