Career Conversations with GenZs
2020 has been a deeply reflective year. When the Actuarial Experiences Group asked me to share lessons from my career journey with its young students and professionals, so many ideas came to mind that I wasn’t sure where to begin!
Before we delved into the ‘Question & Answer’ segment of our discussion, I had 10 lessons I wanted to share upfront about career management within the financial services sector. These lessons were influenced by my investment banking career plus recent studies in digital innovation, knowing that they could cross-pollinate into the actuarial community as well.
5 lessons on how to prepare for the work environment
Several functions within this sector are automatable, and the human jobs that remain will require soft skills such as critical thinking, networking, creativity and empathy. While you are currently focusing on building strong financial expertise, keep an eye on (i) strengthening your soft skills and (ii) developing digital skills.
“Skate to where the puck is going to be”. For you, building a sustainable career is so much more about anticipating which direction the big trends will take rather than relying on what has worked in the past. The rate at which technology is changing the economic and social landscape requires you to be very thoughtful and engaged in evaluating your options.
There are several names for the same job, and many skills that are learned from one job that can apply to another. With competition increasing, you need to be smart about figuring what are the actual competencies required to do a particular job. Use that to determine whether you are qualified to do the work and how to market yourself to an employer. In the early phase of your career, try to prioritise the learning experiences you get from a job above the job title. Skills are what will keep you in demand in the long run.
Maximise internships to grow your network and get practical insights on whether that line of work is suitable for you. Attend career fairs (online or in-person) so that you get to meet people in your target industry and go there ready with something interesting to say. Brush up on your communication etiquette and professionalise your LinkedIn profile - every interaction in-person or on WhatsApp / email helps determine how seriously people take you. Most recruiters rely heavily on LinkedIn for candidate searches.
Go after your dream job / business opportunity aggressively. Don’t assume opportunities will come easily just because you have good grades. Not being bold at critical times puts you at risk of being over-looked. If it’s an opportunity worth having then you should know someone else wants it too, and they will do more than the average applicant to get it. Don’t just send in the minimum application requirements, go the extra mile to differentiate yourself:
Check if you know anyone who can recommend you.
Include a reference letter or two from your mentor and / or sponsor.
Share an essay or video that explains why you are an ideal applicant.
Create a personal website where you display some of the things you have done.
5 lessons from my career
Conduct yourself with integrity. Your reputation is extremely is important, and it will increasingly be the basis on which you are entrusted with more responsibility. Take this seriously in how you interact with clients and colleagues. Whenever you leave a place of employment, try to do so on good terms and without burning bridges. The world is a smaller place than you think!
Regularly assess whether your personal brand and pace of learning will benefit from you being ‘a small fish in a big pond’, or ‘a big fish in a small pond’. There is no uniform answer, and it will depend on the specifics of what opportunities you are being offered. Just bear this in mind when considering big decisions like emigrating or changing companies / departments.
Professional and personal networks are crucial! Network effectively in line with your personality type: you can build a narrow set of contacts with whom you have deep relationships, or have a broad set of contacts with whom you have ‘shallow’ relationships. That determines how you spend your networking energy. Within your network, take note of who has power, influence or power + influence so that each contact can likely offer you some value. Be broad and don’t focus only on high profile people.
Being liked within an organisation is super important to get ahead. No matter how intelligent you may be, if people don’t enjoy working with you, your career will stagnate. For me, in order to avoid imposter syndrome, I found it important to build strong technical skills first then work on being known and liked by my network afterwards.
Humbly brag about your accomplishments so that you build up credibility within your organisation, and develop a good reputation outside it too. Like I said above, never assume that your work speaks for itself. There is an art to doing this without seeming arrogant. Opportunities typically come to those who are most visible.
With that said, we segued into a ‘Question & Answer’ session which is transcribed below.
Career & Education
Q. You spent 12 years at J.P. Morgan: from the outside, this seems like a very demanding company. What was your process for remaining resilient and doing well in that environment?
A. Investment banking is generally a very demanding field to work in and it’s not to everyone’s liking!
My ‘survive and thrive’ toolkit included:
Building solid technical expertise so that I was ever-ready to participate and present on the go;
Prioritising my health to cope with the workload intensity and travel schedule;
Maintaining strong internal and external networks which unlock resources to present the best solutions possible, and to win business; and
Continued training especially on soft skills like negotiation and effective communication. Insights gained from industry events like conferences helped to glean future trends and new opportunities that shaped my career strategy.
Q. Tell us more about your journey to get into J.P. Morgan. Our dreams to work for such prestigious firms are usually crushed as they tend to hire students from so-called "target" schools. What’s your take on this?
A. I attended the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa and then applied to J.P.Morgan’s analyst programme in Johannesburg. At that point, I had a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Finance & Economics. I had worked in a retail bank branch during my third year of university and had done an investment banking internship in my second year of university.
I do think it’s unfortunately true that employers have a bias for hiring from at least their own country’s university graduate pool or what they perceive to be better eg. American / British / European universities. This is why the CFA qualification is probably the most sought-after standardised global qualification to level the playing field for people who want to get into investment banking.
Q. As an actuarial science student, how do I prepare for a career in investment banking?
A. Investment banks have become a lot more open-minded to students from a variety of disciplines. If anything, these days there is a bias for technology skills because of what I said about wide-reaching digital transformation efforts. Your preparation should include something within your power that shows an interest in corporate finance for example:
Creating a virtual ‘dummy’ trading portfolio which you can use to show recruiters your stock selection thought process. This demonstrates valuation skills, financial market knowledge and business sense;
Considering CFA Level 1 to round out your corporate finance skills;
Securing an investment banking internship;
If your degree requires a thesis, explore an inter-disciplinary topic that straddles corporate finance and actuarial science if able. Highlight this in your LinkedIn profile and CV, and also during interviews;
Reviewing your coursework and university experience in order to write your CV in a way that highlights items that are relevant for corporate finance. Tailor your CV according to industry, meaning your CV for an investment banking opportunity will look different to your CV for an actuary position.
Q. What’s your advice for getting the most out of a first job?
A. My top 6 tips are:
Prioritise learning the things you think will make you a better professional.
Take all the courses the company will pay for.
Attend meetings with senior people you can learn from.
Ask for responsibility without thinking you are too important to do anything.
Be open to rotating across different departments.
Seek out a mentor who is where you want to be in, say, 5-10 years’ time. Begin with the end in mind!
Q. Did you face any challenges because of your gender?
A. I found my gender was a plus! Investment banking has been a predominantly white male industry. Throughout my career, I covered African clients and they really appreciated being advised by a fellow African. As I interacted with Ministers and C-suite executives, my initial fear was that my youth, and not gender, would get in the way. However, my clients were very receptive and I think this was closely tied to knowing my product very well and adding value to whatever deal conversations we had.
Q. You mentioned prioritising health: can you explain how you did that?
A. I learnt the importance of prioritising my health the hard way. I had a year where I faced physical burnout due to unhealthy and unsustainable work habits. While it’s true the workload was high, the way I handled it was wrong. At the time, I didn’t realise it was form of stress that led me to sleep too little, skip meals and attempt to fight all fires to my own detriment.
After all that, I got the worst performance review of my career! That (thankfully) made me stop and assess the way I approached my job. I wasn’t healthy, and my behaviour literally had no upside.
So how did I change that?
I got way more involved in proactively setting deadlines so that they could be spaced out sustainably where possible.
I shared more of the travel with my colleagues.
I delegated more, and toned down my control freak settings.
I am a perfectionist, and had to accept that ‘done’ is better than ‘perfect’ on most things.
This all helped me reduce my work hours, minimise stress, improve sleep, and it gave me more time in one place so I could normalise my schedule. I also committed to a personal trainer because just telling myself to go to the gym wasn’t enough.
I don’t want to scare you away from an investment banking career though! However, burnout is an important issue to flag in high-performance environments. Fortunately, it can be avoided with the benefit of good guidance on stress management.
Q. What did you do with your extra time?
A. After I created more time for myself, I just rested and took more vacations. I love to travel!
Q. How did you balance family time and meeting work obligations?
A. I don’t have a family so fortunately no-one else was affected by my bad habits! However, I do think that working mothers must ASK for the support they need. That looks different depending on the company environment, but can include meeting time flexibility (eg. not before 9am to allow for school drop off); work-from-home arrangements on certain days of the week or switching to a portfolio that is better suited to their timetable (eg. less travel outside the city).
Q. Was the Masters you did with IE University virtual or on campus?
A. The Masters was done in Executive format which means:
One week of in-person classes in Madrid every 3 or 4 months
The rest of the time was virtual in terms of online forums and Saturday classes by video conference
I chose that format to avoid a full-time schedule whilst still enjoying some travel opportunities. COVID-19 disrupted the 2020 physical block releases so that was all converted to virtual classes only.
Management
Q. ”Skate to where the puck is going to be”. Big trends come only every so often. What's your process for determining what is a big trend and what is a mirage?
A. I’m a 3-dimensional kind of person. When I explore something, I really throw myself at it. For example, my decision to quit banking and pivot to digital transformation. How did I know in early 2019 or even now that it’s a good idea? I researched the amount of investment going into this theme across industries and within my own bank, I studied a degree at a university outside my typical environment to avoid local confirmation bias, and I am now looking to work in that area of specialisation. Those are 3 different approaches I’m taking to see if this is a trend or mirage.
As a rule of thumb, I look at what people DO and not what they SAY. Actions show where the real conviction of a trend versus mirage lie.
Q. I work in wealth management and struggle with establishing networks. Being young and with limited financial means, there’s a bit of imposter syndrome when I interact with my client base who are rich and powerful. How can I build meaningful relationships with them?
A. Money and power aren’t the only things that define your client base. Research these people by looking at their digital footprint e.g. on LinkedIn and their company website, or speak to your internal colleagues who know your clients better than you do. Find a way to connect with them on a personal level which doesn’t involve the fancy stuff where you can’t relate.
Let’s take a hypothetical scenario where your high net-worth client has a child who wants to start a career in the film industry. You happen to know several local content creators so you can engage with your client about this potential career path. You bond about that and you go the extra mile by connecting your client with some local creatives. The next time you speak, you will have something social to talk about which makes both of you more comfortable to deal with one another.
Lead with something like that and then be prepared to show your client great investment ideas so that you shine when they ask you for an opinion on the business side.
Q. I often forget to maintain a regular dialogue with clients in-between our various transactions. How can I improve?
A. If you have a manageable list of clients, create a heat map spreadsheet in Excel that you update once a week.
Green = clients you’ve spoken to in the past week
Orange = clients you’ve spoken to in the last 2 weeks
Red = clients you’ve spoken to in the past month
You want as much green and orange as possible in your heat map!
Put a calendar reminder to make client follow-ups on a regular basis to make sure this communication happens. I literally did the very same thing I am suggesting to you and it worked great. I prioritised client calls between 10am to 12pm daily as it proved to be the best time of day to find people.
Q. Are soft skills and technical skills equally important?
A. They are in my opinion, and therefore I believe they need to be developed in parallel. For example, what’s the point of preparing a great financial model if you don’t know how to explain it to others through a great presentation?
When you lack soft skills, it’s hard to make sure your work has the impact it should. Likely someone else swoops in and takes the credit for what you’ve done, and we can’t have that!
Q. Do you have any recommendations for how we can become better presenters?
A. Off the top of my head, I’d say:
Know your audience: do they respond best to technical details or high level messages? Tailor your content accordingly so that it has the desired impact.
Know key meeting details such as the allocated time for your presentation. People start to disengage when you exceed your slot unless if you are really impressive.
Practice delivering the presentation. Knowing the content is not the same as being comfortable delivering it.
Practice enough so that you have your own presentation script which gives additional insights beyond what’s in the presentation. People want to hear what you think. If you just repeat what’s written then you don’t add much value.
Some people have a presentation style which is very formal, others like me are more conversational. Choose what you’re comfortable with so you can free your mind for value-adding comments.
I find it helpful to watch and learn from the presentation styles of a broad range of people. It also doesn’t hurt to take a public speaking course or to join Toast Masters for extra practice and exposure.
Q. How do you tell if you are liked in the workplace?
A. You can tell if you are well-regarded by colleagues and superiors according to their willingness to 1) involve you in their projects, 2) socialise with you inside and outside work, 3) provide quality feedback during formal reviews and 4) support your timely promotion. This is another area where what people do matters more than what they say.
Q. How do you give feedback in a constructive way?
A. I think this starts with the intention behind whatever you are saying. Are you just getting something off your chest or actually trying to help this person improve? That determines how you frame the feedback. I’d start by explaining the issue, how you feel about it, give the recipient a chance to respond and then decide together what the remedy will be.
Giving Back
Q. Tell us about The GenZim Connection and “The Gen Z Pocketbook for Teenage Girls”.
A. This is my passion project to help increase mentorship opportunities for young people. My aim is to share advice on life skills and career ideas with a wide audience.
Why a website and why teenage girls? Most mentorship programs are exclusive to a few and start at university level but by then some suboptimal habits or mentalities may have formed. I want to intervene earlier. Girls typically reach out for mentorship and networking less than boys, so this platform is a contribution towards balance. “GenZim” is an amalgam of the Gen Z age group I’d like to engage with, plus Zim(babwe) as I’m targeting Zimbabwean students.
I kicked off the project by writing a book and have continued to share additional insights through my website, Instagram page and YouTube Channel. All of which can be found here: https://linktr.ee/GenZimConnection
Q. Is mentoring something you have been doing throughout your career or you feel you could have started sooner? Is it ever too early to mentor someone else?
A. I’ve never had a mentor, although I have people I can count on for good advice. Going forward it’s something I want to fix for myself. For a long time, I have informally mentored others but this website is the start of a more organised approach. It’s never too early to give or receive mentorship, and I believe mentorship from peers is just as important as that from elders.
Q. What’s your advice on getting an appropriate mentor, especially around approaching my ideal mentor and convincing them I’m worth investing in?
A. Coincidentally, I recently wrote about this in my latest blog, so you can read that for a more detailed opinion: https://www.genzim.com/mentorship-matters/ (even if you’re not a teenage girl, you will still find it helpful!)
A quick snapshot is to develop some type of relationship with this person before you ask them to mentor you. Explain why you think you can add value to each other and try pick a mentor in your circle of influence. A complete stranger is hard to convert into a meaningful mentorship relationship.
Parting Shots
Q. What books have you read that have had the greatest influence on your views of the world? What are you reading at the moment?
A. I’m in Bulawayo for the next few months, so I currently have a preference for local books. Petina Gappah’s “An Elegy for Easterly” is what I’m currently reading. When it comes to books that have been very influential in shaping my world view, there’s a long list since I’m an avid reader. Top of mind are:
Jeff Olson “The Slight Edge”
Clayton Christensen et alia “How Will you Measure Your Life”
Noam Chomsky “Who Rules the World”
Scott Galloway “The Four”
Grant Cardone “The 10X Rule”
It was a long discussion, and one which hopefully offered some actionable practical tips!
