(Finance MSc, 2020)
It is not easy when you come from another country and you are not yet fluent in the new language. But I have met such nice colleagues who became my friends later on who helped me integrate and build up a new social life.
Could you tell me about your current role at KPMG?
Recently, I started a new exciting experience in KPMG as a financial consultant in Milan in the Restructuring division. Being a global institution in the financial sector, KPMG provides advisory services to companies facing debt solvency issues, delayed payment to suppliers, organization and production efficiency difficulties, and liquidity constraints. My personal contribution as a member of the team is to study and analyze current client’s weaknesses and highlight the reasons of the crisis in order to deal with it and develop a tailor-made recovery and industrial plan.
QMUL was the first option since the beginning due to its rich and well spread extracurricular courses on top of the main curriculum subjects. It is located at the heart of the financial district and it offers many opportunities to practice the theoretical concepts acquired during the year.
Daily responsibilities depend on the type of project you are working on. Usually any kind of projects begins with the collection of all the financial information that we need to perform our analysis. Then we move on to modeling in Excel in which we start forecasting activities with the objective to reach a clean cash flow prospect and spot the company’s financial need to support the production activity. Finally we end up studying and analyzing attainable solutions considering possible investors intervention through a capital injection in the form of debt or equity.
I do believe this is the best way to approach the job market for a junior profile coming out of university as they will be able to practically work on several heterogenous projects and gain hands-on experience of accounting, financial analysis and modelling skills, without forgetting the commercial acumen necessary to communicate efficiently with clients. Furthermore, restructuring allows you to grasp the most important legal procedures which, obviously, differ from country to country. It is a huge chance to learn quickly and take on responsibility from the first day and make your mind around what your medium-long term goals in finance are.
Could you describe your career journey to this point?
During my last year at QMUL, the outbreak tremendously affected the job market in hiring new resources during such uncertain times. Anyhow, I almost immediately got a job in Intesa Sanpaolo, the largest Italian bank, as a Private Consultant for high-net-worth individuals. Despite the opportunity given, I had clear in mind that I preferred working in consulting on a corporate level. Therefore I started a new job in a small financial boutique as an M&A Distressed Analyst where I acquired the foundations. This experience underlined my passion for company’s financial analysis and it enforced the curiosity around the subject allowing me to grow and be prepared for a working experience in global dimension firm such as KPMG.
Why did you choose to study MSc Finance and why at Queen Mary?
It is always difficult to justify the choices taken in young ages, personally I do believe mine was driven by the curiosity and the passion for the subject. Yet, I think we should be able to understand our strengthen points. Finance might be seen superficially from the external as a cynical industry, however companies may succeed thanks to their employees' efforts and behind them there are families. Hence, I like thinking finance has a massively crucial impact on people's lives, socially and financially speaking. When we are able to develop a sustainable financing solutions and help a company to recover from the crisis conveying a second chance to the management, we are not just helping an abstract entity, this must be always kept in mind.
Since the bachelor degree, I aimed at studying in London for the specialization. QMUL was the first option since the beginning due to its rich and well spread extracurricular courses on top of the main curriculum subjects. It is located at the heart of the financial district and it offers many opportunities to practice the theoretical concepts acquired during the year. Everything is well-organized and the professors' careers show a deep knowledge and understanding of the financial world. Finally, I found QMUL a prestigious and historical university, indeed it is one of the top university in UK being recognized as part of the Russell Group.
What was so special about your time at Queen Mary? Do you have any particularly fond memories you would like to share?
It is not easy when you come from another country and you are not yet fluent in the new language. But I have met such nice colleagues who became my friends later on who helped me integrate and build up a new social life. I have got a lot of memories, especially related to the weekend parties arranged at friend’s homes (of course not during the lockdown) where we had the opportunity to deeply know each other considering the different habits due to cultural reasons. Those were the real opportunity for personal enrichment. In addition to that, it was special to share meals together and taste new flavors.
Outside of your studies, how did your time at Queen Mary prepare you for your career?
QMUL spends time preparing its students for the job hunting everyone must pass through. From day one, there are several activities that aim to give valuable pieces of advice in drafting your CV and Cover letter in order to increase efficacy and help you in passing the first stage of interviews. Above all that, there are several extracurricular courses such as the Financial Trading Program which will teach you the basis of Bloomberg and how to pick stocks and build an investment portfolio (at the end of the program you will be given the chance to get the BMC certification which is appreciated by the market). The career service is at your disposal every time you need it in simulating interviews and give tips for your next application. I appreciated the practical approach of most of the professors paying more attention to the application of theoretical concepts, that is going to benefit you in facing technical interviews at the beginning. Finally, some tests required to work in group and it enables you to stimulate your team-player skills, particularly important if you wish to work in international organizations.
If you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?
It is my belief that life is just what it is, but if I had the opportunity then I would tell him not to be afraid of not being able to reach what he aims to. If you study at QMUL it means you are ambitious, humble and you crave for intellectual curiosity. Sometimes it might be scary because the competition out there is pretty intense, but when you consistently work hard and believe in yourself most of the hurdles will be overtaken and you will be rewarded.
Why did you choose to study in London?
At the time UK represented the main financial hub in Europe. It is a straight-forward choice for those who aim to work in finance for many reasons. First of all the language, English is essential if you want to access the best job opportunities in the financial sector and spending the time studying and interacting with people is going to help you get the right fluency and technical vocabulary. Secondly, the city is vibrant and you soak up energy from it, thanks to the extended network you might be able to meet people with similar university paths, talking to and learning from them is increasingly important in such competitive markets, your networking ability needs the same time of commitment as any other studying activity, QMUL provides to its students many opportunities like events and job fairs.
If you would like to get in touch with Nicholas or engage him in your work, please contact the Alumni Engagement team at alumni@qmul.ac.uk.