Case studies: Business analyst: Naresh Bhojwani

Naresh has an MEng Communication Engineering from Queen Mary, University of London and works as a business analyst for Deutsche Bank.

I found the UK one of the top choices to further my education. UK qualifications are recognised and respected throughout the world. It has been a solid foundation for building my future, boosting my career and prospects. I believe studying in UK universities provided a vibrant, creative and challenging environment in which I have developed my potential.

I joined Deutsche Bank in 2009 on a graduate programme and successfully completed multiple rotations in various banking roles. My current role is a business analyst within GTO (Group Technology and Operations). The job involves providing innovation, speed and accuracy in technology and operation, which is the backbone of Deutsche Bank’s competitive edge.

During my time at university, I learnt business, financial and technical subjects. In my penultimate year, I spent my summer holidays researching and taking advice from the university careers service as I was interested in a graduate programme. I also researched relevant information, updated my CV and practised numerical reasoning tests and interviews. This helped me to perform well at the interview and assessment centre. I am now able to learn more through on-the-job training as well as the core curriculum of the graduate programme. This has helped me develop a stronger and wider foundation in both my financial and technical knowledge.

My advice to current international students who are looking to work in the UK is:

• read materials to find out what job opportunities are available to you and then focus on the jobs that interest you as a career. It is also very important to read about the company and get company-related information for the job that you are applying for;
• evaluate your skills, strengths and weaknesses and improve them by doing activities during university. I did voluntary work, some work experience and an internship. This provided me with good experiences to talk about at interview. For example, the insight I got into banking through my work experience enabled me to answer interview questions about working in banking as I had actually worked in this area;
• go to presentations or on career-related courses. For example, as I was interested in a financial career I went on The City Course run by The Careers Group. The training and exposure I gained during the course was highly valuable to me and helped me secure my new job;
• apply to internship programmes early to help secure a graduate role in the longer term;
• apply early if you are applying to a graduate scheme. Some open as early as August. The sooner you submit your application, the more vacancies are still available and the more time recruiters have to spend looking at your application form.