Archive for category: Career opportunities
Setting the Scene
Let me start by saying – I was not the kid who always knew what I wanted to be when I grew up. When it was time to figure out a career path in college, I thought back to what all the adults in my life had always said to me, “You can be anything you want to be.” So, I reached for the stars. I was initially accepted into a biology program on a pre-medical track at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Well let’s just say my college experience was full of trials and tribulations, and like most twenty-somethings, I changed my mind a lot and switched majors several times.
After four years of self-discovery and personal growth, I was set to graduate. I was on track to receive my bachelor’s degree in communication studies. During this time, I applied to what seemed like a hundred jobs, yet none of these opportunities felt like “the one.” Then one day, a close family member suggested I look into a software development bootcamp. So, I did. I had always wanted to major in computer science but was held down by my own limited beliefs – a fear of being inadequate, or not “smart” enough. For once, I decided to set those fears aside and apply for the bootcamp. I didn’t want to look back on life and say that I let myself fail without even taking the first step.
Taking the Leap
Just a few months after graduating, I joined Charlotte’s Full-Stack Coding Bootcamp. While this decision was a gamble and not to mention a large investment – it was pivotal for me to see it through. This program offered me the opportunity to acquire the skills needed to pursue a career as a developer. As I continued through the bootcamp, the more I touched code, the more I felt like I was exactly where I needed to be. For the first time in my life, I could see myself in a career that would fulfill me personally, challenge me every day, and inspire me to learn. I took a chance on myself, and it was the best investment I could have ever made.
After three months of eating, sleeping, and breathing code – I graduated. While the bootcamp was intense to say the least, I’d recommend it to anyone interested in pursuing a career in tech. The bootcamp was also full of people from diverse backgrounds and all walks of life including chefs, marketing professionals, truck drivers, and even mothers who were looking to transition back to work.
Joining the Crew
I was introduced to Vanguard through a friend from the bootcamp’s previous cohort. He always praised the company culture and often shared how much he enjoyed working with kind, genuine people. I decided to apply for an Application Developer role. During my interview process, I met with so many wonderful crew members. With each interaction, I grew fonder of Vanguard’s culture and could visualize the career I’d one day build for myself. Ultimately, I received an offer and was thrilled to begin my career at Vanguard.
As a novice in the tech space, it can be easy to be burdened by imposter syndrome, or the feeling of being unqualified. I always expected to feel this way at some point, but I never have. Within my team, I can make mistakes and my peers help me learn from them, challenge myself, and freely ask questions. I understand this may not be everyone’s experience, but this is the culture that Vanguard has worked intentionally to foster, and I am excited to be a part of it.
As I reflect on the past year, I am overwhelmed by feelings of awe and gratitude. A year ago, I was learning how to code for the first time. I pushed past my own self-doubt and took a chance. A risk that while I wasn’t sure would pay off in the end, it absolutely did. I couldn’t have asked for a better beginning to this chapter of my career.
-Alyssa J.
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After 29 years of teaching and coaching in the Greater Philadelphia area, I retired from the Radnor Township School District to join Vanguard. I taught mathematics at the middle and high school levels and also coached many school and community sports teams over the years.
After spending so many years in the classroom, I was looking for something new and eventually found an opportunity to work in the financial services industry. I figured this could be a great pathway to leverage my data and analytical skills. I always told my students that there are many fields with real-life opportunities to use numbers. I can’t think of too many better than the financial sector. I was inspired to practice what I preached.
The skills I used in the classroom easily transferred over to my work here at Vanguard. I was well organized as a teacher which has certainly helped me as I continue to get acclimated in my new role as a client representative associate. Vanguard also provides great onboarding and training programs. I was able to pass the Series 7 and Series 63 exams within my first month of joining the company. I have also had the opportunity to broaden my skillset and work in other areas like data literacy.
The transition from education to the corporate world has been enlightening! I have gone from rushing through 30-minute lunches where I was sometimes helping students or doing other things to days where I can actually enjoy an uninterrupted lunch break. This has been a nice change. While I did have a few career options after teaching, I am so fortunate to have chosen Vanguard. This is a company that really cares about their employees and prioritizes the importance of work/life balance. During my short time here, I’ve already had the opportunity to work with some outstanding peers, leaders and trainers. I am looking forward to continuing my second career at Vanguard. I know they will take great care of me!
-Chas F.
1. Tell us about your journey to Vanguard?
I relocated to Pennsylvania in 1984 to attend West Chester University for Business. I was introduced to Vanguard through my sister, who was already employed here. I started out as a contractor and within a month, was hired full time.
2. How and why did you end up joining the military?
I began my military career in July 1989, while still being employed at Vanguard. At that time, I knew I wanted to go to college for Business, but funds were limited since I was on my own and carrying the load alone. Then, I received an opportunity to join the United States Army Reserves. In the military, I was able to leverage some of my skills like self-reliance, resiliency, integrity, teamwork, financial responsibility, and leadership and apply them in a different environment. I was truly elated that I could serve while still working at Vanguard. I also received funding for professional development training opportunities and to seal the deal, my college tuition was paid in full.
3. How were you able to balance both working at Vanguard and maintaining a career in the US Army Reserves?
It was not easy balancing Vanguard and the military, but my leadership team and HR partners did an awesome job in being flexible and supportive. My family also played an enormous role in stepping up and stepping in to make sure it was a smooth process. They made my ‘Vanguard and military’ career journey worthwhile.
4. What are some of the transferrable skills and experiences you’ve carried over from your experience in the military to your current role here at Vanguard?
Similar to Vanguard, in the military we had mandatory compliance trainings that were specific to my roles and responsibilities. Some of the skills that I carried over from my experience in the military are being confident, working as a team and valuing differences and diversity. I apply many of these skills everyday in efforts to provide client satisfaction and an overall positive client experience. Also, when dealing with challenging situations, I keep going. I don’t give up easily. Throughout my experience in both careers, I learned to treat others the way you want to be treated, treat your clients the way you want to be treated and enjoy the positive outcomes.
5. How has Vanguard supported your career development?
Vanguard has truly been supportive throughout my military journey from beginning to end. The support made juggling both careers so much easier to manage. I also found support through our crew resource group, Vets Connect. This group has provided so many resources for many of our veterans and military members. It is also a great way to stay connected, support and honor the military and allows for an easier transition to civilian life for candidates with a military background. I enjoy the Vets Connect events and panel discussions. It feels good to be a part of a community of people who share similar experiences.
6. What advice do you have for candidates who are transitioning from the military to civilian life?
Transitioning from military to civilian life can be a wonderful experience. Here’s my advice:
My Passion for Exceptional Customer Service Began with Chicken
After high school I started working as a customer service team member for a major fast-food restaurant. I was inspired to work for this particular restaurant because of how pleasant all the employees were each time I visited. I would often hear customers rave about how impressed they were with their customer service experience. I knew that if I could develop strong customer service skills, I could take that knowledge with me and apply it in any career path. I learned so much about the value and impact of exceptional customer service and I’ve carried that mindset with me throughout my career journey.
Say Cheese!
Your smile is one of the first attributes people notice. I’ve always admired how dental professionals can create beautiful smiles and wanted to get hands-on experience in the field. I shadowed at local dental offices in town and soon met a highly respected orthodontist who truly valued customer service. He loved my customer service background and offered on-the-job training. I spent the better part of 10 years working my way through the office, starting with chairside assisting and eventually becoming the office manager. I enjoyed the challenge of starting from square one. I knew nothing about dentistry and while there were tough learning seasons, those seasons helped me become a better dental assistant and had a huge impact on who I am today. The most valuable skill I learned during my time in dentistry was the importance of leadership and how impactful a strong leader can be for a team. I had filled the shoes of my team before, so I knew many of the challenges they faced in our line of work firsthand. From managing unexpected staff shortages to working with challenging patients, I learned how to quickly problem solve in high pressure situations. This was rewarding as I was able to find solutions for our patients and gain trust and respect from my team.
From Dentistry to Dividends
While I loved dentistry and the relationships I built with my patients, there was another industry that piqued my interest – the investment industry. I personally did not grow up with a family that knew much about investing, however the orthodontists I worked with engaged in investing daily. As they spoke about their brokerage accounts and referenced articles from The Wall Street Journal, I became more and more curious about the financial services industry, specifically investments. I knew I wanted to learn more but also still work for a reputable company with a positive culture. When I heard about Vanguard and the opportunity to obtain licensing and training, along with the values, I couldn’t say no. After researching the many opportunities that Vanguard offered, I applied to the Client Relationship Associate position serving our Self-Directed clients. Similar to my time in dentistry, I wanted to start at a beginner friendly level and continue to gain more knowledge and experience. I never thought I would be able to begin a career in the financial services industry without having at least a 4-year undergraduate degree. Vanguard was willing to take a chance on me with an associate degree and no previous financial experience. I knew that my customer service background and desire to go above and beyond for clients would be a great asset for Vanguard. I didn’t want to take this chance for granted so once I was hired, I studied hard for my industry exams. Three challenging months later, I obtained my Securities Industry Essentials (SIE) credential, Series 7, and Series 63 licenses. The elation I felt was like no other. I am grateful to have accomplished my goals and am now working as a Retirement Specialist. I am delighted to now serve our clients and help them to retire with confidence.
How I’ve Used My Story to Help Others
There are many people like me who didn’t have an opportunity to obtain a 4-year bachelor’s degree right out of high school who can succeed if given the right opportunity. I am thankful and proud to have referred a few of my previous colleagues to Vanguard and will continue to advocate for anyone else looking for an opportunity to grow. My advice to others who are thinking of taking the leap from one field to another but are afraid – jump. Until you spread your wings you will have no idea how far you can fly.
– Valerie F.
1. How and why did you decide to start your career at Vanguard?
As I approached my college graduation, I had a couple job offers but I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to find something that would give me a purpose. I remember telling my dad that I really wanted to work for a good company that aligned with my personal values, and then I could figure out my career path from there. My dad suggested Vanguard. He said “I invest with Vanguard and I’m a huge fan of Mr. Bogle. Their mission is to treat investors fairly”. So, I did some research and realized that Vanguard’s mission and values aligned with what I was looking for. I applied for an entry level position and started a couple months later. After working in a client services role for a bit, I joined the Emerging Leader Development Program (ELDP). I was able to rotate through various divisions and departments and really learn how we serve our clients in various capacities. Throughout my time in the program, I always gravitated towards marketing and recruiting projects which led me to my current role on the Recruitment Marketing Team. Recently, I celebrated 6 years at Vanguard and I’m looking forward to many more!
2. What was the best part of participating in the ELDP Program?
The best part of ELDP, was being able to dive into a new business area and really learn how we serve our clients. I was able to meet some of the most memorable leaders from various business lines and really develop my personal style by applying my favorite traits from those leaders.
3. When did Vanguard start to feel like a “family” to you?
Vanguard started to feel like family early on. I met my now husband on our first day! We met in line while waiting to get our security photo taken, studied for our exams together and the rest is history. We’ve been able to support each other through multiple job opportunities within Vanguard.
4. How has your Vanguard family supported your career advancement and family as it grows?
Vanguard has been able to support me in my career advancement by providing me with some of the most amazing leaders and career opportunities. I’ve been able to challenge myself by working on teams where I’ve learned various skills including project management, communication, change management, etc. These skills have equipped me to take on new challenges and new opportunities during my time at Vanguard.
Vanguard has also supported me personally as we’ve expanded our family. We welcomed our first baby in 2022 and are expecting another in 2023! I’ve been able to lean on our benefits from parental leave, healthcare, childcare, you name it! As I’m getting acclimated to being a working mom, I’ve been able to truly appreciate the work life balance Vanguard offers which allows me to spend time with my growing family.
– Hailee B.
When I was first presented with an opportunity to work for Vanguard, I was already in a very fulfilling phase of my career as a software consultant and technical lead. It didn’t take me long though, to appreciate the legacy of Vanguard and how empowered crew members are. I was confident that I’d be walking into a firm where the crew is at the core of its operations, and investors at the forefront of every decision. I couldn’t be more excited to onboard and make an earnest attempt to make a difference.
An outstanding crew
From day one, I was immensely impressed with the average tenure of crew members at Vanguard – something I haven’t run into in my past engagements. It was very easy to figure out why, though. Vanguard goes above and beyond in empowering crew members and encourages them to invest in self growth through learning. Vanguard offers several learning avenues, be it certification, accreditations, or licensing, in addition to robust e-learning opportunities – not to mention the amazing comprehensive benefits that each crew member is provided. One additional distinguishing feature is the support crew members are given to rotate into different areas of the enterprise, to become more well-rounded in Vanguard’s business lines and various client experiences.
Exciting, cutting-edge technologies
In Vanguard’s Personal Investor division, there couldn’t be a more exciting time to work in technology. We are on a mission to modernize the centerpiece of Personal Investor technology – Vanguard’s trading platform. This is an incredibly exciting opportunity for application engineers to learn the intricacies of our legacy mission-critical trading platform and help transform it into a cloud-native solution. At Vanguard, we’re not just doing a lift-and-shift to the cloud – we’re rewriting our core software so we can take full advantage of the virtues of being in the cloud.
As Chief Brokerage Architect, this is extremely fulfilling work for me. For our development teams, this journey provides deep learning opportunities, such as seeing how trading systems work at their core, the different investment and advice products we offer, and what happens as the trade goes through execution, clearing, and settlement. Our team is critical to Vanguard’s launches of new products and services, which means we have a great impact on client experiences and helping investors meet their goals.
I consider myself blessed to be given this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make a difference for our firm and clients, while getting to build a highly-scalable, fault-tolerant, low-latency cloud-native trade engine that will serve Vanguard’s growth for years to come.
– Ravi A.
Interested in Technology at Vanguard?
Hear directly from our tech crew here, and be sure to check out these opportunities.
“Code is art,” a mentor once told me. Software engineering gives you immense creative freedom. And at Vanguard, teams have autonomy to choose how they want to build their systems and applications – from languages like Java, Typescript, and Python, to AWS Cloud features such as SageMaker, Aurora, and Lambda. You design, architect, and build infrastructure tailored to solve your problem. You fine tune the technologies with your code and make use of the conveniences and features. It’s impossible to be bored! As a senior application engineer, my enthusiasm stems from the capable and contemporary technology we use to deliver solutions for our business, which translates to value for our clients. A culture of engineering Engineering culture on a diverse team, like ours, brings great collaboration and new ways of overcoming challenges. We work in a high-energy environment with some of the aspects of a lean startup. Vanguard empowers engineers with the flexibility to pursue solutions while learning and experimenting at the same time. We’re also encouraged to explore internal tech opportunities, so you can rotate into the roles that interest you most. Working in the cloud Vanguard is modernizing legacy technology, migrating many applications to the public cloud. Particularly interesting are some of the AWS features used by my team, such as S3, SNS, SQS, Lambda, Step Functions, DynamoDB, ECS, Cloudformation, and Cloudwatch. Data encryption and security play major roles. Additionally, we design with high availability and disaster recovery in mind. You gain a sense of how meaningful the modernization goals are when an application can be retired, and the replacement performs better at a lower cost. So, at Vanguard, “code is art” is a reality. When I started working at Vanguard as a junior developer, I had no experience with many of the technologies which were being used for the project I joined. I felt a little intimidated. However, the other developers and technical lead on my team got me up-to-speed and set me up for success. From my earliest days to today, my motivation to learn and navigate Vanguard’s vast technological landscape continues to fuel my passion. Vanguard strives to be the best place to work in IT – and you can feel it. -Scott M.
Vanguard encourages a cooperative culture by building teams of people with different backgrounds and experiences in technology and business. This diversity truly expands your knowledge base by encouraging multidimensional thinking and idea sharing – so we’re always learning from each other. The people who come from non-technical roles often lend creative solutions to the problems that had our technical team blocked. Sharing my technical knowledge with others is energizing and very fulfilling. For example, enabling business partners on the team to perform their own testing not only helps our efficiency, but lends to great comradery.
Making an Impact
As part of a product team, crew in technical roles can participate in all client-facing discussions. Offering ideas and hearing directly from our clients is rewarding as a developer. We get to see how the work we do makes a genuine impact on the clients we serve.
While developing a new feature, I sometimes find myself getting excited about an idea to improve the current design, so I will typically reach out via chat or even stop by our product owner’s desk for real-time feedback. I’ve gotten to build close relationships across Vanguard, that would not have been possible if I had been isolated from that part of the process.
I genuinely love coming to work and cannot imagine myself anywhere else. That’s due to the incredible teams I have been a part of, and Vanguard’s commitment to creating a collaborative environment for all crew – especially in the technology space!
— Laurel A.
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Mission Oriented
But most of all, it was Vanguard’s mission: to take a stand for all investors, to treat them fairly, and to give them the best chance for investment success. That mission has been the same and has not changed my entire career.
It’s a mission you can feel. Vanguard is investor-owned, meaning the fund shareholders own the funds, which in turn own Vanguard. We strive to ensure our efforts will lead to better outcomes for our investors. We’re helping over 30 million investors around the world save for retirement, pursue education goals, and build a future for themselves and their families.
My Vanguard Why
Along the way, family and friends have asked why I’ve stayed at Vanguard for so long. My answer has been consistent: Vanguard’s commitment to our clients, crew, and community aligns to my values – which makes it easy to stay. It is only when our clients win that we win.
I currently lead one of the client experience and digital departments focused on helping clients manage their accounts. I’ve completed many rotations in IT, including as a frontend developer, technical lead, project manager, and systems manager, spanning multiple subdivisions within our IT division. Across all of these roles and departments, one truism is clear: Vanguard is focused on clients first. My current role serving our individual investors and advice clients through technology has helped me contribute to making the mission a reality.
Vanguard has always been the best place to work for me. The way in which Vanguard cares for their crew is clear – I’ve completed my master’s degree here, raised a family here, found opportunities to pursue growth here, and much more. And for every day of my 27 years, Vanguard’s mission has inspired me to continue learning, growing, and giving investors the best chance for investment success.
– Sonya D.
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One part of my unique journey is that I left Vanguard for about five years. I first departed to pursue business school for two years, and then upon graduation, spent a few years as a management consultant. The consulting experience had three primary benefits for me: 1) the pace of work and the approach to problem solving developed my managerial abilities; 2) rotating to a different engagement every few months with a new client, team, and project, taught me to quickly synthesize the complex; and, 3) being away from Vanguard allowed me to fully appreciate the power of this company’s mission, purpose, and culture.
Although the first and second benefits have been instrumental in helping me add value across various parts of the organization, the last benefit is the most important. It’s easy to take for granted what this company stands for and why it is different. We hear the buzzwords often (e.g., investor-owned), but those words’ meanings resonated most powerfully for me while having the opportunity to work at and with other companies in the industry. I was able to experience first-hand how ownership conflicts can trickle down into impacting all facets of an organization – from culture to decision-making. Counterintuitively, being away from Vanguard made it apparent how special Vanguard is – the people that comprise this organization and the purpose on which it rests. As Vanguard CEO Tim Buckley has said, “helping people achieve a better financial future is not a secondary goal for us. It is the only goal.”
In my current role within Finance, I am able to directly witness how our unique ownership structure mechanically works from a fund expense and price standpoint, and in turn understand how we are able to return so much value to investors. The “Vanguard effect” did not happen by accident, and I now own this process for all of our funds. These decisions have wide-spanning implications on our enterprise revenue, investor savings, brand, competitive positioning, among other factors – it’s both an awesome and humbling responsibility. I’m excited about the opportunity that I have to help investors as a crew member within Finance, and I encourage you to reflect on how your own diverse experiences knit together in a way that makes you a more capable agent in delivering Vanguard’s mission to our investors.
– Brian D.