Associate, Enforcement at Financial Conduct Authority

The following is a Graduate Review for Financial Conduct Authority.

Financial Conduct Authority scores 3.7/5 based on 313 reviews.

All reviews are based exclusively on results of feedback from employees from Financial Conduct Authority. Employees are asked to rate Financial Conduct Authority on a wide range of work place topics, which is broken down through star ratings on the right hand side.

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What are the Best and Worst things about your job?

Best

Really interesting work. I'm working as a criminal investigator at the moment, and the work itself is really sensitive and interesting.

Also the level of responsibility we're given - I have at no point been referred to as the "grad" or given photocopying to do. It certainly throws you in at the deep end, but if you swim, you'll have a really good time.

The rotational nature of the grad scheme is also great - if you don't end up loving what you do, you know you're only there for at most a year, and then you can try and find a role somewhere that you prefer.

Worst

The wheels of the law turn slow but sure, meaning that criminal and civil cases can often take a really long time. You may not get to see the end of your cases.

Also, the FCA can sometimes be a bit risk averse in the way that they prosecute their cases, though this isn't always a negative. I know from colleagues that this is mirrored across the rest of the organisation. I suspect that that's probably normal in terms of public service however.

What is the annual salary for this role?

Starting salary: £33,000 - £35,000

Current salary: £35,000 - £37,000

What hours do you actually work, on average?

Start: 09:00

Finish: 17:00

What advice would you give to someone applying to this role?

Look up what the FCA does in relation to the specific division you're applying for. It's such a varied company and the roles are really different across the entire organisation, so look for specifics.

Also look up the cultural characteristics and think about examples of things you have done that have aligned with these. These will be the main thing you'll be judged on.

Do you have any interview tips?

It's the usual at the assessment centre - a competency based interview, an analytical exercise, and a group exercise.

For the interview, it's the classic questions - biggest challenges to the organisation, big opportunities. Do some reading about what the FCA's planning to do and some recent projects. And be creative in what you think the big issues we're confronting are: yes Brexit, obviously, but also things like binary options and cryptocurrencies.

The analytical exercise is basically designed so that you're given a task that's too big to complete in the time allotted. So don't panic or worry if this is the case. They're not assessing the quality of what you present and produce, it's how you've gone about it. Take 5 minutes at the start to think about how you're going to approach it, and then be structured. Don't be afraid to admit why you've prioritised one thing over another in the interests of time.

The group exercise is again fairly standard. Don't be afraid to speak up, but don't feel like you have to be talking all the time. Also make sure you listen - if you make a point of asking someone else to elaborate on their point, or draw other peoples attention to someone else's point that progresses the discussion, that's a positive thing.