We caught up with Ed Bonnell, Analyst at Alpha FMC, to hear about his experiences to date.
Please tell us a little bit about your career to date
I joined Alpha FMC just over a year ago on their Graduate Scheme. After graduating from the University of Oxford with a History degree, I spent a year in a small consulting firm prior to joining Alpha FMC. Since being here, I have predominantly been working as part of the benchmarking team. This involves looking at a broad section of the asset management industry, assessing costs and performance of our clients and their third party providers. We benchmark TPAs (Third Party Administrators) and Asset Managers against the market to determine whether services are price competitive.
What has surprised you about the world of Consulting?
Everyone at Alpha, and all of the clients I work, with are highly driven, intelligent and engaging. I encounter many different people with interesting and engaging personalities, a crucial part of working in successful, close-knit teams. Alpha is quite small, so the level of exposure is high and professional development is quick. The people I work with and the work I am doing are very varied. Jumping from project to project means you cover a wide variety of issues and challenges. One of the first projects I did here was project managing a website build for a start-up investment bank. Having had very limited experience of anything technical, that was quite an eye opener!
Tell us about your experience of Alpha so far
It’s a very young and driven firm. It’s experienced a great amount of growth in the last 4 or 5 years driven by a core group of people with a strong intent on continuing this growth. The interesting factor is that as we grow, we acquire a wide range of people with different capabilities, which opens new doors in terms of projects and makes the office environment a melting pot for new ideas. There is a wide cross section of expertise which is always growing, and which gives you the potential to do a lot.
What three reasons would you give to convince a potential candidate to apply?
1. Alpha is a small company with a lot of exposure to senior people, and it’s growing quickly
2. You will gain an in depth understanding of asset management and related fields
3. Alpha is a young, fun and sociable environment – it’s a great place to be
What advice might you give to candidates looking to get ahead in a career in financial advisory?
From a finance perspective, keep abreast of the latest trends and have a good idea of what asset management is, what asset managers do and how they are different from other areas of the financial industry. Ensure you have a good understanding of exactly what the firm does. From a consulting perspective, hone your ability to work logically through a case study, and make sure you have a clear line of thought.
For more information on Alpha FMC and to see their opportunities, click here.