James Ryan

Product Marketing Associate |
School/College Leaver

Why do you enjoy your job?

I work in the EMEA Product and Content Marketing team, this means that I work on the production and maintenance of marketing material across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. My responsibilities include working on presentations for potential clients, brochures for financial advisers whose business we are trying to win amongst other things. The great thing about this job is my exposure across the business. Due to the nature of what I do I operate across many aspects of the business from liaising with people working in different nations and areas. For example, people who work in product about the specific characteristics of portfolios and obtaining data or speaking to sales associates and understanding what information they feel is important to get across to clients. This exposure allows me to greater understand the asset management world. Thanks to both my manager and AllianceBernstein my knowledge of the sector has increased considerably and allows for further development in future.

What is the most challenging thing about your job?

A challenge that comes with my role is balancing workloads. In my position I am given lots of responsibility especially when it comes to updating existing marketing material. The volume of this material is quite substantial and trying to balance update and requests can be demanding at times, this reminds me of the importance of my work.

How did you get into your job?

After completing my A levels I wasn’t sure that university was really what I wanted to do, so looked for alternatives and applied for several roles on the Investment20/20 website. Eventually I landed the job at AllianceBernstein after a series of interviews.

What are your future aspirations?

In the immediate future I am looking forward to completing my IMC (investment management certificate), contributing to improve my knowledge of the industry. In the future I would like to progress in the role I am currently in, increasing my understanding of approaches across EMEA to improve and greater contribute to the production of marketing material.

How would you sum up your Investment20/20 experience?

My Investment20/20 experience has been overly positive. I have met some great people who work at other firms as well as my own. The events that have been organised by the Investment20/20 programme has given me an insight to other areas of the business that I might not have been exposed to. I am a massive advocate for the programme and the opportunities it provides to school leavers like myself and to help spread the word I have become an Investment Ambassador and recently attended a careers fair endorsing the programme.

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