Three things I learned in three days with Bloomberg Academy Australia

Bloomberg Academy in Sydney is a three-day personal and professional development program for high potential female students who are interested in a career in the financial markets. Here, Shelley Sun, a member of the 2018 Bloomberg Academy cohort and former student at University of New South Wales, discusses what she took away from the opportunity. To learn more and register for this year’s class, please visit this link.

Recently, I had the opportunity to attend Bloomberg Academy, a three-day learning opportunity for penultimate year female students at Bloomberg’s Sydney office. I initially applied for this experience because I had been exposed to the Bloomberg Terminal a few years prior and was fascinated by its capabilities. Bloomberg Academy was the perfect opportunity for me to learn more about the company and explore the functions of the Terminal.

The importance of data and technology to power financial markets

The Bloomberg Terminal goes beyond the graphs and charts we see in movies or on TV. It delivers fast and deep access to news, data and insights and its technology powers much of the financial markets. The Bloomberg Academy program focused mainly on gaining an understanding of the Terminal and how financial markets participants connect with each other on this platform, as well as leverage the data and technology it provides. During the three days, we had deep dive sessions into functionality such as real-time news, world equity news and security finders. This gave us the opportunity to learn a lot about how different users within different asset classes utilize functionality in their daily workflow beyond the textbook.

The Terminal training sessions really helped me connect theory to practice. I also gained a deeper understanding for the kinds of tasks different financial institutions and professionals conduct on a daily basis.

Pitch yourself like you would pitch a client

Two of the sessions throughout the program focused on the art of the “pitch” — the first aimed at how to present a sales pitch to a client and the latter on how to present yourself at an interview.  Both approaches start with the same question:

Why you? What makes you different from everyone else?

Our instructors really stressed the importance of understanding the value that you bring. When it comes to selling products and services, it’s important to communicate how Bloomberg can benefit the client instead of simply stating the features of this powerful product. Similarly, when you’re applying for any role, in particular a sales role, it is crucial to continuously refer back to your own experiences rather than answer the questions for face value.  What can you offer the company?

When answering questions about your career goals, you want to make sure you know yourself and what you want; not long-term blueprints but attainable goals you’d like to achieve in the next few years.

Research and planning are just as important as the presentation. During the mock sales pitches and interview, I found that the most effective answers came from those who took time to structure their answers logically and thoughtfully.

Giving back is part of the culture

Did you know Bloomberg gives most of its profits to philanthropic causes? While I had a little understanding of corporate social responsibility (CSR) before the program, seeing Bloomberg employees logging in a total of 120,000+ hours of their time to good causes truly convinced me that giving back and making a difference are key parts of the company culture.

We got a little taste of this by volunteering at the Royal Botanical Gardens. Despite my passion for providing a positive impact on society, this wasn’t an easy task and I now have a new found appreciation for everyone who strives to keep our city clean and beautiful. Change starts from each one of us as individuals and it can be as simple as reusing and recycling.

It’s safe to say my brain nearly imploded from absorbing all the information and skills during the short three-day program. I have to confess that I actually went home with “Bloomberg withdrawal symptoms” and I’m definitely planning to feed my interest in the university library where we have access to the Terminal.

I would encourage everyone to apply for the next Bloomberg Academy session. It is an extremely enriching experience and has really helped me understand what a typical day a sales or analytics role at Bloomberg entails. Learning from our instructors has given me valuable insight into the financial industry and the challenges we overcame during the program have helped me further develop both my hard and soft skills. This opportunity with Bloomberg has inspired me to explore sales-based roles in my future endeavours in the finance industry.