It is an exciting time for talented graduates to join Morgan Stanley. There will be great opportunities available in the future for those entering the investment banking business now.

By Michelle Boyde

“It is easy to be a star when things are good, but it’s a greater challenge working in today’s markets and it is now when the truly outstanding individuals will shine.”

Interview with Stephanie Ahrens, Executive Director in Graduate Recruitment EMEA at Morgan Stanley.

Is Morgan Stanley the same employer it was before the recession started?
Since September 14th 2008, when Lehman filed for bankruptcy, there has been a wave of unprecedented change throughout the industry. Morgan Stanley has been affected along with all other banks. We have learnt a lot from this and are well positioned to weather the current industry-wide market challenges and emerge as a winner. We have one of the strongest financial positions in the industry. We became a bank holding company, which gives us both the stability and flexibility to deal with current market conditions. We have also entered a strategic alliance with Mitsubishi UFJ and a joint venture with Citi to create the world’s largest wealth management business. However, despite all these strategic developments, our culture remains the same and everyone at Morgan Stanley is proud to work here.

Who will thrive at Morgan Stanley?
At Morgan Stanley, we have never held back from telling students the realities of what it is like to be part of this industry. Yes, you will be expected to work hard, you will be intellectually challenged and taken out of your comfort zone at times. We want people who fit into our collaborative, ambitious, winning attitude culture. Emotional intelligence is imperative, as is the ability to stand on your own two feet and drive change. It is easy to be a star when things are good, but it’s a greater challenge working in today’s markets and it is now when the truly outstanding individuals will shine. The volume and scale of the projects you will have the chance to work on will be immense and unique. You will have an opportunity to shape today’s and tomorrow’s economy.

How has Morgan Stanley’s campus activities evolved?
Last year, we reviewed our on-campus strategy. This started with a review of the universities we should have a physical presence at, versus where we would only be visible through online, print or Web media. Needless to say, as much as we would love to, it’s physically and financially not feasible for us to have a presence at every university. We also evaluated the type of activities to take on-campus. Now, we focus more heavily on guest lectures, skills sessions and workshops, rather than the traditional milkround – an all singing and dancing company presentation followed by cocktails. We want to ensure that students learn something, develop a skill set or a greater understanding of the world of finance. This, whilst getting to know us as a firm and potential employer.

Do you evaluate your employer branding efforts on campus?
Yes, we measure the popularity of our events through a combination of pre-registration and post event feedback. We also gather feedback from university careers services and, of course, we talk to recent graduate joiners and interns about what works and what we could do better.

What will you communicate this year?
We hope to demonstrate what makes Morgan Stanley such an exciting and rewarding career choice for graduates and why – despite challenging market conditions – we believe investment banking continues to be an attractive industry choice for students. From my perspective, the investment banking industry will never disappear. It has simply moved into a new era. Forming part of that and shaping it is extremely exciting.

About Stephanie Ahrens
With experience from JP Morgan and Credit Suisse, Stephanie Ahrens joined Morgan Stanley two years ago with the task of taking Morgan Stanley’s graduate recruitment and employer branding efforts to the next level.
Education: University of Exeter, BA (Hons) Modern Languages, Spanish and French
Most striking thing on my CV: Besides being fluent in four  languages she was educated both in Germany and the UK and has quite a diverse portfolio of HR and Financial Services experience.

About Morgan Stanley
Since 1935, Morgan Stanley has served as the preeminent financial advisor to companies, governments and investors from around the world.
Number of employees: 40,000 worldwide
Something you would not expect:
In 2008, Morgan Stanley and its employees donated almost $60 million to support children’s health in over 800 communities around the world.

As we’ve heard from some HR professionals, getting buy-in from management and the necessary budget for their employer brand activities isn’t always the easiest thing, let alone the resources to set up a cross-departmental cooperation between marketing and HR, which we believe is vital for successful employer branding work. 

Essentially, it’s only when you’ll be able to report the returns on employer brand investments in figures and over time that you’ll be able to get the commitment from upper management and the rest of the organization.

The ultimate goals for your employer brand work should be to improve your rankings, shorten your time to fill vacancies, gain a higher number of qualified applicants, increase employee satisfaction, and lower employee turnover.

The goals and measurements to track results should be in the following areas of your employer brand:

• External perception of the employer brand (e.g. brand recognition amongst students)

• Recruitment processes (e.g. time-to-fill vacancy, cost-per-hire, employee referrals)

• Employer engagement (e.g. employee satisfaction and rate of turnover)

It’s important to make yourself heard and have the evidence to back-up your arguments. By measuring your results in these areas, you’ll be able to communicate your employer brand efforts and results easily, not only to upper management but also throughout the organization. The metrics will moreover enable you to fine-tune your employer brand activities, as you monitor and track results you’ll gain an understanding of what works and what doesn’t work.

By Christopher Van Mossevelde