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Bloomberg specialises in financial research and distributing information through a variety of media outlets, online services and print products. Given that its work is intrinsic to the finance industry, its main offices are in New York, Princeton, London, Mumbai, Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong, Frankfurt, Cape Town, São Paulo and Tokyo.
Founded, though no longer officially run, by current New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 1981, the company is now a major player in the market. It has built up an increasingly strong empire in the field of financial information provision, and includes assets such as BusinessWeek magazine, its own television channel Bloomberg News (consistently on in the majority of finance firms' London offices) and several more besides.
The central jewel in Bloomberg’s crown is Bloomberg Professional. This is the main source of financial information provided by Bloomberg to its clients, and is almost universally used by the major finance firms on Wall Street.
It presents information on currencies, stock market details, equities analysis and so on, in order that clients can access the information in practical and useable ways. It is not just for immediate use, but also provides research and news to help users plan ahead.
‘The central jewel in Bloomberg’s crown is Bloomberg Professional, a service that is also commonly referred to as the Bloomberg Terminal.’
Clients typically access Bloomberg Professional via specialised computer system known as the Bloomberg Terminal. This features dual screens and a customised keyboard to allow clients to navigate the system and communicate with Bloomberg.
Bloomberg also provides a device known as the ‘B-Unit’, which allows clients to access Bloomberg Professional remotely from any PC connected to the internet. It incorporates security features such as fingerprint recognition.
Further tools have been developed for particular markets. These include the Bloomberg Government Tool and Bloomberg Law. The former allows company executives to see how recent government legislation will affect their markets. The latter is part of a relatively new venture to appeal to other markets aside from finance.
Given the fast-paced nature of the company’s work, Bloomberg is consistently in the news either as a reporter or a headline.
Salaries at Bloomberg are considered competitive within their industry. Various references suggest that this could be around £25,000 to £30,000 for an entry-level graduate, though these are unconfirmed.
The culture at the firm is promoted as one of meritocracy and openness. Floors are open plan, all the walls of meeting rooms are made of glass and it’s claimed that no one has their own office.
Offices are designed so that employees must engage with one another. For example, there are large pantries providing vast amounts of free food and drink for employees, which become natural meeting points.
In terms of the actual working culture, the company highlights that it fosters a ‘healthy paranoia’. It essentially subscribes to the view that although too much stress is clearly negative for both company and employee, a certain amount of stress aids productivity. While Bloomberg has a strong reputation behind it, employees are made aware of the daily competitiveness of their market. As such, the pressure is on to ensure top quality every day.
The offices in London are open 24/7. New hires are not expected to be in the building for that amount of time, but the facilities to do their work are nevertheless always available.
Employees are made aware of the daily competitiveness of their market. There’s a ‘healthy paranoia’ within its culture.
The work is consistently fast-paced across divisions. For example, clients are given the guarantee that whenever they call in or e-mail, their request will be directed to someone immediately. This may appear to be a small example, but it is representative of the wider company culture. Quite simply if there is work to be done, it gets done. Even the company facebook page clearly shows quick responses to queries (especially on those rare occasions when it appears an applicant is waiting for an answer on something).
Bloomberg likes its new recruits to be outgoing, individually driven, able to adapt to any given situation and extremely innovative in their approaches, whilst still producing high-quality results. It’s even invented its own term for these qualities, ‘the New Type B’, and has a quick test for them on its careers website.
One question asks a candidate what they would do were their flight cancelled. Option A is to sit back and relax as there’s nothing to be done about the situation. Option B is to take the time and use it practically, coming up with project ideas or resolutions to client queries. The answer should be fairly obvious. Without being overly complex, it does provide an indication of general traits expected of applicants.
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