Job Title: Associate
Location: New York, NY, USA
Submitted on: 16-Jan-04
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Working at UBS was an extremely rewarding personal and professional
experience. My summer associate class was very much a cross-section of
US MBA programs. It included females, males, various nationalities, all
races, etc. I found the other associates to be of a very high quality,
particularly quantitatively. We spent 5 days with the entire global MBA
class, and another 5 in training with all the investment banking
associates before reporting to our assigned groups. Within the New York
offices of the investment bank, UBS does not offer rotational programs.
During training, we held "normal" business hours. We reported at 8:30
for breakfast, and we would work until sometime after 6 or 7pm. During
the day, we heard speakers from Sen. Phil Gramm to current analysts and
associates. They covered topics such as the current state of the
economy, recent deals, modeling, and investment banking operations.
the dress code for the summer, with only a few exceptions, was business
casual. Even during our assignments, we were invited to weekly seminars
by the heads of the major product groups to discuss the forces affect
their markets at the time.
Evident during training, and encouraged during my time with my assigned
group, was a culture similar to that of a sports team. UBS is presently
working to expend its global market share, and especially in the US.
The period of time preceeding my intership was characterized by economic
uncertainty. These two factors combine in the culture to spur employees
to even greater levels of acheivement. There was very much a sense of
urgency on the part of many of the bankers, and most believe that UBS is
at the "tipping point" with regard to success in its businesses.
Momentum is a word commonly used to describe this phenomenon.
UBS is very much a meritocracy with the most rewarding assignments going
to those most likely to do the best job. Early in her career, an
assocaite is expected to pull her weight with regard to modeling,
spreading trading comparables, pitch book development, and deal
execution. As the assocaite's experience reaches a requisite level,
usually before 6 months, she begins receiving analyst support, and the
complexity of assignments increases. Most business managers try to
maintain a maximum sustainable level of "capacity" within his group.
This means that some will work at 100% capacity for a short time, and
then fall back to normal levels. No one is allowed to fail miserably.
There is always a person who can help.
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