How to make it as a trainee fund manager in Scotland: Part 2, surviving the training programme

Assuming you're one of the select few to make it on to a fund management graduate training scheme, you still have a long road ahead before you've really earned your stripes.

One of the biggest challenges of being a trainee fund manager is juggling on-the-job training with a necessity to get the right qualifications under your belt.

Initially, this will involve taking the Investment Management Qualification (IMC), which will equip you with a knowledge of the basics of the industry. However, arguably more challenging is the need to undertake the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) qualification.

Each of the three CFA exams require a recommended 300 hours of study and, although your employer is likely to allow time out for this, cramming such a huge amount of information in conjunction with your training can be a challenge.

Most training schemes last for three years, during which time you'll be rotated around various investment teams. There's also no guarantee you'll be kept on at the end - SWIP, which trains its graduate recruits over two years, typically converts 85% of trainees. This is unusually high, it claims.

"The training programme consists of mentoring and very intense on-the-job training, around presentation skills, the ability to analyse businesses and ultimately form their own judgements on companies relatively quickly and add value to the team," says Lynne Delgarno, director of HR at SWIP.

Making your mark

Most fund management firms in Scotland will argue that their robust recruitment processes ensure only the right people make into the graduate programme. However, there's always the possibility of slipping up, so how can you ensure you make the right impression?

"Ultimately, we're looking for them to form their own views fairly quickly and make an impact on the team even though they are at an early stage in their career" says Dalgarno. "We want them to participate in and shape the discussion and have an influence on the investment team's ideas."

"We take a team-based approach, and don't encourage a star manager environment," adds Kathryn McGown, HR consultant at Standard Life Investments. "But we expect our trainees to have enough confidence in their own ability to challenge the views of other team members, and to be able to present a reasoned argument for an investment case."

There are also ways you could trip up. There's a fine line between confidence in your ideas and cockiness, and recruiters point to candidates who "talk rather than listen" and generally ignore the advice of mentors when they're still learning the ropes.

There's also the chance that you could simply fall behind due to the pressures of the programme, in which case the company is likely to lend a helping hand.

"We conduct a review process every year against a pre-defined set of competencies, and if a candidate falls behind the curve, we work with them to ensure they meet their objectives," adds Crook.