Consultant of the Month – August 2018

Domestic Settlement Analyst, RBC

University of Westminster: Business Economics

I joined FDM shortly after I graduated as I knew some people from my university course had already joined. I have been with FDM just over a year, I trained through the RRC stream and have been placed with RBC ever since. I have really enjoyed my role as Domestic Settlement Analyst at RBC and developed from a new joiner to a fully-fledged member of the team. As I have developed I have been given more responsibilities, including training a new member of the team. The best thing about my time with FDM is working with one of their clients and having the opportunity to develop my skills and gain experience in the industry that I want to work in.

Change Analyst, Deutsche Bank

University of Southampton: English

I joined FDM in November 2016 after graduating that same year. I chose to join FDM as it gave me an inside track into a very competitive industry. As a result, I was thrilled to be placed at Deutsche Bank within the Portfolio Governance function as a Change Analyst in 2017. My role is varied and involves audit remediation activities, executive reporting, managing the central SharePoint site and collating the initiative’s delivery updates into the senior monthly governance forums. Working at the initiative level allows me to see how the overarching strategy is influenced by multiple portfolios and how they all slot together. My placement so far has been fast-paced, wide-ranging and engaging; I never know what could come round the corner and that keeps my role and day-to-day activities exciting. Being chosen as a winner for Consultant of the Month is an honour and culmination of a year’s dedication to the role, client and my own professional development. I look forward to continuing to make an impact within my role and represent FDM to the best of my ability onsite.

Grace has been part of the Portfolio Office team for eight months. As part of this team, we have recently been subject to both internal and external audit reviews, on top of an already heavy workload. Through her work on the audit, but also as part of the wider portfolio office team, Grace has made a direct positive contribution to improving risk and control management and overall governance compliance. Grace has shown commitment, dedication and maturity in her approach to work, well in advance of her age and position. She is a trusted and integral part of our team and has a good reputation within the department as a ‘safe pair of hands’, with whom any tasks can be given and successfully managed to completion. She admirably coped with the challenge and maintained a positive and proactive attitude throughout.

• Head of Portfolio Office at Deutsche Bank

SharePoint Developer, General Dynamics Mission Systems UK

Leeds Beckett University: Music Technology

I am coming up to my first on-site anniversary after starting my training with FDM in late March 2017. I decided to join FDM because I thought the opportunities and the training available would be invaluable as I perused a career in technology. I currently work in a team of four, including myself. I work under a technical lead who is experienced in SharePoint and have two UK MoD apprentices working alongside us. The role has been challenging both in having to learn SharePoint on-the-fly as I’ve completed work over the past year and also having to effectively write our own requirements and build a system based on the ideas that the MoD and GD teams put forward to us. My nomination was quite a surprise but it feels great to have the hard work that me and my team have put in over the past year recognised by both my on-site management and by FDM.

FDM has provided us with a candidate who is knowledgeable, professional and the overall service is excellent. Scott is responsible for the development of the programme’s collaborative Business Management System and delivers under an Agile framework which requires accurate forecasting and high standards. Despite being driven to deliver updates to an extremely tight schedule and ensuring 100% adherence to the delivery plan, Scott has provided a professional outlook, objective view and delivered on promises. He has learned new skills, overachieved on deliveries required and participated in developing a reputation for the team which is highly regarded through the business based on results. He has been instrumental in demonstrating to our apprentices how development within SharePoint is instantiated to enable knowledge transfer – he is a credit to my team and FDM.

• Programme Manager at General Dynamics

Project Analyst, National Grid

Brooklyn College: Accounting

A friend recommended FDM to me while I was job hunting in early 2017. He informed me of FDM’s PMO/App Support work stream. After discussed the role with him, I decided to apply and began my journey with the FDM academy in March 2017. I was placed a few months later on-site with National Grid in May. I’ve had a great experience there so far, and am treated as an integral part of the team with ever-increasing responsibilities. I am seen as a fundamental resource on all of the projects I am involved with. My time at the academy was the best thing about the time I spent with FDM – every day was an awesome experience. From my time there, I have made many great friends who, even though we all are now located in different areas, I still speak to regularly, and we continue to support each other. The culture at FDM is engaging, and during my time on-site I have regularly been contacted by FDM for both scheduled reviews and social events. FDM also helped me with my move to Boston when National Grid relocated me. I would recommend FDM to anyone struggling to kick-start their career out of college, or looking to change industries from their current employment. Thank you for recognizing the effort put into this job each day, the award is greatly appreciated.

Presales Consultant and product specialist, Simcorp

Western University: Accounting

Post-graduation, the most important thing to me was industry exposure and career guidance. I found both of these with FDM when I started in 2016. I saw the two-year placement program as a great way to gain experience and build my professional network. The best thing about my time with FDM was the people and friends I made through the program, who have provided the background for lots of fun stories and fond memories over the past two years. I feel incredibly fortunate to have joined a global powerhouse in the investment management software space like SimCorp, where the work is as challenging as it is stimulating. In my role, I have travelled to different cities and am exposed to real business problems and front-to-back office solutions across the investment lifecycle. I’d like to thank my team at SimCorp for their guidance and trust. It is incredibly enabling to work with a team that believes in you. I’d also like to thank all the trainers, staff, and account managers of FDM Canada, with a special shout out to my former trainer John for first introducing me to this unique SimCorp role. I am honoured to receive this award and will continue to deliver results to the best of my abilities. I said this when I joined, and it has not changed since, FDM cultivates a young and hungry culture. For those that are looking for the right industry exposure and access, there are incredibly substantial benefits to the program. I encourage everyone to take on a two-year and five-year perspective of where you want to be, and how the FDM experience gets you there.

Currently, we are facing a high demand due to a growing number of opportunities and a dense sales pipeline. Tristan has stepped up his game to support direct, external sales cases. He is not only exceeding expectations in his current role, but also has an outstanding ability to learn complex technology, the motivation to follow through beyond the given objective, and performs highly with a positive client impact at a senior level in a challenging and critical role. He has grasped a mix of skills that few master so quickly. He has faced the challenge of managing the variety and number of sales cases added to his responsibility while keeping his current projects alive. He has moved several sales opportunities closer to close. Our experience with Tristan has impacted our view of FDM very positively. Tristan is a prime example of FDM finding and allocating tech and business savvy as well as career hungry candidates. We would recommend FDM to other companies because FDM delivers.

• Senior Presales Manager at SimCorp

Business Analyst, UBS AG

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology: Chemistry

I decided to join FDM because they provide professional training in many different areas including general skills necessary for working in a corporate environment, which are very important. After a great experience at the FDM Academy with the help of their experienced and helpful trainers, FDM gave me a chance to be placed with UBS, one of the biggest private banks in the world. As a junior BA, even though I had been trained at FDM’s Academy, I still didn’t have much hands-on experience. With the acceptance and guidance of my team at UBS, I was able to apply the knowledge I acquired at FDM to my tasks on site. It was a great opportunity and good exposure for me. FDM is a good platform for those who are passionate about IT but lack chances and opportunities. FDM’s trainers and account managers are more like mentors. Trainers are very helpful in teaching us both IT and soft skills. Account managers give useful and reflective feedback when conducting mock interviews to prepare for client interviews, and their comments meant a lot to me. Additionally, the culture at FDM is very diverse. I was always a bit shy, however, I now have many friends from all around the world by working at FDM. I also joined quite a lot of their organised events. I think this experience benefited me a lot, as I got used to working in a very diverse environment before I started my placement. I’d recommend FDM to anyone looking for a very good platform to connect young and passionate people without much experience in the corporate world.

Olivia is one of the key resources in our regulatory reporting project. Although it is her first assignment, she already leads a team of three to four people in the data review, with the team members located in both Hong Kong and Singapore, and makes sure that our client data in the report is accurate. She also makes sure that the bank complies with HK and SG tax regulation. Olivia is a fast learner; she picked up knowledge of our system in a short period of time. She is committed to her work and can finish the tasks assigned to her on time. When she finds issues with a project, she goes the extra mile to find out the root cause and recommends a solution to the project manager. Even with a tight project timeline, Olivia managed to complete the data clean-up and review on time, which is one of the key factors that allowed us to complete our project within the defined timeline. I would recommend FDM to other businesses because consultants from FDM are well trained and committed to the work assigned to them.

• Executive Director at UBS AG