BlackRock is a large Investment management company based in New York City. This event was focused primarily on their product Aladdin which is an investment platform connecting data, people, and tools in the pursuit of managing investment portfolios. The platform fuses risk analytics with investments tools to inform decisions. The platform is unparalleled and widely used by other large companies like Vanguard, assets owners, asset managers, pension funds, insurance companies throughout seventy countries around the world.
Regarding company life, a variety of team members from different departments discussed their work. One, an asset manager, mentioned that his job can involve relatively frequent international business trips which is attractive to me. In addition, the company culture is innovative. The same man repeatedly said that “what got us here will not get us to the next level”. In that, they’re looking for creative, innovative thinkers to keep the company competitive in their markets. In this spirit, like Bloomberg, BlackRock offers dozens of courses for their employees to continue developing their skills. These courses include the opportunity to become proficient in coding and more technological fields even if not working primarily in that field. I took Introduction to Programming last semester and was interested in continuing my studies but not necessarily in college. Their willingness to provide comprehensive resources for professional development is an attractive quality of the company both for the value of the knowledge and because of what it says about their company culture. Most of the opportunities discussed were for the summer after junior year with the potential for a full time position beginning after graduation. That said, I am wary of a company with a large technological culture because it’s something that I’m not naturally proficient in. However, I would be interested in learning more.
BlackRock does have a few opportunities that I am interested in looking further into like the Summer Internship Program, Fast-track to Fintech (for women, accelerated interview process), and the BlackRock Founders Scholarship.
