New entry-level employees of the same cohort will usually attend a well-structured basic training program to familiarize with the products and functional areas of the organization structure. In Wall Street firms such as Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley, business divisions with large intake of new associates are Fixed Income, Equities and Corporate Finance. Each of them have their own training program that lasts about 6 to 9 months, consisting of formal classes, rotation to various business areas, project assignment and presentation. This is the “boot camp?training for new associates where they have to interact and work intensively with fellow new associate colleagues. This is the time when these “recruits?begin to see how the various pieces come together in the financial business world.

　　During this training period, new associates have to pass the various registration examinations, such as the series 7, 3 and 63 in the United States. It is customary that all new associates are required, regardless of their country posting, to take these U.S.-based registration examinations. This is because U.S. investment banks?worldwide operations are subject to the purview of the U.S. regulators, and hence they need to adopt a uniform best business practice. In addition, non-U.S. based new associates will sit for additional registration tests when they return to their home offices.

　　Instructors are mostly the experienced associates, vice presidents and managing directors of product and business areas within the firm. For organizations such as Citibank, a core program for all new management trainees includes topics such as financial analysis, securities and markets, corporate finance, credit analysis, and FX. Upon the completion of the basic program, management trainees will move on to specific business units (product desk) and learn on the job. The manager of the units will be responsible for sending these “rookies?for more in depth product training as they progress.

　　Continuing education is prevalent throughout one’s career life in the global financial industry, involving both hard and soft-skills. Many of the generic and basic skills involving office productivity tools such as word processing, power point, excel spread sheet, lotus note e-mail system are normally out- sourced to third-party vendors specializing in teaching these topics. For product knowledge or enterprise-specific topics, they are typically taught by in-house trainers. They usually have training programs of various kinds scheduled on a quarterly or semi-annual basis, covering a wide range of topics. Supervisor or department managers will nominate employees under his charge for training. There is a major difference in perspective with regard to providing training to employees between truly global financial institutions and the ones that are not. To the real McCoy, they feel that training is something essential to increase employee’s productivity, and these institutions strongly encourage managers to plan and schedule employees to obtain the necessary training. Whereas for the followers (this may include some local banks and financial institutions), their attitude towards training is something akin to perks and benefits, where employees are perceived to gain more than the employers. The manifestation of this attitude can be seen from the practice where new employees are rarely sent for training until they have proven their worth. For the case of all Wall Street bulge bracket firms, new employees will almost always be sent for training shortly after joining the organization. This contrasts with second-rated firms who send their new employees only after their probation or after an extended period.

　　As one progresses to become more experienced in the organization, one will be sent for regional conferences, product seminars, retreats or workshops organized by the respective business units across geographical locations. Besides training, the other objective is for employees of different locations to share their thoughts and experiences, and to foster a closer working relationship.

　　On a semi-annual or annual basis, senior business professionals are required to attend business and strategy seminars, where the business unit will discuss new initiatives, business development and key products. These are important forums for the business leaders to have direct contact with the more senior professionals and to explain divisional business goals.