Junior Analyst Review

I'm a Junior Analyst at Nomura, working in Portfolio Management. On a day to day basis I'll be making heavy use of Excel, SAP's Business Objects, and Microsoft SQL Server to develop, generate, and refine reports to support the Portfolio Management Office in making informed business decisions. A project I've been working on for the past month or so is the creation of a Global Project Reporting Dashboard which facilitates management insight into project details.

So far at Nomura I've completed my Level 3 apprenticeship in Data & Business in which I picked up various business and technical skills relating to project management, development, and support. Through the work I've completed at Nomura I've become highly proficient at manipulating and extending the capabilities of Excel, I've designed and implemented my own database schema and personally maintain its contents, I've learnt the fundamentals of Java, C#, and VBA, and I've garnered significant insight into the world of business - Particularly banking.

Working at Nomura is a pleasure, the people that work here are professional and friendly, my team are supportive when asked and my work is personally interesting. The company's culture has been high in its priorities in recent years and the results are plain to see - Nomura is very active in informing and advising its employees on professional conduct, the importance and relevance of the individual, and the latest in industry-wide standards. Overall Nomura is an extremely comfortable place to work.

My manager has always encouraged my efforts and expressed his satisfaction with my achievements in my role. Working for Nomura I've also received recognition for my work where it's impacted more than just my immediate team. Feedback is provided readily and in a constructive manner. I'm valued for my skills within my team, and am involved actively whenever the need arises.

Induction at Nomura is very well handled - With a number of days at the beginning of the programme scheduled for small groups of new-joiners to be educated on the basics of entering the company before they're fully placed in their workspace. Support is always available through various mediums, whether you ask colleagues, prompt your manager, or escalate to HR; Information is always readily available and there are well-defined structure for handling any scenario. Mentor programs at Nomura are largely what you make of it, willing participants will be assigned a 'Buddy'/Mentor who makes a point of being another point of contact for support - Listening to what you have to say and trying to facilitate or advise you on what you're asking for as best they can.

QA Provide assessor meetings at regularly scheduled 6-week intervals in which we discuss progress to date, completed coursework and tasks, and how we're getting on at work in general. In addition to these in-person meetings the QA support system exists to ensure that any apprentice can escalate a concern indefinitely until they feel satisfied with the steps taken. Information and advice is always available through points of contact with QA made available via e-Mail. QA make a point of taking the apprentice's satisfaction with both their training courses and workplace seriously and use them as metrics for their own success. Supporting the apprentices is definitely something they do well.

Nomura's HR team hold a strong attitude when it comes to supporting its employees and remaining available for providing information. My manager is always open to answering questions and works to provide me with new opportunities. Support is widely accessible and through many means, the company intranet alone contains a huge amount of material dedicated to informing and guiding employees.

The salary I receive as an employee with Nomura is more than adequate for my current living conditions, and is appropriate for the location and inherent costs of a London-based job. Nomura offer very reasonably priced cafeteria food of a high quality which easily competes with (And often outright beats) the cost of eating in London on a daily basis. Nomura also offset at least the immediate financial impact of travel costs to London by offering interest-free Travel Loans, turning large one time payments (Railcards/season passes for instance) into monthly salary-deduced payments instead.

Nomura is frequently hosting charity events, fitness and health schemes, and company activities. Notably Nomura chooses a charity to sponsor on a yearly cycle, dedicating all subsequent fund raising directly to that charity until the next one is determined - this fosters a larger community drive to support individual causes. There exist different sports teams, musical groups, and discussion forums.

Yes

As an employer Nomura is hard to fault; The workplace and amenities it provides are extremely comfortable, the support system it offers is rigorous, and the quality of life here is high. Generally speaking I've no complaints to make, and personally enjoy working at/for Nomura on a daily basis.

Take an interest in banking at large, but don't be afraid to not know - It's more important to be willing to learn and open to understanding than it is to be an expert off the bat. In interviews remain open and honest about yourself, your interests, and your skills - People are valuable for their attitudes and will to apply themselves just as much as their technical ability on the spot.