James O'Hagan

Name: James O'Hagan
Club 21 Employer: Morgan Stanley
Degree Subject: Business and Management/ Geography
Year of Graduation: 2007

I had applied for the placement with Morgan Stanley because I am interested in pursuing a career within the financial sector, and more specifically in investment banking. Morgan Stanley is a mulitnational corporation with a reputation for excellence and a strong commitment to its employees. I saw the placement with Morgan Stanley as an opportunity to gain valuable experience and to prove myself as a capable, hard working member of a team.

During my placement, I was a member of a projects team within the company. The projects team provides support for the various business areas in the Glasgow office. I very much enjoyed working with the projects team as it not only allowed me to develop my IT skills but also to understand the functions of other business areas. From the beginning of my placement I was involved in several large-scale projects such as Six Sigma. Six Sigma is a methodology focusing on improving business processes or creating a new process design. Part of my responsibility was to help management collect and analyse data, which they can then use to detect areas of weakness or inefficiency. I received training throughout my placement, including in Microsoft Excel, Visio and SharePoint as well as several online and class based induction modules.

When I finished my placement, I felt I had developed myself, learned a great deal about investment banking and spent my time wisely.