Dario Luciano Merlo

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Laurea Triennale in Scienze Politiche (economics curriculum)
Laurea Magistrale in Economics and Political Science
Research Master in Economics in Belgium through a joint-degree agreement
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In January I will start working at Bloomberg in London
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I would like to talk about the last two experiences and answer (as best as I can) all your questions about your future career or postgraduate studies
 email: merlodario@hotmail.com

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Almost all over Europe Masters are equivalent to our
Lauree Magistrali
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A Master is a positive, but not necessary, step to finding a graduate job in Economics or Finance
Three main advantages of studying abroad:
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Learning a language
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A different teaching system (more individual work)
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Career services

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London is the European financial hub and many multinational companies have their EMEA headquarters there
Competitive graduate salaries (very min.
£20k a year + living in London is not more expensive than living in Milan)
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Language advantage: English students often do not know foreign languages well enough
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Human capital investments
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Diversity policies
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No slavery job contracts

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Language disadvantages: Knowing English is not the same as working in English
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Very competitive job market
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Sometimes very long working hours
Flexible job market (forget about “contratti a tempo indeterminato”)
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And you also have to leave everything (family, friends, etc.) behind

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Future graduates almost all over the world start applying now for jobs starting in September 2011
Why?
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Companies have from January to June to select candidates
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Graduates can secure a job after their graduation
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Excellent graduates will receive several offers and accept their favourites (optimal jobs allocation)

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Simply go on companies websites and look for the
“careers” section
Or check the following websites:
 www.eurograduates.com
(Europe)
 www.careersineurope.hobscons.com
(Europe)
 www.graduate-jobs.co.uk
(UK)
 www.milkround.com
(UK)
 www.targetjobs.co.uk
(UK)
 www.gradireland.com
(Ireland)
 www.graduate-jobs.com
(US)

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Apply early
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Most jobs require a 2:1 (about 100/110) as a minimum score to apply and/or a certain amount of UCAS points (at least 80/100 as your high school final grade is generally acceptable)
However, every grade is important!
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Use British English for applications in the UK and
American English for applications in the US
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Do some research on the companies you are applying for and show what you learned
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If you do not have a background in finance, take a quick look at some slides/books about basics finance and accounting
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Distinguish yourself

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Keep it simple
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Avoid using the European CV template
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Make the most out of your work experiences
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Gain some work experience, if you have none!
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Generally show off, but without exaggerations

It should never be too long and consist of three parts:
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Why are you applying to this particular job and this particular company
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Why do you think you would be a good candidate
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What makes yourself better than other candidates
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It is your opportunity to make your application interesting enough to have an interview
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Check the grammar twice, ask your friends to read your Cover Letter and learn by reading theirs

Do more research about the company you've applied for.
Every interview is different, but do expect some common questions:
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Why would like like to work for a specific company (and not for his competitors)?
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Why did you apply for this specific role?
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What skills or experiences make you suitable for this role?

Expect some tricky questions, there is not a correct answer, but how you reply tells a lot about you:
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What is your dream job? / Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
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What would you do if after 1 year you understand this is not the job for you?
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Tell me about a financial news that stroke you in the last two weeks.
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How would you improve our products/services?
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What would you do if you make a mistake that led one of our clients to lose millions of pounds/euros?
Do you have any question for us?

Graduates in economics and finance have a wide range of opportunities, very different between each other:
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Consulting
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Finance and accounting and auditing
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Banks and financial services
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Public policies
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Others

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Often interesting and require travelling
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Usually very well paid
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Surely very demanding in terms of efforts and working hours
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Interviews require a careful preparation
Management consulting: McKinsey, Accenture, Deloitte,
Boston Consulting Group, Oliver Wyman, etc.
Economic consulting: London economics, NERA, Frontier
Economics, DotEcon, RBB Economics, etc.

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Strongly formative, obtain lifelong qualifications
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Very secure jobs
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Transferable skills and opportunities worldwide
Big 4: KPMG, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte, Ernst
& Young
Others: Grant Thornton, PKF, etc.

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Corporate and branch jobs
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Often require excellent mathematical skills
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A branch job allows to work closer to your family or friends
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A corporate jobs is usually more demanding and rewarding
-Banks: HSBC, RBS, UniCredit, Intesa San Paolo,
Deutsche Bank, ING, MedioBanca, Commerzbank,
Barclays, Citigroup, Monte dei Paschi di Siena, Banco
Santander, Standard Bank, Bank of China

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Formative jobs
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Often require excellent mathematical skills
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Extremely rewarding, extremely demanding and sometimes risky
-Investments: Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, BoA Merrill
Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Nomura, Wells Fargo,
Macquarie, Lizard, etc.
-Rating companies: S&P, Fitch, Moody's
-Financial services and information: Bloomberg,
Thomson Reuters, FactSect, Capital IQ, SNL financial etc.

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Interesting jobs if you're interested in politics
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Selective and bureaucratic recruitment processes
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Rewarding and not always demanding www.eurobrussels.com
www.euroeconomistjobs.com
jobs.euractiv.com
Europa.eu/epso

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No-profit and international cooperation
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Opportunities in almost every company, mostly as analysts and assistants.
If you like technology why not considering:
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Google
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Facebook
 eBay
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Microsoft
 bwin