Being able to “grow-up” with the company in this stage has allowed me to get a better understanding of how FDM is actively staying competitive and evolving to create better employees.  It may be difficult to fully understand and embrace the model when first being introduced to it.  I myself can be quoted as saying, “So I’m going to get trained for free as long as I take care of myself during that time, and you’ll give me a job? “ Yes, but you also have to put in the effort.  The opportunity is 100% there; what some trainees need to understand is that, in the end, it is up to them to learn the material and sell themselves once the interviews start coming.  FDM gives us the opportunity, but competition is not removed from the equation.

I have noticed that, as FDM is evolving, every new trainee stream has advantages over the previous.  My stream did not have access to the 29^th floor facilities as it was under construction, and newer courses have now been added to teach trainees better etiquette and interview skills.  I respect that feedback is being used constructively in order to improve things trainees were having more difficulty with. Fortunately, I have been able to use my own personal abilities as well as all that I learned in training to secure a placement at UBS WMA.

I am looking forward to finally working on site for a big bank! The whole process requires patience, but the results really do payoff.  If I could tell new or prospective trainees anything, it would be to learn as much as possible during training and be patient. Job opportunities will come, and the help FDM gives you is immensely valuable for getting your IT career jumpstarted – especially given the difficult state of today’s job market.

Karen is based in the COO team in Prime Services and Treasury Trading IT, which comprises of 788 people covering 13 departments. Her responsibilities are to support six department senior managers in terms of financial forecasting, programme reporting and operational management of the division. In her role she prepares monthly financials, communication management (Intranet Site and SharePoint Site), resource management, application management, time booking management, programme and project management and departmental management. She also carries out analysis work into some of these areas. She has learnt quickly and progressed swiftly in her role over the past seven months and now manages the delivery of several deliverables within Prime Services.

Karen was nominated for this award by her managers on site at UBS, who said, “she’s diligent, thorough, asks the right questions and has an excellent attitude. She’s a team player and selflessly helps others. Karen’s now a key part of the team and she’s achieved this in a very short space of time. This is a reflection of how much she has done for the division.”

In recognition of her award, Karen said, “It is an honour to receive this award for my endeavours at UBS. I would like to take this opportunity to thank my managers Katie Douglas and Sebastian Doan for nominating me and for supporting me with their extensive knowledge and experience in this sector, which has been much appreciated. I would also like to thank everyone at FDM for selecting me for this award and for providing me with this fantastic opportunity where I can start out my career. The work at UBS is challenging and will really prepare me for the future.”

Karen receives a £100 Amazon voucher as a reward for her hard work, and will be put forward for Consultant of the Year. Congratulations to Karen from everyone at FDM!

Project Management Office: Manage a variety of IT projects for high-profile clients

Project Management Office (PMO) involves the planning, management and execution of various technical projects in order to meet the client’s exact needs. Our PMO programme incorporates training in various project management tools and techniques including PRINCE 2, project support office essentials, SQL, data manipulation and MS Excel. Through theoretical and practical methods, FDM’s 12-16 week training course will strengthen your technical knowledge, build your skill-set and enhance your commercial awareness.

Do I have what it takes?

In order to be successful, you need to be organised, analytical and methodical. It is essential to understand the importance of teamwork, possess strong communication skills and be a confident decision maker. To flourish in PMO you need to work effectively and efficiently towards specific requirements, objectives and deadlines, as well as the ability to anticipate and overcome forthcoming challenges. Desirably you will hold a degree in an IT, Business or Management discipline, but above all you must be enthusiastic, willing to learn and have a can-do attitude.

FDM Group puts focus on thorough training, which differentiates FDM from other consultancy companies. PMO training consists of multiple components, each of them ending in certification, either internal or provided by external institutions; this certification is more than added value to any CV. These components altogether, as well as the cross-functional knowledge gained, result in a high number of useful skills, and strengthened analytical thinking, time management ability and organizational spirit. Being an FDM PMO Consultant on site, I have realized that the training could also help me in following another career path in the future. FDM in that sense opens more than just one door.

The other thing that attracted me to FDM was the flexibility and their philosophy of being one global and global-thinking company. Starting my training in Frankfurt am Main with just a few German trainees (we actually built a small dream-team), I moved to London for next two months where I was warmly welcomed and joined my international colleagues to continue PMO training with them. FDM enables me to build up a great network of valuable contacts from different business areas. But above all, being with FDM at any stage (whether it’s training or being on site) is simply a fantastic cross-cultural experience!

Just before I was about to leave London I got offered an FDM placement in Switzerland!

This is where I am now: living in this small but picturesque country, working in the most international team for the leading Suisse Bank and facing new challenges every day in a changing environment as a specialist within the Global Messaging area. In other words, this is exactly what I wanted to do and what FDM provided me with: to work internationally, within international milieu, crossing my personal and international boundaries. And I know this is just the beginning because I’m continuously moving forward, collecting new valuable experiences and constantly improving my personal and professional skills, not only in IT but also in banking and working in an international cooperation.

A business that usually runs short, simple projects may be put off by the size of PRINCE2 and not want to change how they operate. They don’t!

PRINCE2 should be tailored to the size, importance and environment of the project.

Tailoring PRINCE2

Tailoring is about scaling, not cutting. Losing parts of the PRINCE2 methodology will create flaws as the methodology is a series on interlinked themes, roles and processes.

One of the main reasons for tailoring PRINCE2 is for small companies who require the high level of control that PRINCE2 offers but perhaps do not want use a sledgehammer to crack a walnut.

Retaining the PRINCE2 Principles

The seven PRINCE2 principles must be preserved and so the first step to tailoring PRINCE2 is to establish the principles to ensure they do not lose value. To remind us, the seven PRINCE2 principles are:

1. Continued business justification
2. Learn from experience
3. Defined roles and responsibilities
4. Manage by stages
5. Manage by exception
6. Focus on products
7. Tailor to suit the project enviroment

As you can see, tailoring PRINCE2 to suit the project environment is a principle itself which is why it is an emphasised part of PRINCE2 training.

Adapting the Roles

PRINCE2 expects you to adapt the standard role descriptions to the needs of a specific project. This may involve moving responsibilities from one role to another. It should be kept in mind that responsibilities can be moved but should not be dropped. According to PRINCE2, this doesn’t mean moving all the Project Board’s responsibilities to the project manager! They should be spread throughout the team.

Smaller projects may require that some roles are combined. Examples of this include combining the Executive and Senior User roles, assigning the Support and Configuration Library roles to the project manager or a team member and not using Team Managers on small projects.

Adapting the Processes to Small Projects

It is ideal to complete all the activities described in the processes as omitting some may lead to regret later on in the project. If you are to leave out some processes they must be thoroughly reviewed to check if they are needed.

It is usually better to shorten the time spent on processes rather than eliminate them entirely or you run the risk of missing a vital part of the project.

Often, it is the start up and initiation work that is omitted due to pressure to get the project going or because it is deemed unnecessary for small projects. However, this often leads to problems down the line about the scope of the project or expenditure as these have not been set out at the start. By this point it can be too late to go back to make changes to the project documents and so the project may suffer.

A good way to reduce processes on during a small project is to use the Daily Log instead of multiple registers for risks, issues and quality and incorporate the Lessons Log. Using the Daily Log to capture issues avoids the need for Issue Reports.

Reducing reports and meetings, or giving them orally, is an effective way to reduce wasted time and management effort in small projects. Telephone or e-mail conversations may suffice over face to face meetings.

It is also possible to reduce the documentation. PRINCE2 suggests that a small project may run with only four sets of documentation:

1. The Project Initiation Document
2. Highlight Reports
3. Daily Log
4. End Project Report

When training to complete PRINCE2 Practitioner exam it can be tempting to concentrate solely on passing. While this is important, for successful use of PRINCE2 in the future it is vital to always be thinking about how the methodology can be tailored to the business. Thinking about applying PRINCE2 to a real life project during training will lead to more successful and faster adoption of the methodology post-training.

This post was written by Craig Charley, a writer for Brighton PRINCE2 Training centre Silicon Beach Training who also provide accredited MSP and ITIL Training.

We wish them the best of luck in their placements and look forward to hearing how they are getting on.

This is what his Manager had to say about his hard work at UBS:

“Salem was placed in a demanding role with a high level of management responsibility.  This required a mature and confident approach to work and the ability to manage senior team members, and conflicting time demands.  He delivered on all that was asked of him in a very professional manner.  Never phased by the complexity of any task, always on time with any delivery.

“For someone with no prior office experience, Salem was a breath of fresh air.  Personable, capable, diligent and pleasure to work with.  He picked up new tasks very quickly and took time to understand anything that was new to him.  He was extremely professional in everything he undertook – he has set a very high benchmark for any Mountie that follows him and this is evidenced by the fact that Judy Kawaguchi, the new head of Ops IT for UBS Asset Management has requested Salem to transfer internally to work with her. Accolades don’t get any better than that!”

Salem trained in the PMO stream at the London Academy and was placed on client site in March 2011.

He says, “I have enjoyed working for UBS since the very beginning. It was a ‘real’ job from day one. I had been given real responsibility and as I performed well in the initial tasks, my responsibility grew and grew. I had proven that I can manage my time well and had the ability to prioritise my workload to meet deadlines. My role mainly deals with financials; this includes invoicing, monthly financial management/analysis and now I am primarily dealing with 2012 planning. I have achieved my goal of planning the 2012 workload and have successfully associated a cost for each of these projects. Within my role I am constantly analysing project costs and thinking of new ways of streamlining costs to increase the benefits. I have succeeded in identifying incorrect costs associated to the department and this has helped unveil the true costs for the team.

“I enjoy working closely with the management team and I have made sure that I built a rapport with each of them. This was difficult at first but I quickly adjusted and was able to deliver results through collaboration and great teamwork. I work hard to make life easier for the project managers by implementing processes and tools that have long term benefits. Initial population of my documentation can be demanding but I have proven that the long-term benefits outweigh the initial work effort.

“I feel a real sense of self-fulfilment since my efforts have been able to help the team I’m working with to progress strategically in a time where funding is short but the requirements are still the same

“Achieving this award has motivated to work even harder. Recognition for my efforts has made me feel valued from both the FDM and UBS side.”

Congratulations Salem from all of us!

FDM’s Graduate scheme enables fast-tracked career progression into the IT industry, through technical and professional skills development combined with commercial experience.  The training generally take 8-16 weeks to complete, after which you will begin an exciting journey as an FDM IT Consultant, working with some of the world’s most prestigious organisations.

So what might you be doing once you’ve completed your training?  This differs according to which stream you train in and includes:

IT Development

In the development streams, you can specialise in either Sun Microsystems’ Java or Microsoft’s .NET technologies.  You could be working individually or as part of a software development team to design systems or write and implement complex code.  Career progression includes Senior Development, Systems Design or Technical Team Leader roles.  Developers in both technology sets are in very high demand, which reveals exciting opportunities working with our clients in a wide range of industries.

Find out more about becoming a Java Software Developer or a .NET Developer

Test Analysis

As a Test Analyst, you will oversee the software development life cycle and critically examine user interfaces, scripts and processing code.  Working with the technical, commercial and end-user aspects of the software, you will be responsible for ensuring that the final software adheres to stringent quality assurance standards.  This career path requires analytical and technical skills, combined with diplomacy and a process-orientated, client-focused approach.  Career development options include Senior Tester, Test Team Leader, Quality Assurance Consultant, and Business Analyst roles.

Find our more about becoming a FDM Software Test Analyst 

Application Support

In an Application Support Analyst role, you would typically work within large investment banks to solve technical and workflow issues relating to the software and systems that support key areas of the business, such as the trading floor.  You will be dealing directly with stock, risk, derivatives or futures traders, supporting the smooth running of critical business applications.  Career progression includes becoming a Support Team Leader or Trading Software Technical Specialist, building a strong career in investment banking systems.

Find out more about becoming a FDM Application Suppport Analyst

Infrastructure Analysis

As an Infrastructure Analyst you will support, bolster and improve existing infrastructure arrangements for our clients.  You will be given the opportunity to undertake a wide variety of roles, ranging from Infrastructure Support on client sites, to being part of, or even leading, fully managed technical projects.  Typical assignments may consist of system updates and refreshes, server consolidation, migration and business as operational activities.  Primarily you will be responsible for supporting a robust infrastructure, key to organisational success for companies throughout the world.

Find out more about becoming a FDM Infrastructure Analyst

Project Management Office

Project Management Office (PMO) is the heart of the delivery organisation.  As a Project Analyst you will be totally absorbed within the project life cycle, from project planning, to project scheduling, to risk analysis and project tracking.  Utilising industry processes and tools, you will ensure consistent management by overseeing the project portfolio and communicating with each customer to ensure project delivery.

Find our more about becoming a FDM Project Managment Office Analyst

Your FDM IT Career

FDM’s clients span a range of industries internationally and include over half of the FTSE 100 companies.  Many of our clients have worked with us for over five years and some for more than a decade.  Once you have finished your training, you will work as an FDM Consultant for a minimum of two years.  Many consultants enjoy working in a number of client offices over that period, experiencing different challenges and a variety of work cultures.  At the end of the two years, you are free to explore the many options that have been opened up to you or opt, as many consultants do, to remain with FDM as a Senior IT Consultant.

Interested in the FDM Academy Programme but still have some questions?  Check out our list of frequently asked questions, or feel free to post a question below.

Keen to apply?  Visit our IT Careers page to upload your CV and apply to the FDM Academy Programme.

If you are interested in applying for the FDM Academy Programme but have a few questions, this list of ten frequently asked questions should help:

1. Where will I be working on completion of my training?

On completion of your training you could be working across the UK, Mainland Europe, USA or Asia.  You do not have to work internationally, but we have plenty of opportunities for those who wish to do so.  Find out more in our Where You Will Work section and check our entry requirements in our Suitability section.

2. What companies will I be working with?

You will be working with our clients, such as: HSBC, UBS, BSkyB, Credit Suisse, Betfair, Swiftcover, The AA and many others.  You may end up working at the same place for the whole two years, or you may be placed on various client sites throughout that time.

3. Is it essential for me to have an IT degree?

FDM accepts graduates with a range of IT related degrees such as Mathematics, Science, Engineering and Electronics.  A technical or numerical science degree will often have taught you the basic skills you need to get through our assessment process.  However, if you have gained IT experience outside a non-IT related degree, you may find it worthwhile coming along to an assessment session and seeing how you get on.  Business, Economics and related degrees are also considered, especially for our PMO stream.

4. Which IT courses do you offer?

We currently provide training in Java Development, .Net Development, Testing, Infrastructure, Application Support and Project Analysis – the streams available differ according to location.  Additionally, all trainees receive soft skills training whilst on the programme.

5. If I have to relocate for a placement, what support will I receive?

When travelling for interviews with our clients, we will cover your travel and accommodation costs if necessary.  Once placed with our client, if relocation assistance is necessary, we will review on a case-by-case basis.  We may also be able to help find host families if you require.  Whilst on site, your Account Manager and Service Head will keep in touch with you and will help make your transition as simple as possible. You will also receive regular communication with FDM, keeping you up-to-date with company news and being included in company events.

6. How soon after passing the assessment can I come into the Academy?

It would depend on how full our training centres are, but often you can start in-house the following week.

7. Can I do the training part-time or from home?

Training takes place in-house at our Academies and is full-time, Monday-Friday, 9am-5.30pm. This is for a number of reasons; the programme is classroom based, intense, and will need your full commitment; it is an important part of getting used to working in a office environment; and it is useful to build relationships with the sales team, marketing department, your trainers and your service head.

Most importantly, we need to be able to speak to you very quickly when opportunities come up for placements. Our clients often come into the office as well, to see the Academy and meet those in training.

8. What if I have already gained the accreditations or certification available on my training?

Our training is able to accommodate that. You are more likely to get through the training faster if you have more experience, and when the trainers can see you are ready to go out on site, they will sign you off.

9. After the two years of work provided, what options would be available?

People take several different paths after completing their two years, including:

• Staying with FDM as Senior Consultants
• Being taken on by the client as a permanent member of staff
• Return in-house to become an FDM Trainer, supporting and teaching the new trainees in the Academy
• Leave FDM to work for another company

10. Do I get paid during my time with FDM?

The training period at our FDM Academies is unpaid (usually 8-16 weeks depending on the stream you train in), however during the two years of placement on client sites you will receive a competitive salary.

For more information on the FDM Academy, browse our website www.fdmgroup.com and if you would like to apply then visit www.fdmgroup.com/uk-apply to submit your CV.  If you have any questions that are not answered above then feel free to post your questions below and one of our team will answer them.

We are looking for candidates ideally from an IT, Maths, Physics, Engineering or Finance background who are fluent in English and also speak either Cantonese or Mandarin. We will train all our candidates in role specific skills as well as professional soft skills at our London Graduate Programme Training Academy, and then you will be placed for 2 years on client sites in either Hong Kong or Singapore. If you would like to be considered for this amazing opportunity then please email your CV to ApplyAsia@fdmgroup.com

Still not sure if this opportunity is right for you?
The Hong Kong Computer Society recently reported that 51.2% of the firms questioned hired fresh graduates this year, 90% of which received an entry level salary of over HK$10,000 a month. FDM is meeting and exceeding these opportunities by providing its Hong Kong IT Consultants with a salary of around HK$27,000 and has already offered many graduates the opportunity to kick-start their careers in Hong Kong. FDM Regional Manager for Asia Pacific, Neil Holland, said, “Since October last year we have placed over 50 graduates in the region having developed a substantial and impressive client base. We look forward to offering many more graduates the opportunity to live and work in Asia in the coming years.”

See what some of our consultants in Asia have to say:
“Great place to work. Fabulous restaurants. Wonderful night-life and entertainment” –TT

“I would highly recommend FDM to anyone who would like to pursue a challenging career.” -WF

“FDM trained me up for the IT industry and also gave me the golden chance to support one of the largest investment banks in the world” – JW

Keep up to date with our opportunities in Asia:
Visit our LinkedIn site and our Facebook page.