Moody's Business Challenge Team Experience

25 November 2015

On 30 October 2015, I took part in the activity held by Moody’s at Canary Wharf, London. The session was quite well organized and it started with a wide introduction of the company from the business filed to staff organization structures. Apart from basic knowledge, they highlighted two graduate programs, which are Moody’s Investors Service and Moody’s Analytics this year.

The introduction was delivered by two senior directors, both of whom are women, and it has provided me very useful information for future career seeking. Senior staff talked a lot about career decisions and how to develop networking from a female’s perspective. After that, four members of staff from the graduate programs shared their experience of being a junior analyst in the financial risk management sector. I found this section very inspiring because seeing people from similar backgrounds is encouraging to students in their final year.

After that, the rating game was composed with five students from different universities and countries. We had to analyze three companies from quantitative and qualitative views and present our rating scores to the senior staff in five minutes. The case study really made me feel challenged because of the limited time and restricted knowledge of the industry: consumer goods, low cost lines and entertainment industry. But the Moody’s coach gave us a lot of support for the valuation of the company as well as guidance of analytical thinking. I felt rewarded when he gave feedback to our presentation and we exchanged opinions about some financial ratios they use in daily work.

Finally, four outstanding teams presented a discussion over two topics from the rating game. More specifically, one of the topics was “whether Tesco should expand their investment into China.” Members from two teams made a point and refuted the counterpoint by making examples and listing historical data. I found this part quite interesting because our team raised the same question in the former rating game, but we did not come to a conclusion at first, but after the discussion we came to the same conclusion.

At the end of the afternoon, there was a networking session where employees across Moody’s shared their experience with participants. I talked with some senior staff with the same nationality as me and they gave very useful suggestions about applying for graduate programs and working with Moody’s in China. There was one rating analyst from China who shared his experience in detail, and directed a career path for me. When talking about what I have gained from the event, I would say I am willing to work with Moody’s because the company has provided gradates with many opportunities to improve themselves significantly in a short period, with guidance from senior staff. In addition, I am involved in the culture of Moody’s as they appreciate culture diversity and minimize gender discrimination at the same time.

In the end, I felt very lucky to be selected as a participant to attend the activity and, thanks to Santander funding, I could develop my career without spending my parents’ money during study. I would take this opportunity to share my experience with my peers and hope it could be helpful.

Fiona Li is an MSc Banking and Risk student who recently attended Moody's Business Team Challenge in London, supported by funding from the Business School's initiative. Find more information about Funding under 'Opportunities' on this website within your programme level.