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Jay Adams joined Macquarie's Graduate Program for the Business Services Division in 2021, where he’ll experience rotations in four different teams over two years. He also leads Macquarie Pride Employee Network Group’s training and education stream, promoting allyship, inclusion and awareness of diversity across the organisation.
While Jay Adams was completing a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Marketing and Finance, he was also gaining real world experience by working part-time for a boutique law firm and in property technology marketing. He wanted to apply for a Graduate Program with a reputable company that would give him the opportunity to learn and grow in a fast-paced industry; and set his sights on Macquarie.
“Macquarie appealed to me because of the breadth of business units, and the fact that the organisation plays a vital role in so many different areas that impact the lives of people around the world” Jay explains.
Digging deeper, Jay discovered Macquarie’s Business Services Division Graduate Program. The Division operates within Macquarie’s Corporate Operations Group and Jay thought joining it would give him a taste of many different aspects of a multi-national organisation early in his career. He applied successfully and joined as a Graduate in 2021.
I was drawn to the diversity of the Graduate Program. Over two-years I will complete four very different rotations within the division. I was also drawn to the other types of diversity that are not only welcomed but celebrated in Macquarie’s culture."
For Jay, each rotation provides huge opportunities, but also the challenge of adjusting to a new team and new type of work every six months.
“Finding your feet in a large organisation can be tricky, but there are many ways to expand your network and exposure,” he explains.
“The structure of the Graduate Program helps, and the graduate cohort really embodies the culture of the organisation, in being open minded, innovative and forward thinking.”
Jay spent his first six months as an associate in Procurement, for the Third-Party Risk team.
“I worked as a project coordinator; analysing and presenting metrics and ideas to support the development of a business case for why an alternate procurement platform would be viable,” Jay explains.
“Luckily, I had worked in the office for a few months before the Sydney lockdown hit,” he says. “Working remotely, the challenge was networking - I had to be confident to message or call people to build and maintain relationships.”
In mid-2021, after an online induction, Jay moved into Resilience, a team that looks at contingency planning.
Jay says Resilience oversees Macquarie’s preparedness and ability to tackle business disruption in all its forms, including planning for global pandemics like COVID-19 and training employees on crisis leadership. The team collaborates with a variety of stakeholders including global security, human resources, and the Risk Management Group on Macquarie’s resilience framework.
“We ensure planning and testing is in place, at a team level across the organisation, so we are resilient and can cope with outages that may range from staff disruption to loss of tech or physical sites,” he explains.
“We conduct annual renewals of our business continuity plans, looking at all business processes and applications, and developing and testing strategies for recovery.” He is also supporting the implementation of new processes and platforms to further enhance the global resilience framework.
Jay joined Macquarie’s Pride Employee Network Group in his second week with the organisation. He says his involvement has been the highlight of his time with Macquarie and has given him the opportunity to meet people from across the organisation.
I enjoy being able to contribute to something that goes beyond my day job and has a real impact on the organisation and our people."
“Pride aims to promote allyship within and beyond Macquarie. We have regional and global chapters, and passionate representatives from all business units and levels, right through to Executive Directors, which is reflective of Macquarie’s flat structure.”
Four months into his work with Pride, Jay was asked to take over as training and education lead.
“I work across the education sections and training modules, with a team of seven,” he explains. “I really enjoy contributing to an ever-evolving inclusive and diverse culture at Macquarie.”
He has since worked with external providers such as Pride in Diversity, to present online training events including an Empowering Allies session for Wear it Purple Day and a panel event for Trans Awareness Week.
“Pride is an integral part of Macquarie’s corporate DNA - we don't just accept Pride, we celebrate it, and we are creative in the way we do it,” Jay says.
Jay’s next rotation on the Graduate Program will see him move onto the Sydney Metro Martin Place Project. Under the terms of the project, Macquarie will deliver an integrated retail and public precinct for the New South Wales Government with a metro station and two commercial buildings, including Macquarie’s new global head office.
Once he finishes on the Sydney Metro Martin Place Project, Jay will then complete his graduate experience with a fourth rotation in the Real Estate team.
“My rotations have really made it clear that not everything is centred around finance jobs in financial services, there are so many different roles in the Business Services Division,” Jay says.
Jay enjoys the fact that in his experience, graduates aren’t treated as juniors at Macquarie, but appreciated for the fresh perspectives they bring.”
“And Macquarie is amazing when it comes to career mobility,” Jay says. “There are so many avenues to take and roles to explore.”
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