What language have you always wanted to learn and why?
Oliver: Spanish is the language I have always wanted to learn. I feel that it would open-up lots of opportunities in the Latin American region to me. Additionally it is a very beautiful sounding language.
Describe a time when you felt especially proud to be part of the Capital Placement team.
Oliver: Recently one of our interns got a permanent job offer from one of the top ten investment banks in India after having worked there on one of our eight-week internship packages.
The fact that so many of our candidates end up getting permanent job offers from the firms they intern with goes to show the value of what we do.
What do you believe to be the biggest factor in being a successful company?
Oliver: I think the biggest factor in being a successful company is providing a valuable service and then exceeding your customers expectations.
Nothing speaks louder than great customer service and happy customers. Word of mouth is by far the best kind of marketing that any company can hope for.
Nothing irritates me more than companies that treat their customers like idiots or patronizing their customers. This kind of attitude is very short-sighted and will rarely lead to long-term business success.
What about the future of the industry? How do you think interning abroad and international education will change over the next 10 years?
Oliver: As the world becomes increasingly globalized, it is becoming increasingly important to gain international experience.
Employers demand worldly employees, since business no longer just involves dealing with the local, truly successful businesses usually focus their attention on the global realm.
This requires deep understanding and true empathy with other cultures; these cannot be learned in a classroom or from a textbook.
They can only be learned through international experience. To me it seems inevitable that over the next decade, increasing amounts of students will look to gain international experience.