Inside Bloomberg: The multi-lingual grads powering the world’s economy
They help over a quarter of a million people worldwide
Walking into Bloomberg’s London offices quickly gives you a sense of what it’s like to work for the world’s largest financial tech company.
In the lobby you’ll come face-to-face with the second largest private tropical fish collection in Europe, whilst overhearing conversations in Japanese, German and French – the company prides itself on being able to serve the world’s markets.
Bloomberg’s grads are some of the smartest in the world, with more than 25 languages spoken in the London office alone. They use their languages daily as they help governments, hedge funds and investment banks to solve their everyday problems.
We spoke to four grads in the Analytics and Sales team at Bloomberg about using their languages, their day-to-day responsibilities and how most of them didn’t study a finance degree before joining.
Use your languages to power the world’s financial markets
Apply for 2017 roles after uni with the Analytics and Sales team at Bloomberg
Bloomberg’s Pantry is full of free snacks, drinks and even a frozen yogurt machine
Julia Dorflinger, Manchester, Linguistics and Translation (BA), Computer Science (MA)
Languages: German, Japanese, French and English
You don’t need a finance degree to get far at Bloomberg
Studying Translation at Manchester and working as a web developer after graduation, Julia didn’t know much about finance as an industry.
“I was born in Japan but I’m much better at German. Right now at Bloomberg I’m covering the German market and clients.”
“Bloomberg is a fin-tech company where I can combine my language and technical skills. I learn something new every day.”
Bloomberg donates a lot of their profits to charity
Bloomberg commits the majority of their profits to charity each year and giving back is at the heart of the company. As part of these efforts, Julia is doing a lot of charity runs.
“I did the Movember Run and the Pretty Muddy 5k. I had a lot of fun running for them and for a good cause. I’ve also entered the Regent’s Park run for 5 or 10k to fight against heart disease.”
There are running groups at work so Julia will head out for a run with her colleagues after work and her work ID card gets her a discounted gym membership.
Get involved in Bloomberg Philanthropies and work for a company that prioritises giving back
Apply for 2017 roles after uni with the Analytics and Sales team
Arnaud Juhel, ESC-Pau, Entrepreneurship and International Finance
Languages: French, Spanish, English
The grads are working with clients across the globe
Arnaud looks after Bloomberg’s French speaking markets, which includes France, Switzerland, Belgium or Luxembourg.
“Bloomberg European headquarters is here in London. I’ve met people here who can speak three, four or five languages.”
“The advantage of speaking these languages means that a client can come to us in their native language.”
Finance isn’t all about working for a bank
Having studied finance and entrepreneurship at uni, Arnaud wanted to go into a role that would give him a broad knowledge of the financial sector.
“The most exciting part of the role is the scope of finance, it’s so broad and familiar with all of the different parts of the financial markets. At another company you would specialise in just one of those fields. At Bloomberg you can pretty much help anyone in any area.”
Use your language skills every day with clients around the world
Apply for 2017 roles after uni with the Analytics and Sales team
Kana Maniwa, King’s, War Studies (BA), International Peace and Security (MA)
Languages: Japanese, French, English
Thousands of people from across the world choose to work here
With thousands of people working in the London office it’s a melting pot of different cultures, languages, degrees and unis. Kana studied War Studies at King’s so knows what it’s like to go into finance with no in-depth knowledge of how it works. However, speaking Japanese and her ability to learn quickly meant she was talking with clients after five weeks of training.
“My clients are from all over the world. I speak Japanese so I look after clients in Asia in the morning and then in the afternoons I look after other regions, Europe and the USA. I talk to people from hedge funds, investment banks and people from the government.
“It’s very exciting and motivates me a lot. You learn something new every day, because you’re working with such a diverse community.”
Finance is no longer a boys club
Kana insists that the culture of finance isn’t the same as it used to be.
“The finance world is changing, it’s not a boys club anymore. There are a high number of women in senior roles in positions within the company. Within Bloomberg, our gender split is about fifty fifty – we’re equal in that sense.”
Have daily interaction with governments, investment banks and hedge funds from across the world
Apply for 2017 roles after uni with the Analytics and Sales team
Jonathan Parry, Cambridge, Modern Languages (BA)
Languages: Spanish, French, English
There are opportunities to travel around the world and meet new people
Graduating from Cambridge, Jonathan was surrounded by bright people and Bloomberg has been no different. Because he’s part of Bloomberg’s sales team, Jonathan gets to travel around the world visiting new or existing clients.
“The diversity you get here is remarkable. You get colleagues from all over the world. In my job I’ve travelled around the world from Hong Kong to New York.
“You get to learn from these other really bright people and harness some of their skills, it’s a really good place to develop.”
“The most effective people have a good knowledge of everything: technology, the product side but also what’s going on in the markets.”
Getting your application right for Bloomberg
“Don’t be put off if you don’t have a financial background. We like people who are great communicators and love languages. Go into the interview prepared as you can about the company and some unique reasons why you would like to work for Bloomberg over other companies.”