Activity Review: Summer Search Event of BNP Paribas Group - Unforgettable Memories with the Leading International Banking and Financial Services Group

BNP Paribas Group is an international banking group and one of the world's largest banks that owns operations in 85 countries and regions. Among 205,000 employees, 28,000 are engaged in international banking services and are serving more than 80 of the 100 international large enterprises. The bank is engaged in export credit business on a global scale and plays an important role in both business and investment banking, asset management and service, as well as retail banking. The bank's brand value has grown rapidly, reached € 14.7 billion by the end of 2015. In 2016, the bank (BNP Paribas) became the second largest bank in European area, ranking the fifth around the world. The bank has a number of sub-brands, such as Arval (caravan car rental), Atelier (Zhehan management consulting), Cardif (Cardif Assurance Vie) and so on.

The BNP Paribas Group held an event in Hong Kong on August 9 2017, where students were given unique opportunities to reach out to business elites, to ultimately network, to broaden their horizons, and to gain access to prestigious internship and job prospects. This opportunity was very hard to get but thanks to the effort of SME Career Development Center, our school was the only school invited to this event in Mainland China. There is no doubt that this experience will be of great value to our students in the future.

Through the tour, our students gradually learned more about the corporate culture, and the operation philosophy of BNP Paribas, which highlights customer-centric and creating continuous value for shareholders through new technologies, a wealth of financial innovation, wide channels and other resources.

By watching the videos, students learned more about the development process and prospects of BNP Paribas. This group has witnessed a rapid development since the merge of the two major commercial banks in France. In the area of business, BNP Paribas has expanded in asset management, consumer credit, leasing and real estate. In addition, they have established their own competitive advantages in several areas.

After that, chief economist of the Group was invited to introduce some of the corporate's initiatives, behaviors and economic principles, it is just like a three-dimensional and real-life study case, thus to guide students to apply theoretical knowledge in real life.

Later, a senior HR announced the internship and full-time job opportunities, and also the relevant requirements so students can have a clearer picture of their future direction and career development. In order to build students a more comprehensive understanding of the Group, they also invited staff who just join the company in three years to share their experiences, and talk about their working mentality before and after joining the company.

The last part was networking, where students and staff had the chance to communicate directly. After experiencing the working atmosphere, life pace and some of the company's specific regulations, our students have gained a better understanding of their own development. In addition, it is also precious opportunity to build up relations among students from various universities and staff from BNP Paribas Group.

This event was an unforgettable experience for all and students all enjoyed it, some of them also share their feelings.

Activity Interview:

Hao Kuang: I now have a better understanding of BNP Paribas' business and its corporate culture. Its global working atmosphere, corporate philanthropy projects, dragon boat competition and other leisure time activities are all very attractive. During the tea break, I communicated a lot with staff and interns. This opportunity provided us a close touch to the industry. By chatting with them, I have mainly learned two points: first, their working content; second, also a very precious one, is attitude. Even though experienced staff were very enthusiastic in offering suggestions on graduate studies and career planning. It was great meeting and chatting with students from other schools and to share our experiences.

Jiaqi Liu: In general, this event is an introduction of the internship and full-time job opportunities of BNP Paribas Group, showing us the company culture and the recruitment requirements for graduates, but what I enjoy most is the free talking. By talking with HR, Asset Management, Investment Banking and other departments, I got in-depth knowledge of the internal structure, the requirements, and the career path in international bank, together with the differences between international banks and domestic banks, now, I am much more clearer about the goal which I will be pursuing for.

Editor: Guang Yang, Tian Qi

Executive editor: Jialin Zhang

Translator: Xintong Xiang

Proof reading: Ann-Sophie CHOI, Anne Huang, Melissa Kang, Yifei Jiang