Entry # 12

      Last September 30, I attended JP Morgan Chase & Company’s orientation/talk at the Tereso Lara Auditorium located at the LS building (L230). It was on a Wednesday so I immediately hurried to the venue as I had an Accounting class from 9:15-10:45. Thankfully, my class was held at the same building. I arrived ten minutes before 11AM, and I was surprised to see the long queue. The room was almost full when I got inside - I heard the student organizations responsible for the talk complaining as they weren’t given a bigger auditorium. I honestly did not expect the high volume of attendees as for all I know, students rarely attend these talks as these were meant for graduating students or those who truly want to know more about the company. When I was lining up, it made sense why there was a huge volume of students - besides professors and organizations who give incentives for attending, there were also 115 students, which didn’t really make sense to me as I thought they were too young for that (well, I’m ID 114 but I have CSRGOVE right now, so…) but it is not in my place to judge. While waiting, I could not help but feel disgruntled as the room really was too small and it was quite hot. Thankfully, the company I interviewed at the Job Expo awhile ago gave a fan as their freebie, hehe. 
I didn’t know what to expect from this talk. I know of the company but I don’t know it in-depth, as this banking company isn’t really well-known in the province as I come from Laguna. 
         

      I expected the talk to start on time, but sadly, it started thirty minutes late. Marcus and Ricardo, the moderators, greeted the attendees and they started the talk with a prayer. They then explained the purpose of the talk: which is to discuss ideas and opportunities about the company. They then introduced the speakers, Mr. Victor Nepomuceno who was an alumni of the CBE back then, Ms. Gae, and Ms. Ray Aparicio. Mr. Victor Nepomuceno is responsible for overseeing different groups of the retail site of JPMC and he also handles the Management Trainee Program. He has been in the company for more than seven years. I was not able to get a lot of information about Ms. Gae but all I know is that she is part of the Human Resources team of JP Morgan. Ms. Ray meanwhile handles the training for Investment Banking at the Manila Site for the last ten years. She is also part of the Corporate Development Progam at Hong Kong. 
    Besides learning about the company’s revenues, operating locations, and the history of JP Morgan Chase & Company in the Philippines, I also found out about it’s line of business. It is a financial service institution - I thought it was a call center agency as my roommate before who worked there told me that - turns out she is not exactly wrong. JP Morgan Chase & Company is actually made up of two companies that merged, namely: JP Morgan focuses on, particularly Equity, Investment Financial Site, Corporate Management, and Broker; and Chase which focuses on Retail Trade Site, Consumer-Community Banking, and Commercial/Middle-market banking. I will not go into details anymore with what these things are as I don’t think it’s that important in writing a journal, so I will move on to other things instead.            

       Mr. Vic then talked about their CSR activities. He only mentioned some, one of it regarding the economic crash in Detroit. He said they are helping Detroit in its economic recovery by donating $ 100 million to the state. They are also helping small or local institutions in growing their business. Their way of CSR is very financial-lined, but I really appreciate how they support the local businesses. In the Philippines, to be honest, it’s so hard to make local businesses grow because we have the tendency to prefer international or well-known brands and it’s really hard for small entrepreneurs to thrive sometimes.
            

      Ms. Ray then mentioned their CSR activity for the employees, where women and LGBTQ groups have meetings and they also mentioned that they are treated equally. They have weekly meetings and get-togethers which I thought was nice because employees get to know more about each other by bonding over something not job-related. Things like equality should already be a given, but at least the company makes sure this is known to its employees and they give them the chance to talk or bond over their well-being. They also practice meritocracy, wherein employees are given what they are due. 
        

      After moving on from the topic of CSR, they gave an in-depth talk about their program, the Operations Analyst Development Program (OADP). I have no plans of applying, as I am still not sure whether I want to work for a multinational company, a banking institution, be an entrepreneur, or even stay in the line of business. But i was intrigued by their program. I’ve always known that in order to have a successful career in the banking institution side, you must be competitive. And that is the word I’ll use to summarize the program. It is basically a 2.5=year structured learning program where they undergo various trainings, do peer mentoring, get the chance to interact with VP and other senior leaders, get coaching and feedback from management, be a part of different groups so that you are very well-rounded, and some are even sent abroad! The great thing about this program is that it may be heard but you get lots of experience from it. Plus the fact that you are able to talk to senior leaders is an advantage as you get to know about them and their field of work in a casual setting. Even if in the end, you aren’t able to finish the program, the fact that you were able to talk to senior leaders as if they’re your friends is already an advantage because the things they tell you are additional knowledge nevertheless. 
            

       After that, we had an open-forum wherein attendees were able to ask questions to the speakers. Students asked the usual: what do you look for? Was the program hard? How is workload? How do you manage stress? I was especially interested about the qualities they look for in a potential hire. Ms. Ray said that they are a competitive company - so hires who can handle heavy workload and pressure is a given and they are able to know who are able to handle the said factors through their program. They say that grades aren’t that important, yes it can be a good indicator of your attitude towards work but it does not mean that just because you have high grades, they will hire you immediately. They say that organizational and leadership experiences are a plus and they value Integrity very well. The open forum was very casual - it’s as if we were just talking or hanging out - but the speakers were very well-informed about their job and they were very clear about what they wanted to say. The presenting of certificate to the speaker happened around 12:25PM and it officially ended five minutes later.

            

      The talk went better than I imagined. I thought it was going to be boring at first but the speakers found a way to get the audience interested. It’s not every day that I hear from companies that high grades aren’t necessarily a plus point in being chosen. Though they do not have a lot of CSR activities as compared to other companies, it feels as if their activities are meant by the company and not just some lame excuse to say “Hey, we have CSR! That makes us better than other companies.”
           

      I appreciate that they are a company that values integrity and equality. I’ve always said to myself that I’d rather work for a small company that values my skills, values the truth and treats the employees fairly instead of working for a multinational company that does unethical asks just to succeed. And I think JP Morgan Chase & Co., based on the talk, succeeds at being a big company who share the values that I have. I may not be able to fit their competitive environment, but it’s always nice to know that there’s a company that shares the same values that I have and I’ll be able to join their team if I strive hard to fully fit what they’re looking for.