From Banking to Graduate Recruitment
My career path is very non conventional! I graduated from Bristol university and started at Lazard as an analyst, I spent a wonderful 8.5 years in the Financial Advisory business including two secondments in our NY and HK office. Throughout my time, I got exposure to a large number of sectors from Industrials to Retail to TMT and thoroughly enjoyed working with international clients and colleagues. I then transitioned into the HR team to help lead our graduate recruitment and training and development efforts and whilst the role is hugely different, I understand the type of person that will be successful at Lazard and get to help inspire and attract new talent into the business which is equally very rewarding!
I am responsible for finding the very best people to join us
I am responsible for our analyst, intern and spring intern programmes...this includes everything from attraction (marketing campaigns, events) to application process to offers to designing the training programmes. I really enjoy getting to know candidates through their application journey and given our size, we can provide much more support and guidance to these candidates.
I also look after our training and development programme across Europe. This is a continuous learning programme that we offer to analysts, associates, VPs and Directors and not only provides important training to our people but also provides an excellent networking opportunity.
Interacting and connecting with students
Attracting students is tough! It is a hugely competitive market and with so much choice. However, I strongly feel that the Lazard proposition is unique and the size of our firm fosters a very special working environment which is hard to find in this industry. We are collegiate, personable and genuinely passionate about what we do.
Stay open minded and true to your self on what you enjoy doing
We are not looking for the perfect analyst who ticks all the boxes from day one and you absolutely do not need to have done anything related to finance to apply. We look for people who we believe have the potential for us to help grow and develop to be the very best. We look for people who are genuinely interested in what we do and get excited about the transactions we get involved in. That curiousity of mind is important to demonstrate. We look for strong interpersonal and communication skills as these will be needed from day 1 as you build relationships with your teams, colleagues and clients. We encourage you to enjoy the interview process and allow us to get to know you - we are just as interested in your personality and individuality as your academic and extra-curricular achievements.
Our Spring Insight Programme is recognized as one of the best
We introduced our Spring Insight Programme in 2015 and since then it has been evolving and going from strength to strength. This really is a great platform for us to engage with students early and to give them the opportunity to explore what a potential career could look like with us and in the industry. Our programme was designed to be as interactive as possible with banker led sessions, technical training to introduce students to some basic financial concepts but the highlight has to be the workshadowing session with our analysts. Students get to spend real time on the floors and immerse themselves into the role on an analyst. I don't think you could get a better insight into what we do!