The Azimut Talent Program, the first national program of Azimut Capital Management aimed at young talents who want to start a professional career in the world of financial consulting, ended last week on our VGen platform.
There were 400 young people enrolled in the Talent Program who put their skills as "financial advisors" to the test by working on a real case study.
In particular, the challenge involved the resolution of three tasks. The first task was purely theoretical and served to give an overview of the financial consulting sector and to verify the participants' basic knowledge of it. The second task, on the other hand, got to the heart of the challenge: to indicate a new portfolio management, i.e. to distribute the capital of a client who has very specific financial objectives, identifying which financial instruments were the most suitable to meet his demands and needs. The third and last task focused on relational aspects, which are fundamental to grow as a financial advisor: participants were asked to simulate the relationship process with a target customer they had identified, devising a communication strategy from the first contact to the conclusion of a contract, and one that Azimut could adopt to increase brand awareness towards the target customers identified.
A large number of participants submitted excellent solutions and worked very hard. At the end of the Challenge, 25 of them were selected as best solvers, but four of them stood out for the high quality of their work.
Vincenzo Ditommaso came in first place, getting the highest score. We asked him how he had experienced the Challenge:
"A challenge is an opportunity. A motivation to put yourself to the test, to give your best, to give free rein to your knowledge and creativity. With grit. With willpower. With determination. Learning from scratch or rediscovering past and now forgotten teachings. It's never really a race against "the others", it's actually a necessary drive for personal growth. Because at the end of this long journey called life, we have only one true adversary, one implacable enemy: ourselves, with our fears, our limitations and our insecurities. And we have no other option but to win. And if in the middle of a test the doubts assail you and you don't know how to continue... Dare! You won't regret it, no matter what."
The runner-up is Baldassare Murania, who described his experience as follows:
"The Challenge has been really exciting and has given me the opportunity to put my university background to use, but above all it has opened up new horizons for me on some financial products that I was not familiar with. With this challenge, Azimut has overturned the selection criteria that have been in place in our country for years, giving more space to real skills than to the candidate's CV. I am pleased to have participated, and above all I am really proud to have achieved this excellent result that may even open up new career opportunities for me."
Francesco Guidetti, third place finisher, also wanted to comment on the Challenge:
"I found the challenge through the link posted by Azimut on Linkedin, and as soon as I saw the page I decided to carry out the project with the utmost commitment because throughout my academic career I have always wanted to one day work at Azimut. I found the challenges very stimulating (especially the second one) because they led me to apply what I learned in these years of university: both basic topics of the first years at university (such as briefly remembering which institutions regulated SIMs and financial advisors), and more particular and complicated topics (such as asset management and the Islamic financial system) addressed in later years. In addition to being interesting from a theoretical point of view, it was useful in that it led me to create useful lines of code for the selection of equities in portfolio optimization that can certainly be updated and reused in the future."
Pietro Bettin, the fourth place winner of the Azimut Talent Program, also made a small reflection on VGen that we really appreciate:
"It is now evident the gap created between study and work, between student and company, but thanks to VGen we can bridge this gap now! I was one of the many participants in the Azimut Talent Program and during this path we were given the opportunity, through the completion of 3 Tasks, to put our knowledge into practice and discover and refine our strengths and weaknesses. In this case the "challenge" ended in a hiring process for the winners and therefore proved to be a valid substitute for a normal selection process. However, I think that VGen, in addition to having a great potential in helping companies through a meritocratic selection process, can be extremely useful for the personal development of a student: getting involved, overcoming difficulties, understanding one's mistakes and confirming one's values; all these are the feelings experienced during the completion of the Talent Program and I believe that all students (or at least those who really want to) should be given the opportunity to let companies know their potential. Thank you to VGen for creating a different and meritocratic tool and thank you to Azimut Italia for taking another opportunity to prove itself at the forefront."
We are really happy that the Talent Program has been a positive and formative experience for so many young talents who are approaching the world of work. Both we at VGen and Azimut think it is important to give the right space to young people to allow them to grow, learn and test themselves and we are proud to be able to accompany and help them to find their way and their passion.
We would like to thank the entire Azimut Capital Management team, CEO and General Manager Paolo Martini, Alberto Baldovin, head of the Azimut Millennials Project and Marco Gallus, head of Network, Training & Development for the professionalism and enthusiasm with which they welcomed the work of all participants and we look forward to working together again in the future to find the new young financial advisors of tomorrow.
See you at the next challenge!
