Will Winning the Day at UBS by Emma Knox

Will is a member of MyPlus Students’ Club (MPSC) and in his final year at Cardiff University studying Mathematics. He has lived with brain damage all his life, which affects his dexterity, speech and physical energy levels.  It has clearly not affected his focus, drive and commitment to pursue a career in the aspirational and competitive environment of Investment Banking.

Will wanted to understand more about the career opportunities in Investment Banking available to students with disabilities and we at MPSC were delighted to welcome him to the ‘Investing in Talent’ insight day hosted by UBS in October 2018.  The event offered students the chance to learn about careers within the industry and specifically how to apply and disclose a disability to a prospective employer. In addition, there was the opportunity to network with some of the largest global investment banks over drinks and canapes at the end of the day.  Will took full advantage of this opportunity and set about picking the brains of UBS, Citi, Barclays, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley.

Will took the smart step of joining MyPlus Students’ Club. This is a free online resource that offers comprehensive guidance on all aspects of applying for a job or internship with a disability, as well as providing connections to, and jobs with disability confident graduate recruiters who are profiled on the website. He entered and won the monthly prize draw to ‘Win a Day’ with an employer of his choice and spent a day at UBS. During his day he met with representatives from the graduate recruitment team, had lunch with the chair of UBS’ ability group and had two work shadowing sessions that were tailored to his interests in Quantitative Analytics and Artificial Intelligence. It was a ‘win-win’ for all with Will gaining invaluable commercial insight and experience and for UBS the opportunity to engage with a talented student.

14% of students in the UK have a disability, be it physical, mental or learning related, and many lack the information and confidence to know how to be open with an employer when disclosing a disability or requesting adjustments to the recruitment process.

We spoke to Will about this and here is what he had to say:

“To be honest, Sarah Viner (UBS) was so open at Investing in Talent that I didn’t have many concerns. The work I shadowed clearly valued good ideas over speed which was encouraging. I feel confident disclosing my struggles and UBS clearly are focussed on maximising potential.”

On spending the day at UBS:

“I had a very insightful day and it has made me much more confident that I could potentially become a valuable asset in the workplace. I’d recommend MPSC to anyone feeling that they need to be responsible for their own disability or health condition because employers are truly on your side.”

If you have a disability and would like more information about how to access disability confident employers and information on how to apply then please visit www.myplusstudentsclub.com and Register. It is quick, free and you will be entered into a prize draw to ‘Win a Day’ with one of the featured employers and we could be sharing your story.

Finally, we wish Will every success in his future career and look forward to following his progress. I am sure before too long the roles will be switched and he will be the one giving out the advice. Our thanks again to all the banks attending ‘Investing in Talent’, to the team at UBS for hosting Will, and to the Cardiff University careers team for raising awareness of the event in the first place.

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