Master’s In Finance: Frédérick Sluzaly, HEC Paris

Student Name: Frédérick Sluzaly

Graduate Business School: HEC Paris

Describe Yourself In 15 Words: French engineer passionate about math and finance. Sports lover. Sometimes funny according to my friends.

Master’s Graduation Class: 2020.

Undergraduate School and Major: IMT Atlantique (former TELECOM Bretagne), Computer and Data Science.

Current Employer and Job Title: Credit Suisse, Analyst.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: During my engineering studies I took a gap year to do two six-month internships. One was at Bouygues Telecom, one of the biggest telecommunication companies in France. I joined the network supervision team on both the mobile and fixed lines. 

At some point, I had to develop a tool to automate part of the supervision, which included the creation and suppression of alert triggers for health check processes that were previously done manually. It was quite exciting to know that my work had a direct influence on helping the support team monitor the network used daily by millions. I am only at the beginning of my career, so I have not done much so far but it was still a pleasant thing to do. I hope that I will have many more accomplishments to talk about in the future.

Describe your biggest accomplishment as a graduate student: Undoubtedly, I am very proud to have been a part of the winning team of the 2020 Data Open. It is an international data science competition organized by Citadel. It takes place throughout the year with several events across the world. At each one of them, participants work in teams to deal with datasets that can be large and complex and present their findings to a panel of judges. The two winning teams of each event qualify for the final. I won both the regional (the European Datathon) and the final (the Championship).

My teammates were amazingly smart, skillful, and it was a real pleasure to work with them. It is an incredible feeling to be World Champion, especially when the other competitors are all brilliant students from very prestigious universities. On top of this lifelong memory, now I have a beautiful trophy in my room!

What was the key factor that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? To reach my career goals and land a job in such a competitive field like finance, I needed to show on my resume that I had the right skills, motivation, and ability to deliver high quality work. I believe that graduating from the MSc in International Finance at HEC Paris demonstrates this since the school is well known for its excellence and its finance program ranks first in the Financial Times since 2011. Plus, it is not only prestigious in Europe but also worldwide. This was important as I wanted to work abroad.

Finally, the program offers the possibility to build a flexible curriculum with a wide range of electives. This mattered to me as I needed to deepen my knowledge of finance in both capital markets and corporate finance to be a well-rounded professional.

What led you to choose a Master’s in Finance over an MBA? Most MBAs are generally for people with work experience. When I chose to pursue my studies and start my career in Finance, I had little work experience. Hence, this program was more suited to my needs.

What has been your favorite course and how has it helped you in your career? My favorite course was “Introduction to Finance,” one of the first courses of the year. The professor always tried to give us the intention behind every subject covered in class. It really helped me get a good understanding of many basic concepts in finance. It was broad enough to lay solid ground for the start of my career. I was never completely lost when facing a new concept because most of the time, the general idea had been covered in this class.

What role did your school play in helping you to land your first job out of the program? HEC helps a lot! All faculty members are willing to help if you need guidance related to job interviews. In addition, mock interviews and CV reviews are part of the program. Finally, HEC Paris alumni’s network is wide and responsive. That is also very handy when it comes to landing your first job as you can talk directly with people from the industry to better understand their needs and adapt your profile to it.

How did your classmates enhance the value of your business school experience? They obviously play an important role in the experience. The beginning of the year is quite intense so it’s great to know that you are not alone on this long journey to get a job and that you can count on each other. They were always willing to help, share tips and advice. On top of that, everyone had a great background story to tell and, in the end, I made some very good friends.

Who was your favorite faculty member and how did this person enrich your learning? Olivier Bossard (the Executive Director of the program) as he introduced me to the competition that I won! On a more serious note, he always tried to help and was genuinely invested in our success. I enjoyed his classes as he makes them as entertaining as possible and often links theory to practice with examples from his own experience, or even movies. 

What is your best advice to an applicant hoping to get into your school’s graduate Master’s program? My best advice would be to prepare your application as much as possible; practice makes perfect. Spend time on it to make it bulletproof. Do not leave it to chance! It is a very competitive program, and you will have to stand out against a lot of brilliant people from around the world. 

What was your best memory from your Master’s program? The Welcome Day on campus at the very beginning of the school year was a highlight for me. It marked the start of this new adventure. For me, it crystallized the dedication and effort I had put in to be there. I remember the Dean delivering an inspiring speech, making me feel like I was part of a prestigious institution and that it was only the beginning. I could also see the pride of my parents, and this was a fantastic feeling!

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