Trainee Wealth Manager Review

By and large the people in the office were helpful and the nature of the job is that it attracts outgoing people, so the other graduates were really great. The role itself is dull though. The classroom training is interesting and there are certainly a lot of things to learn - it pushes you fairly hard given it's the first week. The second and third weeks spent in FX were actually great. The head of FX is a young guy who really makes an effort to help you learn and encourages you to get involved with all aspects of the department. This included market training and sales training. Fourth and fifth weeks were spent in recruitment and this is painful work. You're booking people into presentations to meet targets despite them not being qualified. It's thankless, hard work and you feel awful giving people hope when you know it's only to benefit you. The real job starts in Client Services (weeks 5 - 9) where you're essentially selling free pension reviews to would-be clients around the world. This was cold calling for 12 hours per day. It's as close to a boiler room sales environment as you could get. It's tough. You take rejections 99% of the time and there is a huge element of luck in which countries you are allocated. This obviously affects your results. Eventually the aim is to get clients to transfer their pensions off-shore. Now I couldn't tell if this really was the right thing for clients long term as there was so much negative press around them. But of course, deVere is at its heart a sales firm. So getting a straight answer on this was difficult. To my knowledge the company doesn't actively rip people off and the staff in Malta were both knowledgeable in their fields Living in Malta was really good. Going out partying gets a bit boring after the first couple of weekends as it's all very similar. However, there are some hidden charms in terms of restaurants which are worth visiting.

There is a sense of camaraderie between the graduates which is fantastic. However, this is stimulated by the fact that management treat you like rubbish and use the threat of sending you home (sacking you) as motivation. I lost track of the number of times we were all told that we were completely expendable. This was from the CEO, head of training, head of recruitment, client services team... There was also a memorable example where one of my chubby colleagues experienced some awful abuse from one of the managers about his weight. This sort of behaviour is inexcusable, despite it being alcohol fueled.

Credit where it's due. There was ongoing training in sales techniques - how to overcome objections, for example. There were also regular meetings with the head of training to discuss our performance (although these were often just 'keep it up' conversations and lacked any constructive advice). I personally felt they were quite cagey about giving away how you were doing. There was also ongoing assistance available for the CISI exams should you require it. I felt very happy with that.

I'm afraid on this point it was one or the other. At the beginning of the Client Services rotation you would cold call for 12 hours per day which was exceptionally draining. However, towards the end of the rotation there was little point seeking any new work as it wouldn't come back from a client in time for it to score results. So this meant that there was a lot of time wasting. In the other departments I felt that I was busy and always had more work to do than there was time but this was how it should be. There was no thumb twiddling...

We were given set tasks within the department but there was very little room for independence. We were dealing directly with clients which was great but it was very much a boiler room environment.

SALES SALES SALES. There was a lot to be gained by this placement despite my complaints. You develop a very thick skin which is useful, and I now have a pretty good insight into the financial markets and the various products that are on offer. I also have a much better idea of what I want from my working environment, and it's not that.

Atmosphere was generally quite good. There was a definite buzz amongst the grads. But this sometimes became subdued particularly after the threats/ tellings off we received.

Exceptionally badly*. Don't expect to sign a contract before you fly out to Malta. And don't expect to sign one before you fly out to your location (if you decide to stay). * However, the individual departments are organised well. The scheme overall, not so much.

They liked to lord this point over us - how much they were investing in us. To my mind this actually was not that much. They paid for our CISI exams and they did provide us with training, but I felt this was probably only as much as they had to.

This is entirely up to the individual. You can stay with them until you can't afford to work / live any more or you can leave. There were a number of people who were fired during my time there (from various departments) due to performance. I would say if you meet a basic standard then they will employ you and then you have the opportunity to make money (and it could be a lot). Equally it could be nothing and this is the point I think a lot of people probably get to... but again it's very difficult to gauge what the staff turnover actually is. They're very closed off about this.

I couldn't have asked for a better crowd of grads. All really great guys. The manager in FX was fantastic too. The head of training even took us out a couple of times. I felt the 'treats' were to make an otherwise dull job more interesting though.

Malta is generally cheap. And they pay for your rent which is a MAJOR perk. Some people had to share rooms which wasn't great. But it was free. Food and taxis/ travel are expensive but booze is cheap and eating out isn't unreasonable.

It's fun. It gets old quick I suppose but the group of people made it fun all the same.

Most of the guys played in a 5-a-side football league. That was about it. There wasn't much in the district we lived in apart from a couple of local bars (€1.20 for a beer) and a McDonalds. It was a bit of a journey into Valetta.