The Rotations

The RBC Wealth Management Generalist Program

The RBC Wealth Management Generalist Program offers an unparalleled opportunity to gain experience within Canada’s largest wealth management organization through a variety of business, strategy and market-related roles.

Generalists can rotate through a number of business units including RBC Asset Management, RBC Dominion Securities, RBC International Wealth Management, RBC Private Counsel and RBC Direct Investing. Here are some examples of past rotations:

• RBC Dominion Securities:
  • Business Strategy Projects
  • Generalist Experience - Equity Portfolio Advisory Desk
  • Generalist Experience – Fixed Income Portfolio Advisory Desk
• RBC Asset Management:
  • Managed Products
  • RBC Funds – Product Development
  • Investment Policy
  • Generalist Experience – Research Associate
• RBC International Wealth Management:
  • Generalist Experience - International Portfolio Advisory Desk
  • Global Investment Solutions
  • Generalist Experience – Sales Effectiveness
• RBC Wealth Management:
  • Generalist Experience - Strategy Team
• RBC Direct Investing™:
  • Product Development
  • Strategic Initiatives

The Outcome

Following completion of the program, Generalists have gone on to enjoy rewarding and successful careers within many RBC Wealth Management businesses. Examples of positions held by former Generalists include:

• VP, Special Projects > RBC Asset Management
• Senior Manager > Business Initiatives, International Wealth Management
• Senior Manager > Growth Strategies > RBC Direct Investing
• Associate Portfolio Manager, RBC Asset Management
• Research Associate > RBC Asset Management
• Associate Investment Counselor > RBC Private Counsel
• Equity Portfolio Advisor > Equity Portfolio Advisory Desk, RBC Dominion Securities

A Day in the Life of a Generalist working with the RBC Dominion Securities, Equity Portfolio Advisory Group

Role Description:
With this team I play an active role in the day-to-day tasks of the Portfolio Advisory Desk. The role allows me to explore and learn about the portfolio management process whether it’s researching a company to help a Portfolio Advisor form an investment strategy or writing an article to communicate an investment idea to the RBC Dominion Securities Investment Advisors.

7:30am	Arrive at the office and scan the business headlines for major news stories to add to the morning newsletter that is sent to the Investment Advisors daily. Listen to the daily RBC Capital Markets research conference call.
8:45am	Dial in to the daily conference call that the Portfolio Advisory Group hosts to listen into the RBC Capital Markets Research Analyst speak to the Investment Advisors about a recent technology research report.
9:15am	Join the Income Trust Portfolio Advisors in a meeting to discuss investment ideas. As a result I am assigned a company to research and provide input on the investment strategy.
10:00am	Gather and read research on the company I have been assigned. Write a summary for the Advisors based on my research, outlining my opinion of the company.
12:30pm	We order pizza for the team.
1:00pm	Update the various databases that I oversee with the latest quarterly results. Produce updated graphs and charts for the Advisors.
4:00pm	Review the market events for the day. Write a brief summary of the major news stories for tomorrow’s morning newsletter.
6:00pm	After spending some time researching a company that caught my attention I have a brief chat with one of the Portfolio Advisors about my investment idea.
6:15pm	Head home for the evening.

A Day in the Life of a Generalist working with the RBC Dominion Securities, Fixed Income Portfolio Advisory Group

Role Description:
A generalist working on the Fixed Income Portfolio Advisory desk plays an active role providing support to Portfolio Advisors and their day-to-day tasks. The role provides an opportunity to develop a good understanding about the fixed income market and work on the trading floor directly along side traders. It also allows the generalist to experience the portfolio management process and the daily tasks involved. The generalist is in the middle of all the action providing research and support to the Portfolio Advisors.

7:00am	Arrive in the morning and immediately start work sitting on the Bloomberg terminal to gather previous day’s economic and bond data. Attend and at times present the major economic and business news stories at the daily morning meeting. Put together the morning newsletter that is sent to the Investment Advisors daily after scanning through all the business headlines for major news stories and inputting all the data gathered earlier.
8:45am	Dial in to the daily conference call that the Portfolio Advisory Group hosts to listen into major strategies and news from the Investment Committee members, the RBC Economist and RBC Capital Markets Research Analysts.
9:15am	Help the Portfolio Advisors with Investment Advisor calls with suggestions, research material and other random administrative help. This continues through out the day.
10:00am	Start researching and gathering information on major economic and news releases Euro-region, U.K and Japan. Start writing a summarized report on the weekly events in this area to be published and sent to all the Investment Advisors.
12:00pm	Quickly go to the food court downstairs and grab lunch and head back up where the action continues.
1:00pm	Work on various research projects to produce updated charts and graphs for the Advisors. Start building a fixed income portfolio for one of the Investment advisors going through the list of available fixed income securities that are within the Investment Advisors mandate.
4:00pm	Review the market events for the day. Write a brief summary of the major economic news stories for tomorrow’s morning newsletter.
5:00pm	After researching some trade and investment ideas spend some time discussing them with the Advisors.
6:00pm	Head home for the evening.

A Day in the Life of a Generalist working with RBC Wealth Management, Strategy Team

Role Description:
A generalist working on the Strategy and Development team gets an opportunity to understand the structure, direction and strategy of the Wealth Management Division at RBC. The generalist works directly with the Director of strategy and development and other high level executives such as CFO’s of different groups. This rotation is very different from most of the other rotations which are more structured. This provides an opportunity for the generalist to develop and implement new ideas. Work on the strategy and development team allows the generalist to work on a different range of projects. Projects vary from working on an acquisition or growing a business division to working on board presentations.

Some projects that the prior generalist has worked on in this role include:

• Acquisition of PH&N
• Wealth Management Competitive Industry Analysis
• New product research such as Active ETF’s
• Expansion of existing business lines
• Developing board presentations of various business divisions
• Working on Annual Reports
• Reorganization of Wealth Management Structure

A Day in the Life of a Generalist working with RBC Asset Management as a Research Associate

Role Description:
Provide research and analytical support to a Senior Portfolio Manager on the US Equity Team. He covers Industrial and Telecom stocks, and also manages four smaller portfolios that contain a broad selection of US equities.

7:30am	As I drink my coffee, I review the top stories in the U.S., plus the overnight headlines from Europe and Asia before I meet with the Portfolio Manager. I also review all economic data releases that are coming out today, and plan to listen to company conference calls that are reporting quarterly results.
9:00am	Meet with Portfolio Manager prior to the market open to discuss the day’s events. Be prepared to talk about the major headlines for the day. Decide what Analyst presentations we need to attend and which conference calls we will listen to. After our meeting, I need to update our performance-tracking spreadsheets based on yesterday’s trades.
10:00am	We have a presentation by a prominent strategist at our office. Go to the meeting to gain insight to his forecast for the US economy in the coming quarter and year.
11:00am	Earnings conference call for one of our big positions is starting – listen to the call and pay close attention the question and answer session at the end of the presentation.
12:00pm	Attend the weekly lunch meeting with the Canadian Equity Team. Each week, one member of the team makes a presentation on stock selection for their specific sector. Today’s presentation is on the Materials sector - this is a great way to get an overview of a specific sector and learn about stock picking!
2:00pm	Back at my desk, review the headlines and monitor our stock movements for the day. Spend the afternoon doing the legwork on two stocks the Portfolio Manager is currently considering buying. I gather research reports and provide him with a summary of the companies to assist in developing an investment thesis.
4:30pm	Meet with the Portfolio Manager after the market closes to discuss what happened over the day, review any changes he made to the portfolios and plan for tomorrow.
6:00pm	Head home for the evening with the latest research reports on the companies that we discussed this afternoon.

A day in the Life of a Generalist working with RBC International Advisory Group in a Strategy and Market role

Role Description:
As a part of a dynamic team at International Advisory Group (IAG), I am offered a unique opportunity of combining both, strategy and market roles, in one rotation. The role of an analyst at International Portfolio Advisory Group (IPAG), allows me to gain knowledge in international securities analysis and the portfolio management process. As well, my involvement with the project management team at IAG gives me an opportunity to be a part of the group’s new strategic initiatives.

8:30am	Arrive at the office, check my email and review the top stories in the emerging markets.
9:00am	Conference call with members of newly formed International Portfolio Advisory Team (IPAG). Participate in discussions on current market trends, as well as various organizational issues. Update the team on the recent progress of IPAG after its launch (the flow of requests from Investment Advisors, feedback on the services provided).
10:00am	Monitor the Latin America Equity Recommendation Grid. Gather and read the latest research on the companies in the Grid, check for news releases, earnings revisions.
11:00am	Throughout the day assist Investment Advisors with their requests, i.e. provide help with asset allocation, gather company/industry research, analyze clients portfolios, etc.
12:30pm	Take a break for lunch with a friend.
1:00pm	Attend a strategy meeting with senior management of International Advisory Group. Get involved with the initiative of opening a new office in the Middle East.
2:30pm	Return to my desk, create a Gantt chart for opening a new office and present it to my manager. Discuss the details of the project and proceed with building a forecasted cash flow model in Excel to better understand the project’s possible profitability and assess its feasibility.
4:30pm	Call an Investment Advisor to follow up on his/her request. Communicate my findings about the company in question; elaborate more on the provided research.
5:00pm	Review the Emerging Market Daily to keep on top of the news.
6:00pm	Head home for the evening.

A Day in the Life of a Generalist working with RBC Global Private Banking in a Sales Effectiveness & Strategy role

Role Description:
As a member of the Sales Effectiveness team, I have been given the task of managing the development of a new strategic initiative. I am responsible for all aspects of the project management and communications to the sales team. This is a very dynamic and interesting project that provides me with exposure to the senior management team and sales force.

8:30am	Arrive at the office and check my schedule for the day and return emails.
9:00am	Attend the weekly conference call with the strategic deliverables working team. We discuss any open issues, assign and receive tasks.
10:00am	Host a conference call with members of the operations team in England. I am documenting the business requirements for a process mapping project.
11:00am	Make and return calls to colleagues overseas before they leave for the day.
11:30pm	Review and edit the first draft submission of a new strategy document. Prepare my comments for the tomorrow’s meeting.
12:30pm	Grab a quick bite for lunch.
1:00pm	Prepare for weekly deliverables review with my Manager. Update the project plan and identify areas to discuss.
2:30pm	Meet with my Manager to discuss weekly progress, impending deadlines, work plan, and next steps.
3:30pm	Back at my desk to check voicemail and email. Begin working on tasks assigned in meetings earlier in the day.
5:30pm	Check my calendar for tomorrow and get prepared for the scheduled meetings.
6:00pm	Head home.