Source: theHRDIRECTOR
Date: May 2006

How city bank Morgan Stanley worked with a graduate recruitment communications agency to ensure students leave their recruitment events fully aware of what's really involved in working for a top city bank... 

When ambitious students think of the best graduate recruitment schemes, the City’s investment banking programmes stand out as a golden beacon of high status and professional success. However, according to the Association for Graduate Recruiters (AGR), the large investment banks receive on average 42 applications for every graduate level job. With 8,400 candidates applying for about 200 places, it becomes more important than ever to ensure the banks’ recruitment activity targets those 200 top graduates, and to ensure candidates are not only applying for the right reasons but also have a strong understanding of the industry and job responsibilities.

Over the past few years, Morgan Stanley has found that while the overall quality of graduates applying to its investment banking programme remained impressive, they were attracting an increasing number of applicants who did not have a clear idea of what a career in investment banking entails, and whose skill sets did not match those required of its graduates.

Working with graduate recruitment communications agency, Euro RSCG Riley, the bank created an interactive concept to teach students key facts about an investment banking career in an engaging and interesting format. Designed for on-campus recruitment events that target first and second year students, an interactive game called Accumulators was developed. With a board that measures 4m x 4m, a giant inflatable dice and currency signs for the four team captains, the game is designed to deliver a high impact yet light-hearted message to budding investment bankers, allowing them to experience the challenges and opportunities that could await them in their potential careers.

In the game, four teams of students represent different global financial centres – London, New York, Frankfurt and Tokyo. They roll the giant dice, move their large currency counters around the board and land on  squares that represent different areas such as interest rates, mergers and acquisitions or corporate social responsibility. They are then asked a multiple choice question about the area they land on and, if they answer correctly, they invest a banknote for that area by handing it to the bank. Landing on ‘Boom’ and ‘Crash’ squares leads to either a forfeit for the unlucky team or the chance to outwit a competitor. The winners are the team which invests all its banknotes first, or the team which invests most banknotes in the allotted time. The interactive and experiential elements of the programme highlight the applicants whose interest in an investment banking career is based on a loose understanding of the industry, and who do not have the appropriate skills or industry knowledge the bank requires for its rigorous graduate scheme.

“Programmes like the Accumulators allow students to experience, briefly, the real thrills, pressures, and pace of an investment banking career, and consider whether it is for them,” said Martin Cerullo, a director of Euro RSCG Riley who worked with Morgan Stanley on the Accumulators game. “This means the major city banks like Morgan Stanley are attracting dedicated and knowledgeable graduates who understand the industry and have the confidence in their own ability to succeed.”

With recent AGR data showing a decrease in graduates’ skill sets upon leaving university, recruitment experts are emphasising the importance of interactive and experiential activities such as Accumulators. These programmes tend to attract a more diverse mix of students, thus giving employers wider exposure to the full range of highly-qualified graduates. Because underrepresented students typically shy away from traditional careers fairs and company presentations, personalised and interactive recruitment campaigns are more effective in reaching a larger, more diverse graduate base, specifically amongst ethnic minorities and mature students. “We’re committed to attracting the right students from top universities in the UK, and educating those students about the exciting career opportunities available within the firm,” said Joanne Scott, head of firm-wide campus recruitment at Morgan Stanley in Europe. “The key to the Accumulator’s success is that it engages graduates with an exciting take on life, within a global financial services firm, while at the same time helping us to attract a diverse range of students with the right skill sets for our jobs.”