I’m one of four associates in the 2008
Finance Associate program. We’ve just jumped into our
second of four rotations (each one is six months long), and
I’m in my second week with my new rotation host: the
Strategic Analysis group in Wealth Management Finance. This is a
team of finance professionals that help Wealth Management leaders
evaluate their business strategies. I contribute to a number of
projects set out to identify growth opportunities for Wealth
businesses, evaluate business process efficiencies and reduce
operational risk. 8:30 a.m.
The day begins. Check my email to see a few more responses to two
internal surveys I’ve volunteered to track. The surveys
are part of a continuous effort to give TD employees the best work
experience and encourage diversity representation in leadership
roles. Results must be assembled quickly for follow-up discussions
with senior executives and committee members. I’m
impressed by the respondents’ constructive feedback.
9:00 a.m.
One-on-one meeting with Senior Vice President and Chief Financial
Officer, Wealth Management Introductions kick off the meeting. The
Senior Vice President lays out the group’s strategic
focus and priorities – really useful information. It gave
me a solid understanding of how my role fits into this big picture.
We discuss our goals and wrap up with a good sense of
what’s expected of us over the course of the next few
months with the team.
9:30 a.m.
Meeting with Senior Manager of the Strategic Analysis Group.
Perfect! Quality time with my Senior Manager; I pepper her with
questions about my rotation. She explains in straight-forward terms
what some of the business language and acronyms used here mean in
the context of our work. She gave me a better idea of why certain
business processes were so important. We dig a bit deeper into a
conversation about a business line our group is working on right
now.
10:30 a.m.
Pick up on research and analysis. Our group is preparing for a
two-full-day workshop for business leaders from Wealth, Retail, and
Corporate. Our goal is to bridge information gaps by facilitating
inter-segment conversations and information sharing. This will help
identify opportunities to improve business growth. There is a lot
of information to assemble and analyze. I research into market,
current business processes, organizational structure, and
competitive benchmarks. Here and there, I use some new data mining
tricks I’ve learned from my colleagues.
Noon
Lunch.
Gearing up for some dedicated personal development time! While
eating lunch, I take advantage of an online course (offered on
TD’s Learning Management System) that covers off a bunch
of data mining techniques.
1:00 p.m.
Research and analysis. Working away on a few presentation slides
for the business analysis project. Learn from colleagues and Senior
Manager re best practices in presenting data to executive
audiences.
3:30 p.m.
Treat for myself, appreciation to others Waiting for feedback on my
projects
Decide to browse the TD recognition site to
redeem my Act for Impact award. Employees are recognized when they
demonstrate TD’s Guiding Principles. In my case, I was
recognized for my strength in “respecting
others”. In the upcoming Finance Conference (a big
event!), we will be showing our appreciation for the Principles in
Practice, Vision in Action and President’s Award winners.
These are people who demonstrate a number or all of TD’s
Guiding Principles and who are said to be “the best of
the best” in living the TD vision.
3:40 p.m.
Back to research and analysis
I suspect some possible
relationship between organizational structure and business growth
potential. I will need to discuss with a subject matter expert to
confirm my idea. My Senior Manager directs me to a contact, and
I’ve sent him my request.
5:15 p.m.
Wrap up for the day. I’ve got my to-do list set for
tomorrow, and I take a few more minutes to double-check
today’s work. Off to a Canadian Musicfest performance
tonight! | 
