Huge congratulations to Hasaan who in April this year completed his Spring Week with J.P. Morgan. We recently caught up with him to chat about his application to J.P. Morgan, his experience of the Spring Week and his experience of the Bright Network FESTIVAL.
Why did you apply to J.P. Morgan?
J.P. Morgan is a huge bank that uses its resources, expertise and different departments to develop the skills of its employees. J.P. Morgan’s focus on developing its employee’s skills was what convinced me to apply to their Spring Week. Not only are they a fantastic firm but I also felt that if I worked for them they would be particularly committed to developing me as an individual. One of the reasons why I wanted to go to any Spring Week was for me to develop my skills so it made sense for me to go to a firm like J.P. Morgan whose Spring Week would help me grow as an individual and develop my own skills.
What did you do on the Spring Week?
The Spring week ran in April and was one week long with accommodation provided. The hours could be quite long but they were absolutely worth it as I learnt so much. The 1st day was focused around networking with introductory presentations on the technicalities of banking so as to ensure that all of us were brought up to the same level because there was a huge mix of people there whose knowledge of banking ranged from advanced to beginner. As the week went on we got to see lots of presentations from the different trading desks who would tell us about what they were trading. The last few days we spent shadowing traders on the trading floor who continually asked us questions and kept us engaged throughout the application process. Throughout the whole week there was plenty of support with every single person being sociable and willing to explain their role and answer any questions.
What was the application process like?
Initially I had to submit a CV and a cover letter. After this we had to submit an application form. However, this form we were sent was a little different to other ones I’ve filled in. Instead of having to answer a series of questions we were sent an interesting news article. We then had to write a response to this news article and submit our response. Following this we were invited to two rounds of interviews. The first interview was motivation-based with questions being focussed around why I wanted to work for J.P. Morgan and what I thought I could bring it to the role. The second interview was much more technical based with questions being centred around banking and trading. After these interviews we found out whether or not we had secured a place on the Spring Week.
Did you find the Bright Network FESTIVAL useful?
Yeah, I not only found it useful but, also, I really enjoyed it! It was my first opportunity at networking so I felt like I learnt a lot. I learnt a lot about how to talk to professionals, about how to be interviewed and about what sort of things I should say to make myself stand out. It was quite difficult at first to get the hang of and it was especially difficult to make yourself stand out, but soon enough I felt I managed to start getting the hang of it. Practice in this case very much makes perfect. Practice and the skill workshops that Bright Network put on alongside the opportunities to network. I’d recommend people going to these events to get used to networking and to speaking to professionals!
What three tips would you give to fellow Bright Network members?
- Apply early!
- Get people to read through your applications, especially your cover letters and CV’s just to make sure that they read well and look good!
- Organise a schedule to keep your applications on track. It’s easy to start mixing up application deadlines but with a schedule you can keep track of when you have to submit things by or when you should be hearing back from companies about your application.
What was the hardest interview question you faced?
List 5 of your weaknesses (purely because 5 is quite a lot to list!).
