Aristidis C.
About me
| Aristidis C. | |
| Computer Science | |
| Computer Science | |
| Undergraduate | |
| Langwith | |
| 2009 | |
| Greece |
My employment
| Financial Analyst | |
| Procter & Gamble | |
| Switzerland | |
| 2010 | |
| £90000 | |
| £104000 |
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A day in the life of a Financial Analyst in Switzerland
My career history
2015 - Present: Sales Finance Manager, UK
2014 - 2015: Commercial Operations Finance Manager, UK
2012 - 2014: Strategy Finance Manager, Geneva
2010 - 2012: Financial Planning Manager, Geneva
2009 - 2010: MPhil in Management, Cambridge
2006 - 2009: BEng Computer Science, York
What has helped my career to progress
Great mentors & colleagues, great and diverse assignments.
Courses taken since graduation
MPhil in Management, University of Cambridge
My advice to students considering work
Do an internship - that's one of the things I did not do and wish I had. It will help a lot in the future.
Also, participate in extracurricular activities, but do not do it just for your CV. You must have a passion for whatever you do - otherwise, chances are you won't do it very well. Find something you like and join a student club. If there isn't one, start it.
My advice about working in my industry
Strong analytical skills are important, but what will make it or break it is the ability to lead and take initiative.
What I do
I am a finance manager at Procter & Gamble. At P&G, managers change assignments every couple of years - in my case, I've worked in Geneva and London on the following:
- Financial planning: consolidating inputs from budget owners and regional finance managers to produce a global profit forecast. Also led a team to simplify the forecast process.
- Strategy & Innovation: evaluating new product launches, working with a multifunctional team to maximise the financial return. Led a team to re-design my brands' strategies.
- Commercial operations: owned the pricing, promotional and marketing strategy for a category in the UK.
- Sales finance: working with account managers to sell our products to retailers.
Skills I use and how I developed them
Having a degree from York certainly helped getting through the door. However, good grades are no longer a guarantee of employment. During my interview, I was asked for more than 4 examples of leadership or teamwork, which I could answer thanks to my involvement in student societies at University.
Degree skills:
Studying computer science at York has helped in three ways:
a) It honed my analytical and problem skills, which are essential in any job, but even more so in financial analysis.
b) It taught me how to plan my time to do well.
c) The programming skills I was taught at York have helped. In my first year here I have given training on how to use programming to develop powerful analytical tools etc.
Extracurricular skills:
Teamwork, leadership and communication skills have been vital. I was the Secretary of the York Union (now Debating Society) and the Welfare Officer for the International Students Association. These experiences have certainly helped!
What I like most
I enjoy the responsibility and personal development. At P&G you develop great leadership and project management skills, and assume a lot of responsibility early on.
What I like least
The career progression is slower than other industries, such as banking or consulting.
What surprised me most
How much I've learnt
Next steps...
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