Sweaty palms.  Nights without sleep.  “What will they ask?”  “What’s my competition like?”  “What do I do if I am at a corporate reception, my right hand is messy from the chicken wings I just ate and I see a company rep headed my way for a chat?”  No time to find out.  You’re on.

Three years ago the faculty’s Centre for Financial Studies embarked on an initiative that would bring Bay Street recruiters to the University of New Brunswick where, through interviews and receptions, corporate professionals would assess the talent pool from universities throughout Atlantic Canada. 

For students, the stakes are high.  Interviews for positions that many finance students long for in areas such as investment banking, sales and trading, corporate credit and global capital markets take place at the Symposium.  To finance students who made the grade and had interviews lined up with corporate recruiters this is their time to shine.

The two-day event offers students at universities in Atlantic Canada better access to these prime jobs.  For the recruiting firms, interviewing top students from many universities in one place makes the effort financially worthwhile. 

We, at the Centre for Financial Studies, would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to the futures Atlantic Symposium corporate sponsors – TD Securities, Scotia Capital, CIBC World Markets and Montreal Exchange.  Our first corporate partnership was with the New Brunswick Investment Management Corporation who initially supported the Student Investment Fund program and has now extended their support to include other activities of the Centre.

The financial firms which participate in the Symposium have contributed much to the development of future investment industry  leaders.  Presentations made by industry thought-leaders from sponsoring firms and beyond are vital to the financial education mission of the Symposium.  To the presenters, we want you to know that you have enriched the academic experience of hundreds of students who have entered the Wu Centre each September for the past three years to take part in the futures Atlantic Symposium. 

Frank McKenna, deputy chair, TD Bank Financial Group delivered passionately about Atlantic Canada’s business successes; before Doug Turnbull, deputy chair, TD Securities spoke to the leader in you he took time to speak with student delegates who savoured his every word; from Danny McCarthy’s reminiscences of the road from Saint John to Bay Street, to the very approachable vice chair of CIBC World Markets sauntering through the venue vetting questions from students;  Scotia Capital’s Sarah Kavanagh, managing director and head, equity capital markets spoke capably about women in finance; and senior vice president, financial markets, Montreal Exchange, Glenn Goucher (and UNB alumnus), addressed an early morning audience with his impressions of changes in the global exchanges.

And many others too numerous to mention but nonetheless memorable……Mike MacBain and Barbara Stymiest of RBC; Barclay’s; Brandes; Deutsche Bank Group; Kim Shannon of Sionna; Peter Gibson, Desjardins Securities; Bob Livingston of McLean Budden, and on and on. 

A few short years ago, an event of this caliber for university students was not available in Atlantic Canada.  We couldn’t have done it without you. We wanted to say “thank you” and let you know that you have made a significant difference.