How did you find out about Royal Holloway?I attended an Economics Taster Day, organised by the University of London, which was all about studying economics at degree level. The Taster Day happened to be held at Royal Holloway; I had not heard anything about the College prior to that. Once I was there, immediately as you enter the campus, I just got the right feeling for the place. After the economics talk we were able to walk around campus and talk to current students. I spoke to two girls who were so enthusiastic and after that I knew that it was the place that I wanted to be. In addition, the course has a great reputation and I was able to combine my interests in Management and Economics in a joint honours programme.

Had you studied Economics before?I was studying Business but hadn’t done Economics at A Level, and part of my reason for attending the Economics Taster Day was to get a sense of how much the course differed from Management. Starting the course wasn’t too bad, though, as they did say that what you cover in A Level is also covered in the first couple of lectures in Year One. I did need to have Maths A Level, however; there is a course with lots of statistics and I think going into that without a sufficient level of background

knowledge would have been too difficult. I made sure I spoke to a lot of people about the course to prepare myself and decided that it was something I could catch up on.

What part of Economics particularly interests you?There are two strands to the course. The first is to do with numbers, statistics and is much more mathematical. The other is the social science aspect. By third year, I was most interested in themes like labour markets, economics in developing countries and so on. These courses emphasised reading papers to learn theory and then to see how that theory applied in practice.

What support was available to you?There is a lot of support from the academics. You are given all the relevant contact details at the start of the year and academics encourage you to come to see them during their office hours. The smaller tutorial groups are often taught by PhD students so they are another person to go to. Tutorial leaders would often put on additional sessions in which they would address a specific area of concern in very small groups of two to three people. They would sit with you until you understood what was going on!

Were you part of any societies?I went to Fresher’s Fayre in my first year and joined a range of societies: I mostly wanted to try as many new things as possible. As a result, I was a cheerleader, part of the Investment and Management Societies and also part of the rock climbing club for a while. The Investment Society has two parts to it; speakers from banks and other financial institutions are invited to speak at events and then there’s the investment side. I was in a media and technology group, responsible for researching and presenting back in a group of 5 or 6 about potential investment stocks and companies. It’s a great feeling when people invest in you. Joining societies in general was a great way of making friends with different people.

Could you talk about these experiences when you were interviewing for jobs?In most interviews there are lots of competency questions such as asking for examples of displaying leadership, team work or influence. Most of the examples I gave were drawn from my experiences in the societies. Nobody will have much working experience so it’s important that you are able to draw on other resources. I was told after interviews that my involvement with the Cheerleading Club really stood out as a good example of teamwork,

Great minds go on to

great places

Alumna Mica TownsendSubject Economics & Management Graduated 2010Place of Work Barclays WealthPosition Private Banker

Barclays is a leading global wealth manager, and the UK’s largest, with total client assets of £176.1bn. Wealth and Investment Management focuses on private and intermediary clients worldwide, providing international and private banking, investment management, fiduciary services and brokerage. Mica started at Barclays on their graduate training programme in 2010 and is now a Private Banker.

whilst Investment Society showed I was willing to dip my toe into the world of investment.

Did you do any internships?I interned at HSBC in my second year. I was in the corporate banking team working within the real estate sector so our clients were typically large building organisations and companies that owned commercial property. It was a great experience of being in a corporate environment and to learn from the people I was working with about their varied career paths that led to the position they were currently in.

What did you do after graduating?At the start of my third year I had started applying for graduate schemes. Although I had been offered a position at HSBC, I decided that I wanted to go down the route of private rather than corporate banking. Through various careers alerts and finance days I heard about the scheme at Barclays. After a pretty rigorous interview process, I knew by mid-November that I had a position. That was a real weight off my shoulders: it meant that I wasn’t having to balance studying for my final year exams with going out to interviews.

What interested you about private banking?Through the stuff I had done at university I knew that I was interested in finance, and particularly in private banking because of the client interaction. My clients are real people who have built up their wealth in different ways and so it’s a more personal business. My favourite thing about the job is going out to the client meetings; it is interesting to see how the way in which someone has built up their wealth influences their investment decisions.

Tell us more about the Barclays graduate scheme.The scheme does not specify a particular degree programme because you will learn everything that you need to know whilst training. However I do think that studying my course helped me to realise that’s what I wanted to do, and the accounting aspect of Management has enabled me to excel in the CFA qualification I am working towards.

I was particularly attracted to the Barclays scheme because it is rotational. I spent my first year working alongside the private bankers, followed by a six month product rotation. For this I was working with the private equity and hedge fund team, meeting the product managers and

deciding which products we wanted to sell to our customers. The absolute highlight was the international rotation for which I was based in South Africa for six months. You realise how global the company is!

The programme lasts for 2.5 years and I think that I will be staying here after I finish. They really look after you here; for instance, if you decide that a particular area isn’t for you then you can find out what else is on offer in another part of the business without having to start afresh. There are always opportunities; you just have to know where to look for them and be open to them when they arrive.

Any advice for current students?Make use of everything that’s available at Royal Holloway. There is so much to do, from signing up and attending Careers Service events, to volunteering, joining societies and getting involved in the union. All these experiences will give you transferable skills that you can take away with you and apply to work and life in general.

‘‘ ’’ There is so much to do at Royal Holloway, from signing up

and attending Careers Service events, to volunteering, joining societies and getting involved in the union.

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Royal Holloway, University of LondonEgham, Surrey, TW20 0EX

T: 01784 434455www.rhul.ac.uk

For more Alumni Profiles visit: www.rhul.ac.uk/alumni/profiles/

peop le with pass ion