Lucy Nicholson
Graduate Trainee
Citigroup

Tell me about the graduate training programme?

I've been on the programme for almost two years. I've spent about two to three months in each team. So far I've been in stock settlements, corporate actions, treasury settlements, data management, compliance, valuations and fund management support.

My time in compliance was slightly different to the other teams. But the company likes to give you one or two placements that are not specific to Investment Operations so you can see the whole picture.

Do you have a mentor?

When I joined my mentor was someone who was a couple of years ahead of me on the graduate training programme. We met up every couple of weeks to start with. It was good to have the advice of someone who had been through it all before.

Now my mentor is the Investment Administration training officer. Now I've settled in it is much less formal, but I know I can just go and talk to him when I need to.

What aspect of the programme do you find most rewarding?

I really like being able to move round teams and see how each team links together. I'm more than half way through the programme and things are really coming together in my head. When I come away from a team and go into another team I can see how it is linked together, which is great. I'm really getting the bigger picture.

It's also good because I've got to know a lot of people who are in the company. At the end of the programme when I do get placed in a role, I'd like to think that I will be able to do that more effectively because I will know how everything else fits in around me.

What would you say to others considering a career in Investment Operations?

Coming into a career in Investment Operations after University has definitely been the right choice for me. There are a wide variety of opportunities available within Investment Operations, and on a daily basis it is challenging and varied.

How would you explain what Investment Operations is?

It's the administration side of fund management. After the fund managers have traded, we do everything after that; from dealing with the brokers to pricing all the funds. It's really important to keep the information on the system up to date, as it's used by a variety of different people including the fund managers.