We recently caught up with Olubusayo about how they secured a Finance Trainee role with EDF Energy, their top tips for the application process and how Bright Network helped them secure the role.
What stood out to you about EDF Energy?
It was important for me to work at a firm that continuously works towards making a positive impact on society, has a strong collaborative culture and invests in its employees personal and professional development, and EDF energy fit all these criteria. I was really impressed to learn about EDF's stance and commitment to reducing its carbon footprint and combating climate change, and it gives me great pride to have secured a graduate role at a company striving to build a sustainable future.
How did you build your commercial awareness before the interview?
I read the Competition and Markets Authority's Energy market investigation report. I was able to deepen my understanding of the industry, which included the different sources of energy supplied, gather interesting statistics and become aware of the largest competitors within the energy market, and where EDF stood amongst them.
I also searched on the EDF website for the latest articles/news on projects EDF had been working on, and milestones and awards the firm had achieved, so I could then reference these during my interviews.
What would be your top tip to members going through the application process?
It's very important to self-reflect - I lost track of the number of applications for graduate schemes, internships and placements I applied for, but each time I made note of the application stage that I faced rejection and attended events to help me improve, ahead of my next application. Over time and after practising, I began making it further down the application process until I secured multiple offers to choose from.
How did Bright Network help you secure this role?
Ahead of peak graduate scheme application season, I attended an online webinar called “Applications 101” hosted by Bright Network. I was able to make notes on how to stand out during each stage of the application, seek guidance about the areas I struggled with in past applications and apply all the learning to my graduate scheme applications going forward. I also attended an event called “Master Your Future” and another called “How to Get into Marketing”. These events were extremely helpful because at the time I was still uncertain about my career, so attending gave me an avenue to explore my curiosity about potentially perusing further education and marketing.
What’s been the toughest interview question you've faced and how did you tackle it?
The question was “Give an example of a time where you greatly underachieved and what you did to come back from this?”. This was a challenging interview question as, prior to this, I had only been familiar with strengths-based and competency-based interview questions, so this was the first interview question I was asked where I had to share my shortcomings. I was tactical in the way I framed my response, as I didn't want to be perceived as someone who was incompetent, so I used the STAR interview technique. When I explained the “result”, I made sure to emphasise what I learned from my underachievement and the steps I took to improve and ensure I didn’t make the same mistake in the future.
Did you use Bright Network Academy in your career search and if so, how did it help you?
I made my way through the “How to get into accountancy” course, which I found extremely helpful. The course allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of what accountancy is, and the different career options available within the field. I was then able to identify that Management Accounting was my area of interest and that it also aligned with my greatest skill sets. Following this, I made sure to tailor my graduate scheme search and applications to Graduate Finance programmes that provided fully funded CIMA qualification study support, so that I could achieve my career aspirations.
What top three tips would you give Bright Network members looking to follow in your footsteps?
- Track your applications and progress using an Excel spreadsheet - Create a spreadsheet with the following headings “Company Name”, “Deadline”, “Duration”.
- Keeping track of all questions asked and your responses to them during each application - you’d be surprised how often the same questions are used by different firms, so you can simply reuse your response or tailor it slightly to save time.
- Persistence is key - the more applications you make the greater your chances. I applied to graduate schemes consistently for two years; the first year I didn’t secure a single position and the second year I successfully secured two (one was with a firm that I was previously rejected by).
Let us know where you've secured your work experience, internship or graduate role. We want to celebrate your success with a gift from us and exclusive invitations to evening networking drinks throughout the year.
