Zoe Wallis – Analyst, Financial Markets Department
A summer internship at the Reserve Bank opened doors for Zoe Wallis, and she now works in the Bank’s Financial Markets Department as an Analyst. “I went to school in Wellington and moved down to Christchurch to study Economics at Canterbury University,” she says. “As my studies progressed I become interested in finance and picked this up as a second major for my undergraduate degree.”
Zoe saw advertisements for the Bank’s summer intern and graduate recruitment in her final year of study and applied for one of the summer intern positions. “I worked in the Financial Markets Department and was given several interesting projects to work on,” she says. “The people were great and really helpful, and I enjoyed having the chance to put my lessons from University into practice. I learnt a great deal over the summer and had a fantastic time.”
After going back to Canterbury University to complete an Honours degree in Economics, Zoe applied for a permanent position at the Bank on its graduate programme. Since joining full time in late 2007, she has worked in two different teams within the Financial Markets Department. “Currently I am working in the Financial Market Research team where I get to keep a close eye on all the exciting events that have been happening in the finance world,” she says. “Before that, I worked in the Risk Unit, which gave me a great overview of how the RBNZ finance department operates.”
Zoe says that when she started at the Bank, there were a number of things that stood out for her. “With a nice open-plan office it is easy to ask a question and everyone will leap in to give you an answer. It means you can draw on your colleagues wealth of experience. I really appreciated the opportunity to get stuck into projects when I first started and it felt like I was contributing something straight away. There is also a great social aspect to the Bank with the resident social club running lots of events to keep staff entertained and providing good opportunities to meet others from around the Bank.”
Overall Zoe is pleased she started her career with the Reserve Bank. “The level of training, encouragement and independence that the Bank offers graduates is exceptional and at a level that surpasses most other workplaces, particularly when you are first starting out. I am definitely glad that I chose the Bank as the place to start my career.”
A day in the life of Zoe Wallis
Most of the financial markets teams arrive by 8.30 in order to catch the close of the American markets and attend the 8.30 morning meeting.
Members of our team prepare a brief summary of what has happened in markets domestically and internationally from the previous day.
Our team follows market events closely and we need to keep up-to-date with what’s going on in financial markets around the world so I spend some time catching up on the latest developments. We rotate roles around our team so everyone is always on something new each week.
I may be writing a report on domestic market developments, looking at currency models or following other central bank actions overseas. Then it’s lunchtime and my favourite break is to go out to one of the many great Wellington cafes or have a wander around the shops on Lambton Quay.
In the afternoon, Asian stock markets open and as New Zealand stock markets close for the day it is time for our daily report to go out. Then it’s home time before another exciting day tomorrow - you never know what will happen overnight in markets.
