Info Interview PDF

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A Major Assignment where students are asked to interview a relevant future employer of choice and make connections to course learning outcomes with how you plan to learn from employer's input....

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COMM 202 - Section 101 and T11 Matthew D Maramara (SN: 21405162) Informational Interview of Michel Proulx I've had the pleasure of interviewing my employer from Scotiabank, Michel Proulx. He is a Sauder BComm (1985) alumni who majored in finance and is the current branch manager for the Lonsdale and 14th St branch in North Vancouver, BC. According to his business card, his direct line is +1 (604) 981-7516 x 7000, and his email address is [email protected]. The following is a list of the questions asked in the interview and the answers to each: Q: How did you get into the industry? Michel was in his final year of the BComm program and was planning for graduation in April of 1985; in fall of the school year, employers came on campus to recruit graduating BComm students. The employers that came were but not limited to: CSIS, the Bank of Canada, Global Affairs Canada, various consulting firms, and the "Big Five" Canadian chartered banks; to Michel, working for the bank was the most logical step in his finance career. After applying for all of the banks recruiting on campus, he was selected to work as an entry level financial advisor for Scotiabank. Q: Were you always interested in studying business and finance, or did you originally plan on majoring in a different field? Why did you ultimately choose a BComm in finance? In Quebec, Michel was initially studying engineering, but then he went to McGill to study architecture. He thought that if he was more interested in the business aspects of both fields, and that he would ultimately work up to a managerial role in either, then it would make sense for him to simply study business. After moving out to Western Canada, he transferred into the Sauder School of Business. Since his general interest was investments, markets, and economies, he decided to major in finance. Q: Why did you decide to join this company? Initially, there was no real reason because one bank to him was the same as another. Since he was lucky enough to have been selected to work for Scotiabank out of all his applications, he chose to work for them and never considered other opportunities. In addition, the bank promised him opportunities to be repositioned in several other functional areas of the organization, which convinced him to stay in the long-term. Over time, he recognized that Scotiabank has been a good employer in how well they treat employees. Q: What precisely do you do? What are the duties/function/responsibilities of your job? According to Michel, being a branch manager is an involving job; the organization is in the process of restructuring the way the branches will be managed, e.g. change in fee waivers, compliance measures, auditing procedures, etc. A proportion of his working time is spent on compliance, e.g. adhering to regulations (Know Your Customer transactions processes, AntiMoney Laundering procedures, etc.). In addition, he has added responsibilities on the part of Mutual funds transactions and management. He notes that it's not one side of the job that is particularly enjoyed, but he also states that its proportion of total working time will be reduced from 30% at present to 10% in future. As well, he also coaches the management (Managers of Customer Service, Managers of Personal Banking) regularly through coaching activities, which accounts for the largest proportion of his job responsibilities. Lastly, 10-20% of his job is community involvement, e.g. non-profit events, working with centres of influence (accountants and lawyers). In other words, he has to emphasize the organization's presence of community. Thus, 30% of his job is compliance, 10-20% is community, and 50% of it is coaching but it will change to 70% in future.

Q: How much job security do you have in this position? He noted that you are required to meet all the expectations that are put on you by the corporate office, which often translates to holding the responsibility for the branch to perform well. In other words, your job security depends on your ability to demonstrate that you can lead successful teams. He said that it's important to note that your job is not at a huge risk to changes in demographics and technology, but the job is presently changing. In addition, the number of branches are decreasing. In his experience, maintaining his job has primarily depended on performance; he had never gotten close to losing his position as he was working alongside a very cooperative, motivational, and successful team. Thus, he stresses that there is no reason to believe that there is low job security for as long as you’re still facing the customer, you’re still in demand; the job security in support roles are vulnerable to change and outsourcing. Q: Do you find your job boring or exciting? Why? There are always parts of the job that aren't exciting, which Michel highlights that compliance is that aspect of the job that can be boring. On the other hand, he states that coaching is exciting; you get to meet with the team and organize employee development plans to get the best out of everybody. Q: What particular skills or talents are most essential to be effective in your job? A solid understanding of financial matters is required and he states that you can’t do without. More importantly, how you deal with people (people management) will affect your branch's performance, and it’s a constant learning experience. As he's stated, effective building cohesive relationships comes from the following: interpersonal skills, understanding of human resources and its applications, empathy, listening, and communication. He states that communication is a quintessential skill to strengthening internal and external relationships in the organization. In addition, technical skills are also required for the job. Q: How did you learn these skills? These skills were developed through education and experience. He had seminars in human resource management as well as university-level training internally within the bank. In addition, he's always observed other people’s management approaches (analyzing successful persons) and how successful their team's efforts were based on them. Moreover, he's always reading books; he personally attends speakers through the Vancouver Board of Trade on people management. Q: From your understanding, is the organization's structure of work on the retail side significantly different from the investment side? There's no significant difference in management on the investing side compared to retail. Investment advisors are almost self-employed, but they still have similar expectations and a lot of the same responsibilities. In addition, the compliance is practically same; the size of the team to supervise is very similar. In terms of job-specific competencies, it's investment solutions vs. generalists. Q: As you look back, is there anything you wish you’d known or that you would do differently? According to Michel, he has no major regrets. He noted that he had an opportunity to acquire an MBA but chose not to, which he wished to have pursued. As he's stated, it's the realm of the possible and additional education is something you can never go wrong with. However, his mobility in the organization is something he's thankful for. Q: What advice do you have for someone starting out? As he's stated, always ask industry professionals about how the job is in order to find the best fit. A lot of jobs look nice but may not necessarily be for everyone. If you're considering investment banking, maybe work for a little to save a lot of money before going on to do something else. For Scotiabank, your other options could be becoming a portfolio manager with Scotia securities.

Also, he suggested taking the Canadian securities course and getting an executive MBA if you aspire for more senior management roles in the bank, i.e. VP. Why didn't you pursue investment banking? As he's stated, investment advisors have a very entrepreneurial model, and as a young banker it seemed too daunting. He's done some commercial banking for a while, but came back to retail after 5 years and got a CFP designation. A branch manager needed to have it; fairly easy, i.e. a rehash of finance courses. After our interview, I asked him if he had any additional connections of persons in the capital markets that he can share with me, which he's provided me with a few business cards. These people are Alvin Cheung (Fixed Income Securities for Fulcra Asset Management Inc.) and Sam Bremner (Founding Partner of Ivest Consumer Partners). I plan to reach out to these connections in order to gain their insights of careers in the capital markets. Since Michel is my employer, I will be able to follow-up with him for any additional career and educational advice as I progress through my BComm; I'll plan for future coffee dates with him in order to maintain our connection. Following our interview, I sent out a thank you email as recognition for his time. From my interview of Michel, I got a sense of the career opportunities available for finance students. He gave me a brief overview of the duties/responsibilities of branch managers, which is divided into community presence, compliance, and coaching. Besides the buy-side and sell-side careers in the capital markets, commercial and retail banking are also plausible options for finance students and there are opportunities for higher earnings based on your growth within these industries. I learned how I can get into these industries through on-campus recruitment; if I aspire to advance within these industries to more senior management roles, I was advised to consider cultivating the necessary interpersonal, technical, and relationship-building skills/talents to effectively manage people by attending seminars and speakers, analyzing successful leaders, and reading books on HR and people management. In addition, acquiring the necessary competencies requires that I take additional university-level training within the organization, consider getting an executive MBA, earn a CFP designation, and take the Canadian securities course. One thing I should note is that, a huge proportion of his job is dependent on his ability to coach management and holding full responsibility for his branch's success. While there are some aspects of his job that aren't exciting, opportunities to develop the talents of a dynamic team in a dynamic working environment keeps the job rewarding and exciting, which also translates to higher job security. If I really want to consider all my career opportunities within finance, Michel recommends that I continue to network and reach out to employers and persons in my desired positions in order to fully understand the work-life balance of employees within those industries in order to confirm if it's a right career path for me. As well, it's an opportunity to be mentored by those same industry professionals, and they are the sources of jobs within the hidden job market. Moreover, Michel says that from his colleagues who've worked in those positions only stayed for a short timeframe in order to save money for other passions and interests. After conducting this interview, I plan to reach out to more industry professionals through LinkedIn and referrals by my friends in the UBC Finance Association. My primary goal is to thoroughly research all the careers within the buy-side and sell-side of the capital markets in order to prepare for my application into the PMF program in Sauder. In addition, I plan to research careers in corporate finance, retail and commercial banking in order to broaden my considered career options....