Insight Week Review

The four day insight at Fidelity was extremely enjoyable. A mixture of talks, question panels and group games made for a varied and interesting week. The games in particular, including a stock picking game and a sales and marketing game gave us a chance to think independently and get to know other members of the group, which I definitely enjoyed. Fidelity made an effort to keep the week enjoyable by taking us out for cocktails on one evening as well as a trip to the London Eye on a further evening. Overall, the experience was great!

I was particularly impressed by how valued I felt at Fidelity. The people who took time out of their working day to present to us were both grads as well as heads of the company- nobody felt that they were too important to speak to us about their job and how much they loved the company. People were always happy to answer questions and everyone who presented to us came and joined us for an in-house curry night at the end of the week to allow us to ask further questions. This was a further example of how people from all over the business seemed happy to take the time to speak to us and make us feel really valued.

The HR team at Fidelity looked after us for the whole week and having the same familiar faces guiding us to the next talk or activity was really helpful. I never felt as though I was without support and knew I could ask questions to the HR team whenever I needed to. They were extremely useful in offering guidance about future internships and grad schemes.

The insight week helped me to acknowledge the transferable skills that I will gain from my History degree. Further skills I developed were working more efficiently in a team and being able to network with employees. I think these will both help me in my studies but more so in future applications for internships and graduate schemes. I feel that I now have a much better idea of the skills required for a role in investment management and the scheme really helped to start to develop these qualities.

The insight week was very seamlessly structured with every day running to schedule. Each day was different and the activities were really varied with great organisation ensuring that everyone knew where to be and at what time. The only improvement to the structure that could have been included would be a greater focus on the 'work shadowing' organised for the final morning which could have been slightly better organised as we didn't end up getting to spend time in the investment floor but in fact had further presentations. Whilst these were helpful, a slightly better structure could have meant we got a greater insight in to the day-to-day roles in asset management.

The general atmosphere was great. All the fellow students on the insight week were lovely ensuring the time was a lot of fun. Everyone who came to present to us was friendly and made us feel welcome and valued, and that nothing was too much trouble. Although it was a full on week and we were all exhausted by the end, each day was a lot of fun and there was a great overall atmosphere.

There was a group of 25 of us on the insight week so with such a large group, there wasn't a large emphasis on personal training. However, I definitely felt that I learnt a great deal particularly in the group games. The stock picking game was a definite example of personal training as we developed the skills required to succeed in asset management and were then given feedback on our pitches by people working in the industry at Fidelity.

The insight gave a great insight in to the nature of a full time role with the company. Those who gave us presentations were honest and helpful in their answers about what their role involved. The only way in which we could have gained a better insight would have been to spend time shadowing an employee. Whilst employees were helpful in answering questions about having a full time role, we weren't able to gain first-hand experience.

The company culture was extremely evident throughout the week with every employee who presented to us placing a great deal of emphasis on Fidelity's ethos. I came away feeling like I understood the advantage of working for a family-owned private company and the way that this was reflected in the company culture.

We were given talks and presentations thats spanned many areas of the company, as well as information on the range of internships and graduate schemes offered by Fidelity. This was particularly helpful in aiding me to decide on my future career path and again, those working in the investment side as well as the HR team were happy to answer any questions concerning a future career at Fidelity.

All of my transport costs were reimbursed within 2 days of me emailing the accounts department and outlining my journeys as well as photographing receipts. I was very impressed at the value they were willing to reimburse me and the speed in which the accounting department processed my request and transferred my money to my bank account.

There were many opportunities for networking and meeting other employees of the company or firm. These were in the form of in-house lunches and dinners to which employees joined us. These were particularly useful opportunities as spending a meal chatting to someone in a certain role often gave a more realistic insight to their job than the formal presentations we were given.

The networking and social event opportunities were really helpful in getting to know the employees better as well as gaining a better understanding of their genuine opinions about their role int he company, the graduate training schemes, and the company culture. I was impressed by the number of employees that volunteered to come and join us for dinner and give up their time to meet us.

There were presentations concerning the activities that employees can get involved in outside of work as well as the employees themselves willing to chat about such activities during networking events. These included mainly charity and fundraising initiatives such as fun runs and cake sales. They sounded like a great opportunity to get to know colleagues better as well as become more involved in the company.

I would definitely recommend this insight to a friend. It was fun and informative and great way to understand more about asset management and Fidelity in particular. The other students on the insight week were a lot of fun and everyone who spoke to us was friendly and welcoming. The organised activities such as the cocktail evening and the London Eye trip made the week extra special and definitely worth recommending to a friend.