Headstart Careers - Ernst & Young

Ernst & Young is one of the largest professional firms in the world and with Headstart Careers I visited their London headquarters, which is their main base. We were told about various opportunities which they offer such as Insight Day (1 day), EY Scholarship (3 years and runs alongside a degree and payed placement during the summer), EY Degree (4 years) and EY School Leaver (5 years). In order to stand a good chance of getting one of these opportunities, particularly the latter, you must have at least 300 UCAS points (BBB). There is an online application to fill out and the website is www.ey.com/uk/careers or email eyschools@uk.ey.com. We then got taught more about interview techniques such as: asking questions to show interest, mirror body language, do your research beforehand, make sure your message is clear and don't talk to them, build a conversation

Economist - Over to you, George

Last Monday, a credit rating agency threatened to strip Britain of their AAA rating. This was expected because in 2010 S&P (credit rating agency) gave Britain a 'negative outlook', however, they reverted back to stable. There was some positive news because it was announced that inflation fell to 3.6% in January from 4.2% in December. There was more bad news though because unemployment rose to 8.4% in the three months up to December, which is not good news for a country trying to grow. However, there is evidence that there is a trade off between unemployment and inflation in the short run, which suggests that when unemployment is low in an economy, there is a higher rate of inflation (this has not been proved in the long run though).

The best antidote for unemployment is growth, however, times do not look very prosperous when talking about growth. There are some things that will affect future growth, which the Bank of England cannot influence in any way such as Euro-area distress. Mervyn King has said that the MPC has its limits and that if George Osborne wants growth then he must do something about the situation himself

LSE Conference 2012 - Metro Bank

Metro Bank is Britain's first high street store in over 100 years. The entrepreneur behind this idea is Anthony Tompkinson. Metro Bank does not want to be seen to be like other banks because it is open 7 days a week until 8, which is very different to the banks that we know. Their staff work in two different shifts, which is why they can work such long hours. Metro Bank have a different ethos to other banks, because their main focus is on customer service. For instance, they allow dogs in store, so that people feel more welcome. When you join Metro Bank you will get an account within 15 minutes with a debit card. This is a very different view on banking, however, it seems to be popular with people. Metro Bank received a 94% satisfaction rating, whereas Santander received a 67% dissatisfaction rating.

The money for the start of Metro Bank was raised, however, on the Monday after Lehman's Brothers collapsed and Metro Bank lost about £65 million of its funding, which was a major setback for them.

Metro Bank are unique from other high street banks because they act more like a retailer and want to be seen more like a retailer. Their emphasis is on customer satisfaction, which is contrary to how a lot of high street banks work. Their employees get their bonuses for how helpful a customer has deemed them NOT for how much money they have made for Metro Bank. I think that this is a very interesting concept, which was copied from an American bank, which proves to be very successful. People asked whether Metro Bank had to change their model for the British because Americans do not always want the same things, however, Metro Bank has changed nothing in 18 months and is proving to be very successful.

More on conference to come

Headstart Careers - Goldman Sachs

Went to Goldman Sachs for a Headstart career course, it was very interesting and showed how there are lots of roles at Goldman Sachs that are not all finance based. They showed us the best way to get on to the scholarship programmes, which are listed on their website. We then got given advice on how best to fill in job application forms and the the Dos and Don'ts of a job interview. One of the most appealing of working for Goldman Sachs would definitely be the travel opportunities, which they very much encourage you to do. Goldman Sachs are not interested in purely finance degrees, they are after a much broader range of degrees because they will give you the necessary training. For example, one of their most recent researchers did a biology based degree, which I was amazed at because I was under the illusion that to work in this industry you had to have a finance degree.

Who Cares? - Richard Walker

This is a short book, however, it is very concise and helps to explain our current banking system. His analysis shows that we are capable of avoiding another banking crisis. This book gives a new aspect to look at the financial world from how everything started to how it is now. Throughout the book, Walker is giving an alternative to the system that western governments have chosen so far. This book does not give you the answer to anything, however, it gives you the facts and lets you decide for yourself.