Employability Trip: A career in Finance

The Careers and Employability Service travelled with 80 second-year students to the UBS offices in London to hear more about their placement schemes. The event was a first of its kind for UBS and designed for Kent students who might be interested in working in the financial sector in the future.

UBS provides financial advice and solutions to private, institutional, and corporate clients worldwide and has more than 70,000 employees in more than 50 countries. This trip to their London head-quarters was designed to encourage applications from students to take advantage of their placement opportunities. The day started with a welcome and overview of the application processes for placement year, followed by a panel of current placement students talking about their roles, which ranged from IT to investment banking working with high net-worth individuals and corporate clients. Kent students were given the opportunity to ask any and all questions they had about their placements, which included hints and tips on making it through the recruitment process and thriving in the first few weeks.

After this, students met with around 50 staff from across the business, networking over refreshments and canapes, making connections and gaining a better understanding of the bank and the roles within. James Corbin accompanying the students from Careers and Employability at the University said ‘This was the first event of this type for UBS and we will continue to build this relationship with UBS and other organisations.  The Kent students who attended impressed the team at UBS with their insightful questions and general professional approach to the day.  They attend wanting to know more, which was great to see, and it was a huge shame pulling them away from the networking at the end to catch the coach back’.

“The networking and IP panel session were insightful and a really great way to understand more about the company and job roles.” Henna Patel, BSc (Hons) Economics with a Year in Industry

This event is the first coach trip of this academic year, please check out the Careers and Employability Service events pages as more will be added in due course. The travel for the event was funded through the Work and Opportunities Fund which supports students in accessing unpaid work experience or attending insight events that will support their employability.  More details here.