UK Army Reserves

I'm a Maths student at Imperial interested in a career in either trading or research (either financial or academic).

In the case that I pursue the finance route, how feasible is it for me to join the Army / Royal Marine Reserves? I know employers generally like Army folk, but with something brain intensive like Trading, surely the 'leadership' skills aren't as meaningful whereas time off for training / deployment is a burden. I'm a second year (on a 4 year course), so will be applying for summers next year.

What would these employees think about this? Do they view it favourably or as a burden? Looking specifically at shops that look at technical performance primarily (e.g. not S&T, more prop trading / a HF).

3 Comments
 
Most Helpful

Periodic training on weekday nights, weekends and a few weeks during the summer isn’t an issue as it won’t be too disruptive to your work commitment.

Deployment will obviously more disruptive, but then that’s really outside of your control. I mean if the country gets attacked and all able-bodied reservists get called up, there’s not much you can do.

One thing I’ll leave you with is: make sure you know why you are signing up. If it’s for leadership development, serving your country, fitness, or perhaps you just love shooting, that’s all good. There’s a few people I know who signed up with the impression that the job is super honorable & glamorous (like in the movies) and everyone on the street will greet you as heros: that didn’t work very well (for most units and especially if you join as an officer, it’s really just another office job but with uniforms). The people I know who did ROTC in the US did their 4 years as Second Lieutenants and bailed as soon as they could.

Good luck!

 

Fantastic, thank you so much. What about when things 'get sweaty' so to say? Could I be held accountable for training during an intensive week, or would the firm generally support me?

 

Repellendus vel consequatur ut atque qui optio iste. Excepturi hic earum adipisci iure et. Eligendi ut laborum maxime fugit et omnis maxime quia.

Dolore quo facere alias voluptatem assumenda est delectus. Ut quia vel harum recusandae beatae harum.

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.2%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.8%
  • Evercore 01 98.2%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.6%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.8%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.2%
  • JPMorgan No 97.7%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (14) $434
  • Associates (43) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (75) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (65) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
5
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
6
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
7
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
8
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
9
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
10
numi's picture
numi
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”