"Best of 2019" overlaying image of Vanguard coffee mug on table

Our most popular blog posts from 2019

The end of the year is often a time to reflect on all that’s been accomplished in the last twelve months. We pulled together the top four career stories from 2019. Whether it’s your first read or you’re revisiting a favorite, we hope you enjoy!

12 Vanguard interview tips for experienced professionals

We sat down with five Vanguard recruiters to hear how they coach candidates through the interview process. In this blog, we share 12 ways that experienced professionals can prepare for a Vanguard interview—whether in person or over the phone.

When working in finance isn’t always for finance majors

Annsley opens up about her voyage to Vanguard after college. “To say I was hesitant to join the finance industry is an understatement. Much of my college education was focused on classes like organic chemistry and biomechanics. But my friend assured me that my passion to help people live a better life directly aligned with Vanguard’s mission. With his support along with my family, I took a giant leap of faith, and I couldn’t be happier that I did.”

What a career as a financial advisor looks like at Vanguard

Vanguard’s financial advisors are using time-proven investment methodology to offer investment solutions that lead our clients confidently toward their business or personal financial goals. In this series, our financial advisors share their personal experiences in pursuing a career in this field and the impact they’ve had in driving successful investment results for clients.

Family comes first

Kristen shares a personal story about how Vanguard allowed her to focus on family during a difficult time. “While my personal life was turned on its head, a new leader was assigned to my team. I was experiencing changes both at Vanguard and in my personal life. My first one-on-one was conducted through video conference from my parent’s house. It was during that conversation I finally said the words out loud…my mom had cancer. Not knowing how my new leader would respond, I waited. He took a moment and said, “Family comes first,” a concept I heard Vanguard was known for but never experienced firsthand.”

Inspired? Make your career count—search our opportunities.

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Charting my own course at Vanguard

October 16, 2019/in Career opportunities, Voyage to Vanguard advertising sales, business, career, client, client relationship, client relationship associate, financial services, internship, internship program, media and advertising, media and advertising sales, opportunities, relationship, relationship associate, retail, retail services, select services, services, skill set, vanguard /by jortega

Charting my own course at Vanguard

I’ve always believed that in order to grow, you must first step outside of your comfort zone. So, in 2015 I decided to take a leap of faith. I had graduated from college in 2013 with an undergraduate degree in Marketing and was working in Media and Advertising Sales. Honestly, I loved it. But, I reached a critical point in my professional career where I felt ready to advance.

I had a decision to make. I could either stay put and hope a promotion opportunity arose in the next 2 years—Or I could take a step back and transition to another company with vast opportunities for advancement and growth.

Somehow, I moved from a career in Media and Advertising Sales to Financial Services. I started my Vanguard journey in Retail Services as a Client Relationship Associate in October 2015, where I spent time servicing our direct Retail investors and learning the ‘ins and outs’ of Vanguard and the financial services industry. Once I was comfortable with my role, I started branching out and seeking opportunities to network and explore career paths. I started saving job postings that interested me and taking note of hiring managers who I wanted to meet. I found this was a great way to demonstrate genuine interest and learn more about the various departments across the organization.

After 10 months as a Client Relationship Associate I moved over to Select Services where I piloted a 3-month internal internship program. The program was an opportunity for Client Relationship Associates to further develop their relationship management skills and expand their investment and business acumen. Furthermore, the internship program established a talent pipeline within Retail Services to facilitate career mobility. After successfully completing my internship, I was hired as a full-time Select Services Investment Professional. In this role I gained exposure to high-net-worth clients and deepened client relationships by pairing investors with Vanguard financial advisors and assisting with asset consolidation. Outside of my normal daily responsibilities, I had opportunities to represent the department and host several “sit-withs” and overviews with senior leaders from across Vanguard who were looking to gain insight into Select’s business model. This was a great opportunity to positively affect change and have an impact on future business decisions. I used these opportunities to showcase my skills and provide meaningful, real-time feedback on daily operations.

Upon joining Select Services, my team leader took a proactive approach in aligning my skill set and career aspirations with department initiatives, such as joining a communication council for our Retail Investor Group. The council’s goal is to maintain an open line of communication amongst client-facing crew, Marketing Managers, and User Experience Designers to ensure Vanguard is providing the best-in-class digital client experience. This was a fulfilling experience because I was viewed as a subject matter expert and I felt that my opinion mattered.

What’s next? At this point, I’ve been at Vanguard for about 2 years and already held two full-time positions and an internship, built a network, and had opportunities to provide value to the business.

Currently, I work as a Senior Relationship Analyst in Retirement Plan Client Services. In this capacity I am now supporting Relationship Managers and helping Vanguard to deepen relationships with our Institutional clients. Learning an entirely different business is challenging, but my Retail acumen and my skill set from my previous career allows me to add value in a unique way.

In short, that “leap” turned out to be a great investment.

-Glover C.

If you’re seeking an environment where you can make a difference and develop professionally, check out our career opportunities at www.vanguardjobs.com.

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Meeting Vanguard at the Grace Hopper conference

September 25, 2019/in Career opportunities, Voyage to Vanguard /by fdoerr

Meeting Vanguard at the Grace Hopper conference

It was a Monday evening, unbearably warm and sticky, as Philadelphia tends to be in September. I was at field hockey practice and, coincidently, received a call just as I was checking my phone during a water break. It was the call I had been waiting for: I GOT IT. I got the Vanguard College to Corporate (C2C) IT internship.

The C2C IT Internship checked all of my boxes: mentoring, cutting-edge tech, AND close to home. But it was only September; the summer had just ended, and next summer seemed so far away. The Grace Hopper Conference for Women in Computing was approaching and I had been instructed by faculty at my school, “don’t accept ANY internship offers until after the conference.”

The day that the conference finally came, I woke up very early. My solo journey included a flight delay, gate change, lengthy taxi ride, and an even lengthier trek, in not so comfy shoes, from the lobby of my hotel across the skywalk and through the Orange County Convention Center. I decided my first stop would be the Vanguard booth. After some wandering up and down the long aisles of the massive room, I found it. I spotted Lynn C., a Vanguard rep from my interview day, who greeted me with a big smile and a warm hug. Believe me, I really needed that hug. She asked me my t-shirt size and showed me all the new “swag” they had gotten for the conference. I stood around chatting with crew in Vanguard’s Technology Leadership Program about my flight and where I was staying. They invited me to dinner the following night before I went on my own to explore.

Many of the other companies at the conference had displays that were massive and showy. I waited in a few lines, padfolio in hand filled with fresh print outs of my resume. I fielded questions about Java classes and my previous internship, and along the way collected some rather over-the-top giveaways. By late afternoon, my mind was made up. I had already attended numerous talks by Vanguard representatives at my school, in addition to two Explore IT Days at their headquarters. I had spoken with multiple recruiters on the phone, and spent the day on campus interviewing. I knew the company’s core purpose, and I knew about their strong emphasis on crew. But hearing about it and feeling it are two completely different things. At many of the other companies I felt like a number holding a list of my accomplishments and capabilities. But Vanguard cared about me, a person. After only a few hours at the conference, I accepted my offer with Vanguard.

I spent my summer internship in Vanguard’s Personal Advisor Services. When I met my manager, Judy, she told me I would be a part of Team Unicorn. She assured me that I would come to understand the name after getting to know its members and seeing their work ethic. Lucky for me, I was included in their project and was able to participate in daily ideation, planning, and working sessions. Right away I found myself writing code that will soon go into production, and participated in a biweekly book club and in the teams monthly “game day” during lunch. A mantra of Team Unicorn is “work hard, play hard,” as each team member places high value on maintaining positive interactions with each other. Now that I had my internship, with work that was engaging and a friendly, supportive team, I feel so strongly that I made the right decision at the Grace Hopper Conference last year.

-Stephanie M.

If you enjoyed this post and want to learn more, visit us at this year’s Grace Hopper Conference! And if you’re ready for a more rewarding, engaging, meaningful career, search our opportunities at www.vanguardjobs.com.

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National Intern Day – Recognizing our 2019 summer Vanguard interns

July 25, 2019/in Culture, Day in the Life, Voyage to Vanguard Entry-Level Phones, Vanguard Specialty Programs business, c2c, c2c business, develop, development, experience, intern, internship, investment, management, mba internship, north carolina, opportunity to learn, projects, quantitative equity, summer, team, time, time at vanguard, vanguard /by kkilgarriff

National Intern Day – Recognizing our 2019 summer Vanguard interns

To celebrate National Intern Day, we wanted to recognize some of the interns who have been participating in our College to Corporate (C2C) and MBA Internship Programs. Students from across the country joined us in our Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Arizona offices for an immersive 10 week program. During this time, they became part of a Vanguard team and supported projects and initiatives throughout the company. We asked interns from programs across the business to share what they’ve worked on and what they have taken away from this experience.

Arizona Intern Expo

C2C Advice – Allison F. (AZ)
My internship with Vanguard has been filled with research projects, financial advisor role plays, exploration of the company, hours of advisor shadowing, and asking about a million questions! As I’ve worked to use my time at Vanguard to the fullest, I’ve come to value curiosity more than I would have ever expected. My curiosity has driven me to connect with people and resources at Vanguard to learn more about opportunities to contribute as a fiduciary within the financial planning industry and to develop new skills such as client relationship management, market knowledge, and behavioral coaching. This connection to new knowledge and fresh perspectives has been energizing and extremely rewarding, and has opened my mind to lessons I won’t soon forget.

C2C Business – Brianna M. (AZ)
My experience in the C2C Business Internship has given me the incredible chance to develop myself personally and professionally, in an environment where I was able to take risks, challenge myself, and receive regular feedback.

The projects I worked on over the summer were focused on using Visual Management—digital, physical, and interactive—to create transparency for crew around what is taking place in the Senior Manager and Manager meetings. These projects challenged me to create visual content that aligns to Vanguard’s brand and understand what information is most important to crew. I was able to leverage my marketing background to add an outside perspective and successfully create a sustainable framework for the department. This experience gave me the chance to manage several projects, network effectively and create numerous relationships, and develop leadership skills.

I am extremely grateful to have been an intern at Vanguard. It was very easy to immerse myself into the culture here, largely because of the willingness of the many individuals I interacted with, to assist in giving me the best chance for success.

Pennsylvania Corporate Challenge

C2C Corporate Finance and Accounting – Sarah C. (PA)
I am thankful I had the opportunity to intern with the Global Investment Data Management (GIDM) team on the Equity Trading Floor this summer. I was tasked with designing a new role to combine some of the GIDM Index and Reference teams’ tasks to increase efficiency, broaden investment acumen, and free up time to improve the ways that GIDM provides security and index data to the Equity Index Group. Even in ten short weeks here, I have grown professionally and personally. I developed meaningful relationships, learned and implemented project management best practices, and deepened my knowledge of the systems that ensure accurate and timely data for stakeholders. I have made this summer count by remaining open-minded and self-reflective. The approachability of leaders and the focus on development is genuine at Vanguard, which has encouraged me to truly make the most of every experience this summer.

C2C Investment Management – Tom Z. (PA)
This summer I was placed within Vanguard’s Investment Risk team covering the Quantitative Equity Group. Working with my manager, we have managed to strike what I think is the perfect balance of learning new, intellectually challenging things while also helping solve real-world business problems. In this sense, I have made my time at Vanguard count for both my personal development and the betterment of my team. Going from minimal knowledge about quantitative equity risk management to completing and presenting projects that involve creating frameworks for advanced risk analytics (used in regular meetings, ad-hoc analysis, and presentations to the CIO) has been a truly rewarding experience. These projects have not only helped me develop my technical skills in finance, math, and programming, but have also refined my ability to effectively communicate my project concepts, challenges, and ideas. Overall, my experience at Vanguard has offered me an engaging workplace where I can form terrific professional relationships to help hone and apply the skills I learn.

MBA Internship – Nancy M. (PA)
I have spent my summer working with the International Americas team on developing a competitive intelligence framework for the region. I had the opportunity to learn about various North and South American markets and the complexities Vanguard faces in those countries. Coming from a non-finance background, I valued the opportunity to learn about the asset management industry and gain an international perspective of the company. The MBA Leadership Development Internship Program provided access to senior leadership to ask questions about Vanguard’s strategic priorities and crew member development. I’m happy to come out of my internship experience with a better understanding of how Vanguard is able to play a leading role in global finance and how much they value everyone’s voice.

North Carolina Classroom Central

C2C IT – Abby H. (NC)
This summer, I have been on the Mighty dUX team, which is part of the Enterprise Advice pillar. Our team is working to build a batch application that can check a client’s investment portfolio daily and rebalance them as necessary to best help clients meet their investment goals. I joined dUX right before its first major milestone in development, which meant that I had a very short learning period before I began working on issues vital to the team. This helped me develop my ability to think on my feet and be flexible and adaptable. I learned to take on big challenges and to collaborate with my teammates to quickly and efficiently find solutions to problems as they arose. I enjoyed my internship so much this summer that I applied for a full-time position and will join the 2019 TLP Cadre this fall, so I truly believe that I made it count!

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From preschool teacher to program officer

Serving families who have served for us

I left the military three years ago, nine years after taking my first Oath of Office. Transitioning from serving in an organization that was so core to my identity turned out to be no small task. Over the next two years in business school, I often wondered if I would be able to find that sense of service in my future workplace. When I came to Vanguard after graduation, I quickly found my answer.

VetsConnect Joins Forces with ACP
Shortly after coming aboard, I was asked if I would be interested in working to stand up a new partnership with American Corporate Partners (ACP), a nonprofit aimed at pairing corporate leaders with veterans transitioning to the private sector. The goal of the partnership was to respond to the broader desire of the Vanguard community to more visibly support our nation’s veterans. The VetsConnect / ACP partnership would act as a gateway to connect Vanguard Crew with service members outside the organization.
I had familiarity with ACP, as I had taken part as a protégé (mentee) myself during my transition out of the military. This opportunity would now allow me the chance to give back on the corporate side of the relationship. Needless to say, I was ecstatic.

Crew Respond in a Big Way
Our first priority was to create a community of corporate mentors here at Vanguard. Initially, we were hoping to identify a total of fifty crew members who would like to take part. Within the first day of sign ups we had exceeded our initial goal, and by the end of the week we had more than 90 mentors involved. In fact, after benchmarking against other corporate sign up rates, Vanguard crew were 23x more likely to sign up to mentor a veteran. This tremendous response was an incredible testament to the authenticity of the culture, and I was able to witness firsthand something I had heard a lot about as a new hire: Vanguard’s commitment to mission and willingness to give back.

White House Military Spouses Summit
Several months later, ACP was invited to attend a Military Spouses Summit at the White House. Representing Vanguard, I traveled to Washington DC along with representatives from 45 other businesses to discuss the unique employment challenges that military spouses face. At present, there are more than 600,000 military spouses and 16% (4x the national average) are unemployed. They face a myriad of unique challenges, including a lack of license and certification transferability across state lines and fragmented resumes due to constant relocation and deployments. Our goal was to ask how corporations and non-profits could help. How can we do more? What opportunities exist? The chance to work with corporate partners to address (and continue addressing) these questions is an extremely rewarding experience. For me, it represents an evolution of my desire to serve, aided by the mission and crew of Vanguard. Although I no longer serve on active duty, I’m extremely proud to say that I work at Vanguard, where we serve families who have served for us.

– Bill F.

ACP: https://www.acp-usa.org/

Additional testimonials from ACP protégé’s and Vanguard mentors

“The program helps our organization as it helps veterans – win/win. The matching of protégé to mentor is quite good and the seamless accountability is a big plus!”

“I think the connection is great. I wish I had the same kind of opportunity when I departed active duty back in 2011 and could have skipped some of my early mistakes in my civilian career. You don’t know what you don’t know and it’s easy for veterans just to take the path of least resistance without being challenged by someone who is already there.”

If you’re seeking an environment where you can make a difference and develop professionally, check out our opportunities at www.vanguardjobs.com.

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