New generalist programme at Morgan Stanley
If you're the indecisive type, and don't yet want to commit to one area of an investment bank, you might want to look at Morgan Stanley's new graduate scheme. Unfortunately, places are now full.
What is it then?
It's called the 'Cross-Divisional Programme', and has been launched for the first time this year in Europe, after a brief pilot scheme in Asia. The bank's regular programmes are still there - investment banking division, sales and trading, IT, wealth management etc - but the new scheme offers the chance to have a taster of the different areas.
It lasts for two years, during which you'll be expected to work on three seven-month secondments in the investment banking and sales and trading divisions, before eventually settling on a specialism.
What's the point of that?
You might well ask - presumably, the bank isn't looking for a bunch of graduates dithering over their career decisions? Apparently, yes. Sort of.
Steph Ahrens, EMEA head of firm-wide graduate recruitment at Morgan Stanley, says: "More and more students do not wish to specialise too soon into their career. By allowing them an insight into key divisions before specialising we ensure we offer them a true cross-divisional platform on which to grow, and we ourselves get the benefit of having a number of graduates in the firm who become generalist product experts and have an understanding of all key divisions."
So, you get the best of both worlds - you learn how to do your job, and it doesn't seem like such a foreign land if you stray into another division's territory.
When's the application deadline?
Even better news is that the bank isn't expecting you to get your act together any time soon. It seems to have its hands full with the applications for its individual divisional programmes and has bumped the application deadline back to 25 February 2008. It starts accepting applications from 1 January 2008. All places, have, however already been filled for this year.
But don't start thinking this is a ticket to easy street just yet. As it's a new scheme, Morgan Stanley is only planning on taking on 10-25 candidates, in comparison to 250 for its regular graduate schemes. What's more, they're expecting a lot of applications so the recruitment process will be just as vigorous.
Editor's note - all places on this programme have now been filled for 2008.
