What does your job involve day to day?

 There are three main areas to my job. The first is generating trade ideas – putting together ideas for the sales team which can go out to clients and putting together commentaries and reports on the equity derivatives market. The second aspect of my role is consulting – my team and I visit clients roughly four times a year to present them with updates on volatility. The third area is education – we are there to provide information to clients as well as to interns and graduates.

 What’s the first thing you do when you get to work?

 The first thing I do is look at the markets and see what has happened over night. My first task is to write ‘the derivatives morning comment’ – everyday we write a short summary of what happened in the derivatives market on the previous day. If we have any interesting trade ideas that come up which we want to pitch to clients we incorporate these into the morning comments. I start writing all this up though we also have two morning meetings to fit in – one at 6.45 and one at 7.30. By 7.30 I will normally have sent out my morning comments.

So it’s very much a ‘morning job’ by the sound of it – at least that’s when the high pressured part takes place.

Yes, the rest of the day is generally more varied which is one of the aspects I particularly enjoy about the role I’m in. On a given day I could be visiting clients in the UK and often abroad; or perhaps building an Excel tool. I could spend another day coming up with an interesting trade idea so I’m constantly working on different things day-to-day.

What would you say are the skills you are most tested on in your position?

 Definitely time management. We tend to get handed numerous requests from the firm’s different businesses over the course of the day so we have to make sure we can respond to all these demands on time. We also try and make ourselves as approachable as possible because we are constantly interacting with numerous teams across the floor.  One of the key components of what we do is being able to talk to people and explain things clearly to them.

I imagine you had a lot of training when you first started?

 Yes, Citi put me through six weeks of training where I was brought up to speed on my product knowledge. I then had fifteen mini rotations across the equities floor which was a great opportunity to find out how the firm works as a whole and to build up contacts. After these rotations, we then went through a set of longer rotations before actually starting with your team. The analysts this year are even luckier this year, as their rotations were not only across the equities floor but across fixed income as well. 

How challenging did you find it when you first started working at the firm?

 It was quite difficult adapting to the trading floor environment when I first joined. It was quite an intimidating atmosphere to be stepping into on my first day with all the buzz and energy and quite a long way from what you might expect from a typical ‘office’ environment! At the same time, it was an exciting place to be and it is something that you soon get used to. I am lucky to be in a very small team so from day one I was given a lot of exposure. After a couple of months I was taken to Italy by one of my colleagues to see clients so that I would understand how the presentation side of the role works. We are lucky to have a lot of support from the rest of the team and from people across the trading floor. 

Did it live up to your preconceptions of what it would be like from watching films like Wall Street?

 No, it’s much more relaxed than that on the trading floor! I’ve met some of the friendliest and kindest people and everyone is really happy to speak to analysts and spend time helping them out where possible.

A lot of people who haven’t worked in banking might imagine that there is a very ‘macho’ culture which prevails within investment banks. What would you say to this being a woman working on the trading floor?

 No, it’s really not like that at all. I must admit that before I started I did find myself feeling slightly intimidated because of the kind of things you hear about the banking world. In reality, people are always open and very approachable. There are times when, because of the nature of the trading floor, people are busy and might not always be able to respond to your questions but they are invariably happy to spend time with you when things quieten down a bit. Despite Citi being an American bank, it’s not what you might expect in terms of an American investment bank and there is no set culture which you have to adhere to.

What would you say is the most enjoyable aspect of the job?

 The markets. If you are genuinely interested in the markets then you naturally enjoy seeing what is happening on a minute-by-minute, second-by-second basis.

I guess you started your career at Citi in the summer of 2007, just about the time when the credit crunch and the financial crisis was just beginning to take effect. How has this affected your own experience over the last 18 months?

To be honest it hasn’t had too much an impact on my day-to-day role. There are times when, as an analyst, you might find yourself getting nervous given all the media hype taking place but I think you would find that to an extent in whatever industry you are in at the moment. One of the main pluses of my position I guess is that being so close to the markets you get to see what is going on at first hand so you actually get to evaluate these concerns at face value.

There is a lot more volatility going on, though, which must make your life interesting?

 Defintely! In the derivatives world it has been particularly exciting so it has been an interesting time to say the least but also very good for my career. It’s an exciting time to be in finance especially as someone at the beginning of their career. I think I will definitely benefit from the added experience I have gained.

Why did Citi impress you over the other banks which were on offer?

They seemed like a company which genuinely looked after its people. What struck me most however, was that on the day I was offered a role as an intern, all of my three interviewers contacted me to congratulate me, either via email or on the phone. I was really touched by this gesture from the senior managers, and it made me look forward to start working at Citi.

Do you think there is anything investment banks in general could be doing to encourage more women to join their ranks?

 There is a good mixture of male and female employees. Being a trading floor, there are probably more men than women but I think that is the way it is in finance in general. In terms of the analysts coming in it’s generally a good balance  of men to women. The stereotypes that you see in the media and the movies might intimidate some women but there are various initiatives here at Citi to actively encourage female analysts to apply, inviting undergraduates to visit the trading floor for example. I think these help to dispel the preconceptions some female students might have.