Joining the dots

Sharon’s perspective

At InterFinancial, we invite smart, self-starting students to participate in a tailored industry placement program that complements our work as a boutique advisory house. Why? Industry placements, if coordinated to align with business goals, can nurture a competitive advantage, with students bringing young energy and creative input into the workplace.

This can be particularly valuable in a smaller team. At InterFinancial, we have nine members in our senior team, including myself and an industry expert.

Collectively, we have considerable expertise, and provide advice about issues as diverse as sales and acquisitions of private companies, private equity investment, funds management and valuations to clients. We are the exclusive partner firm of Clairfield International in Australia, which is a global investment-banking firm with over 40 offices in more than 20 countries, headquartered in Europe.

With a small team backed by this broader network, we are strategically placed to provide clients with an exceptional level of service that is personalised and targeted. Yet, we also have finite personnel.

The suggestions and advice shared by a student completing an industry placement can help us pursue innovation and ingenuity in ways we never imagined, and assist with offsetting the binary of resource limitations.

Take Sophie Monsour, for example, who we were fortunate enough to welcome to InterFinancial for an industry placement. Ms Monsour is super smart. She showed an aptitude for grasping complex concepts, and worked diligently, exuding enthusiasm during her placement. Ms Monsour wasn’t here to mark her time, but to contribute. Her placement worked well because there was a clear connection between our intent, as an industry provider, UQ’s intent, as a higher education provider, and Ms Monsour’s intent, as a student seeking valuable experience in the finance sector. This synergy was facilitated through open dialogue and rapport, and is an essential component to getting the balance right with an investment of time.

Ms Monsour was mentored by our Executive Chairman, Paul Keehan, and tasked with completing a detailed profile on the food and agribusiness sector. Experts reviewed the content internally, and I used the profile to promote opportunities for investment in this segment to international Clairfield delegates at a specialist conference.

This is a perfect example of how industry-university partnerships can be mutually beneficial.

At InterFinancial, we look for candidates who can self-manage and work independently on projects, not photocopy and get coffees. Candidates with specialist technical knowledge can offer fresh insights, such as new suggestions for how to better integrate technology, and help us stay contemporary and relevant. Establishing these relationships also helps us broaden our network of industry contacts.

Ms Monsour had an opportunity to apply what she learnt at university to the finance sector — adding direct value to our business. Since her placement, she has found an excellent graduate role (congratulations!) in a large organisation that will give her a solid grounding in the industry.

Not all placements are as successful. The calibre of candidates and employer–candidate fit are vital. So too is ensuring placements are organised through a legitimate provider, such as UQ. This way, issues such as insurance are properly managed.

Industry placements can be a fantastic experience, helping students evaluate how their aspirations fit the reality of different jobs. They provide an opportunity for employers to connect with the employees of tomorrow, today. There is also a societal benefit as we seek to sustain an economy in which young professionals are upskilled and trained to give back to society over the longer term.

InterFinancial is an Australian corporate advisory firm that provides advice about mergers and acquisitions, capital raising, impact investment and strategic financial issues including valuations, financial restructuring and capital management, capital strategies and negotiations. Ms Doyle, who is an alumna of both UQ and Queensland University of Technology, did work experience and a clerkship with Allens Arthur Robertson that led to a law job, before making career choices and being appointed Managing Director of InterFinancial in 2009.

Sophie’s perspective

I have studied commerce and law at UQ, and they are such broad degrees. There are so many avenues to consider. Without practical industry experience, how can students know what they want to do, and have a competitive advantage?

Personally, I have participated in several work experience programs to ensure I make choices that are right for me.

I did legal research, drafted court documents and letters, and liaised with legal counsel and barristers when I interned at Londy Lawyers in Brisbane. Since then, and while I’ve worked as a Legal Services Advisor for National Australia Bank, I have decided not to pursue law professionally.

I realise, however, that my law degree will still be useful as I pursue my passion for numbers. As a commerce student, I participated in the PricewaterhouseCoopers Australia Preview Program and PricewaterhouseCoopers Australia Vacation Program. With assistance from the UQ Careers and Recruitment Centre, which connects employers to graduates from the UQ Business School, TC Beirne School of Law and School of Economics, I was also chosen as a Research Analyst Intern at InterFinancial.

I was mentored by Paul Keehan, Executive Chairman, and Sharon Doyle, Managing Director, and worked at the firm for about six months, one to two days a week. I was looking for work experience in the finance sector, which is really hard to get in Brisbane, and I learnt a lot. My first project involved analysing the healthcare sector and completing company profiles, and after that, I did a profile on the food and agribusiness sector.

I used finance databases to complete this research, and relied on a combination of skills learnt during my degree, along with common sense. I had studied accounting, learning about financial statement analysis as part of this subject. This helped me to go through the numbers. Also, because I’d studied corporate law, I knew a lot about company structures too.

I really liked the team environment at InterFinancial and it was a great experience working in a smaller company. I was given responsibility, and I found out how to apply financial concepts I was tested on during exams in practice, such as various valuation methods.

Because I hadn’t worked in the sector, I truly didn’t know what to expect when I started the industry placement. It was better than I’d hoped.

I have since completed a paid internship with Credit Suisse, accepting a graduate role in investment banking that begins in February. I am relocating to Sydney for this opportunity, and will participate in training alongside other graduates from around the world in London or New York in my first year.

Looking back, I haven’t forgotten how daunting it can feel going into a workplace for the very first time, and not knowing anything about what it is like to work in a particular sector. But, if you make the effort, industry placements can be so personally enriching and rewarding.

If I have any advice, it is to be organised and manage your time well as a student. Don’t ever think you are too young to complete placements, even if you are only in the first or second year of a six-year degree. It is competitive, and you need to make the most of every opportunity. Go after the impossible.

For me, finance seems like such an exciting industry. It is always changing, and you are always working on something different. I can’t wait to start working in investment banking, and I am grateful to everyone who has helped me as I begin to make my dream a reality.

Sophie Monsour was conferred with a Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Laws (Honours) in July, after receiving multiple Dean’s Commendations for Academic Excellence during her studies. She is currently completing a Master of Legal Practice (Practical Legal Training) from Australian National University, and has completed summer semesters and student exchanges at Harvard University, London School of Economics and Political Science, and the Paris Institute of Political Studies. Ms Monsour was a UQ Student Leader and Peer Mentor and has volunteered for Student Services. She is conversational in French and Arabic. Ms Monsour has accepted a graduate role with Credit Suisse that begins in Sydney in 2016, after working as an Investment Banking Summer Analyst at Credit Suisse, Research Analyst Intern at InterFinancial and Transfer Pricing Intern at PricewaterhouseCoopers. She was employed as a Legal Services Advisor at National Australia Bank from 2011 to 2015.

The UQ Careers and Recruitment Centre helps students and alumni find opportunities and manage their careers, as well as providing employers with access to talented graduates. For more information, call +61 7 3365 4222 or email careers@business.uq.edu.au. If you are interested in finding out about industry partnerships, visit uq.edu.au/giving/industry-partnerships.