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MIF Students Travel to London for Finance Firm Visits
A group of 13 Master in Finance students traveled to London to visit a dozen top firms, meet with IE Business School alumni and network with professionals working in some of the best financial institutions in the world such as Credit Suisse, Oaktree Capital, Macquarie, Mercer, among others.
The trip is one of the two international finance experiences that IE Business School offers its Master in Finance students. The other experience, which occurred right before the London trip, was to another of the largest finance capitals in the world: New York City.
“It is one thing to learn a subject in a classroom, and it is an entire stepped-up experience to learn sitting in the offices across the table of people who are doing the job in two of the largest financial services centers in the world”
Dr. Kevin Spellman, better known as Coach to his students
During their trip to London, students visited twelve firms and had nine meetings over the course of two days, including: Oaktree Capital, Taconic Capital, Macquarie, Essentia Analytics, Three-Hills Capital, Mercer, Principal Global Investors, Northfield Information Systems, OptiRisk, Alexandria Technologies, Institutional Shareholder Services and Credit Suisse. They also had a few sightseeing events and an alumni-student gathering. The visits addressed different aspects of finance – venture capital, private equity, investment banking, securitized assets, long-only investment managers, hedge funds, sell-side analyst, manager selection, big data, fintech, financial planning, stocks and bonds, quantitative investment analysis, and behavioral investment analysis. Participants met analysts, chief investment officers, portfolio managers, investment bankers, among other professionals.
Alumni and students identify these kinds of trips– which IE has conducted for a decade– as career milestones and the best opportunity to learn.
“I got the chance to meet experienced professionals in the fields I am interested in and ask them questions about their professional paths and what they are currently doing. As a result, I not only expanded my professional network but also learned more about the job responsibilities and the companies they work at, as well as graduate and internship opportunities at those companies,” said Petar Atanasov, one of the students who attended the London trip.
In addition, some students feel like they gained or refined their soft skills. “I believe this trip also helped me develop my soft skills such as self-esteem, character, communication skills especially when dealing with people of experience, which will be a helpful step in networking for the future,” said Karim Khalife.
The students, who are currently undergoing a vigorous period of studying and job applications, were able to connect with people who have undergone the same process and are now seeing the results of their hard work.
“After months of a lot of studying and tons of applications it was also very refreshing to meet people who have gone through the same process and come out of it successfully. More specifically, meeting with IE Alumni who were once in our shoes and have been able to land jobs in the best firms in finance was a very enriching experience,” said José Hernández.
MIF students said they felt like all their work will pay off. “Your time at IE is defined by the effort you put into it but it is important to note that whatever you put in, you get back in far larger quantities,” said Aaron Jay Fleishman.