Student: Mitchell Arcus
Degree: Bachelor of Engineering Hons (Aeronautical) and Bachelor of Commerce (Finance) at University of Sydney
Mentor: Katie Hill, Senior Fixed Income Strategist, QIC
A career in investment management/advice interests me for the opportunity to work in a rapidly-evolving environment to solve unique challenges for clients. In particular, the opportunity to use my broad skillset developed from my previous work and leadership experience, my Engineering and Finance degrees, and my strong relationship skills to provide specialised outcomes for every client is something that I desire.
This draws from my current career as a Financial Planning analyst, in which my output directly impacts the way in which an individual or family are able to live their lives. If I can provide a unique insight about the individual/family’s financial situation, then I can positively influence the way in which those clients interact with the world.
I would always stay relatively in the know of current economic and political affairs to ensure that I could maximise our sessions. My go-to news sources are the AFR, Bloomberg, and the Macro Voices podcast.
Katie has been awesome, and I thoroughly enjoy our conversations, always looking forward to the next one. All of our conversations typically start with a general catch up on life, then move into the most recent news, then we dive into the biggest issues of the world, and generally finish with discussing how I am progressing towards careers.
Every aspect of our conversations have been fantastic, but I think the most significant takeaway for me is the following: The ability to have a deep, personal relationship with someone in the industry who can provide honest, nuanced perspectives that directly relate to me and my interests.
Coming from a country town, I had no strong personal connections to anyone in the financial or professional services industries, so my baseline understanding of a lot of the careers available had come from networking sessions and information nights. However, these sessions are designed for you to maximise meeting as many people as possible and limit the opportunity for you to develop deep relationships with people. Additionally, it is hard to get a deep and nuanced perspective on how you relate to a certain career path or employer at an information night as the host company are only ever going to paint themselves/their industry in the best and most exciting light. As such, developing an understanding of what a specific role actually entails has been a challenge. However, Katie has been able to provide me with extensive information around the different careers available, different firms’ strengths, and provide suggestions on what avenues I should pursue given my interests and past conversations. It would be similar to having a close friend or older sibling in the industry who has deep institutional knowledge and experience, such that they can tailor their advice specifically for who you are. Through Katie’s help, I felt more confident in myself in pursuing certain career paths, empowered by a deeper understanding of why a particular career suits me more than others.
Coming from a country town, I had no strong personal connections to anyone in financial services, so my baseline understanding of careers had come from information nights. Katie has been able to provide me with extensive information and suggestions on what avenues to pursue given my interests. It would be similar to having a close friend or older sibling in the industry who has deep institutional knowledge and can tailor their advice specifically for who you are.
I think the best thing you can do is find a mentor that you strongly relate to. I have been very lucky to get Katie because we both share very similar interests and backgrounds. In terms of prepping, always stay up to date with what is happening in your mentor’s industry/the economy/politics.
My dream job is one in which I have a lot of responsibility early in my career and am exposed to the most important events in the world. At this time, I have an investment banking internship lined up which perfectly aligns to this, as analysts are typically regarded for having a lot of responsibility on industry-shaking deals. A markets-based career also appeals to me as the opportunity to bear witness to world-changing events is something that excited me.
Personally, my parents inspire me through their work and sacrifices they have made for me to be in the position I am in today. Their unrelenting support to provide me with whatever is necessary to help me succeed in spite of what opportunities were presented to them early in their lives has enabled me to achieve great successes today.
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The most significant takeaway from my mentoring connection with Katie is the ability to have a deep, personal relationship with someone in the industry who can provide honest, nuanced perspectives that directly relate to me and my interests.