Compliance Trainee (Wealth Management) Review

I work within the Wealth Management Compliance Team. My daily tasks include, reviewing staff trading, transaction and reporting cases which may arise, monitoring and surveillance including suitability reviews and have responsibility for reporting monthly and quarterly on personal account dealing.

I have learnt great deal about the Investment Management Industry since joining in August. I now feel I can put the knowledge and terms which originally meant little into practice. I have also developed my skills in reporting, communication and using necessary programmes especially Excel. Throughout the year there has also been training courses arranged by Schroders and Investment2020 and Schroders support the Claritas (Investment Foundations Certificate)

The culture is great at Schroders, everyone is friendly and approachable. If you have an issue it is easily resolved because of this friendly culture. I enjoy how much I am learning within my role and throughout the business, as there is a good culture of willingness to learn, and there is a new coffee connection in the firm to get people talking.

The support throughout the scheme has been great. My line manager and I have fortnightly one to ones to catch up and discuss any issues, or things I would/ could like to get involved in which is really helpful to have that open dialogue.

It is well structured in regards to your role and when the exam is to take place etc,. Some of the training is a little sporadic, and there could be more revision sessions for the Claritas. But the training is there and the sessions held by Investment2020 tend to be held by well established financial trainers in the City. As mentioned before, my manager and I have fortnightly meetings to catch up, and have reviews to give feedback.

There is support if you need it, this tends to be delegated to your line manager. My team have been very supportive in allowing/ suggesting I find out more across the business as they understand where you are place may not be the end goal of your career and they recognise that therefore it would be good for you to learn more about the whole business.

Again there is support if you need it. Sometimes people can be busy and therefore may take a while to get back to you, but I guess that is because of the size of the firm. Your line manager tends to be the go to for any support you may need, and if they can't help they'll generally find someone who can.

As I am a Graduate the salary is slightly lower than the average for a University Graduate. But for School Leavers I think the salary is reasonable, it could perhaps be a little higher bearing in mind the cost of travelling into London/ prices of rent. The pension and other benefits are very good and competitive.

Investment 2020 arrange a lot of social events outside of work for the trainees particularly. Within Schroders there are many social activities to get involved with including cooking classes, sports societies, comedy nights and more. You can also use up to 15 hours paid leave to go an volunteer.

Yes

It is a great foot in the door and gives you excellent exposure to a leading asset manager. If you are applying as a School Leaver it is a very good insight into the working world, and because it is only one year if you want to do University afterwards it is still an option.

The application process is an online application, video interview and then an assessment centre. At the assessment centre it comprises of an interview, in tray exercise (or at least for mine it did) then a group exercise at the end. Just make sure you are yourself, Schroders succeed because of diverse thinking, so it is OK to be yourself. If you endorse their values you will excel at Schroders.