I joined the graduate scheme in 2016 and started off in the consumer group as part of my first rotation. Here, I was involved in projects aimed at addressing demand-side barriers such as switching costs in the telecoms market and an automatic compensation proposal for consumers experiencing quality of service issues with their telephone and/or broadband.
These projects gave me a real sense of the work Ofcom does in protecting consumers, ensuring they benefit from competition and the application of behavioural economics. It also allowed me to work with consumer survey data, provider evidence and various research pieces.
I have recently started my second rotation in the financial economics team which involves a different variety of work using Excel and Stata.
Training and development
I particularly like how the graduate scheme has a real focus on development and how the two years are structured, so you have the opportunity to build your economic knowledge alongside your quantitative analysis skills.
Being able to rotate across groups in the organisation and join different projects really enables you to understand the different aspects of economic work Ofcom does as a competition authority. You also have the opportunity to learn about the various sectors Ofcom regulates and the communication market as a whole. There is a vast range of internal training courses to help develop your knowledge about these sectors and also competition economist courses ranging from seminars on cost recovery to Excel-modelling workshops.
The environment
Ofcom has a great environment where you’re always encouraged to ask questions. Economists also collaborate with a variety of colleagues with different specialist backgrounds such as market researchers, technologists and lawyers. This gives you the ability to build a network of colleagues looking to achieve the best outcomes for consumers. There are also plenty of schemes such as mentoring, shadowing and networking groups available to join and contribute to.