Derivatives Ops Equities Area - GSP/PROP Trade Support Review

I found my placement very interesting, I was always learning new concepts which kept me on my toe's and kept my job challenging. I was given a fair amount of responsibility booking out trades that were for alot of money.

All my team were very welcoming when I first started my placement. They were all very approachable and had alot of time for me when I didnt understand something. They were always prepared to sit down witn me and go through something which helped my progression throughout the placement.

My manager carried out different tasks from me and was busy most of the time with meetings and deadlines. However, he was always open to answer questions that I had and would sit down with me if I needed it. We had one to ones every other week to catch up and to evaluate my progress, which helped and made me feel like a valued member of the team. Also my manager set out a training schedule for me in which was updated every month. There were levels in most applications I used, obviously starting for level 1 when I started and working my way up to 4 which meant confident in using the application, this all helped.

Some days I was very busy and I would'nt have ten minutes to spare due to a deadline needed to be met or just because of the volume of trades that was coming through. But then other days it wasnt as busy due to a lack of activity from the traders. However, overall the balance was very good and my team helped me out when the work load increased.

I was given tasks to do that were simply for me which meant I had to carry them out on my own which gave me responsibility. However, there were times when it was hard to give me complete responsibility as the complexity of the task and the amount of money involved. However, in these tasks I always helped out and carried out my own part of the task.

Most things I learnt I will be able to take forward with me, there are a few applications that are used industry wide and also I have learnt some concepts that will help me in my studies at university in my final year.

I would say there was the right amount of balance in the office, my team knew when to have a laugh and when to get down to work. This made it easy to work and also to have a laugh with the members on my team, a great group of people.

The whole set up of the placement was brilliant, from the HR personnel to the members on my team. The HR employees were always on hand to answer any questions that we had. We were given a schedule for the first two months on our first day so we were aware of what we had in store for the forst two months, this just shows how organised it was.

I had constant training from members on my team. Also there were courses that we could go on throughout the year, of which were really helpful. I had a meeting with a member on my team every other week to go through my progress and my training schedule. A member on my team set up a depth chart to show where all members on my team are and where we should be giving a time scale for this progress in terms of all the activities we carry out.

I would love to gain a graduate job with Morgan Stanley. I would say most placement students all stand a chance of gaining a job because they take alot of their graduate roles from their placement students. The position is likely to be within the Operations department as well, but they say changing departments after a given time is possible.

All the placement students were really nice and everyone got on which was good. We went out for drinks regularly which was good to socialise outside of work hours. Also we have Industrial Placement nights out in London which brought many of the placement students together.

I lived at home during my placement, with normally a 40 minute communte which wasnt too bad at all. I would say that the housing in and around Canary Wharf was fairly expensive but the housing is of a good standard. The social life in Canary Wharf is lively during the week on most nights with bars and restaurants in Canary Wharf, however on weekends it is dead as everyone is at home or in the city.

There are lots of bars and restaurants within Canary Wharf, which are packed out during week nights as people normally go for a drink after a stressful day at work. However at the weekends, Canary Wharf is dead as most people go home of head into the city! However, during the week there are is a good selection of restaurants to eat at after work and go out with friends from work.

We got emails of social events that the firm were holding, of which we were urged to egt involved in. The main one that I took part in was the JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge, which is a 5km run through London of which loads of companies take part in and there are food and drinks supplied after the race of which is a really good social night. There was also a Barclays Capital Rugby competition between Goldman Sachs, Barclays Capital and a couple of other firms with a BBQ afterwards. Also there were a number of football teams within the firm, whatever standard you are. I personally played for the main Morgan Stanley 11-a-side team in which we are in a London league and are entered into a cup competition as well, great fun and get to meet lots of new people.