Graduate development programme

Hello and welcome to the Wellcome Investments Graduate Programme presentation.

My name is Fabian Teos and I'm one of the two managing directors of the Investment team.

In this presentation, we will give an overview of Wellcome, our charitable mission and how we fund our groundbreaking medical research by generating returns on our £38 billion pound Investment Portfolio.

We will then tell you a bit more about graduates at Wellcome before handing over to our current Investments Graduate John Lee to share his perspectives with you.

Wellcome is a politically and financially independent global charitable foundation dedicated to improving health. We are funded from one private endowment established in 1936 by our founder Henry Wellcome and aim to exist in perpetuity.

Our mission is to support science to solve urgent health challenges across the world. Our Investment Portfolio stood at around £38 billion pounds as of the end of September 2022. This portfolio is our only source of funds. It's a very simple structure: we make money to give away money.

To improve health, we've spent more than £18 billion pounds over the last 25 years and we plan to spend £16 billion over the decade ending 2032.

Going into detail on Wellcome's mission, we support three strategic areas of science as well as our support for core discovery research.

Discovery research is the majority of our funding today, representing around two-thirds of charitable spend. Discovery research is bold research across any field with the potential to change the way we understand life, health and well-being. Our aim is to enable researchers to be ambitious in their search for new understanding about the world.

Next, infectious disease. This involves working with communities affected by infectious diseases to bring those diseases under control and stop epidemics.

Secondly, climate in health. This is a new and growing area for us. Our goal is to work with the communities most affected by climate change to explore the harmful effects of global heating and health. We want to improve people's health by funding science that can inform the world's responses to climate change.

Thirdly, mental health. This is another new and exciting area for work. We are working with people who have lived experience of mental health issues to improve research, understanding and treatment so that no one is held back by mental health problems.

Here are some examples of the important work that we have funded. One of our major contributions to society was funding the Human Genome Project. More recently our Sanger Institute played a pivotal role in the sequencing of the Covid-19 variants as part of the Covid-19 Genomics UK Consortium. Sanger enabled the sequencing of over one-third of Covid samples and led to the ability to track in real time the emergence of new variants.

Wellcome co-founded the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation – CEPI for short – in 2017. CEPI finances and coordinates the development of new vaccines. It has launched an ambitious plan to cut vaccine development time to 100 days. CEPI funded the AstraZeneca and University of Oxford Covid-19 vaccine and invested in Moderna's vaccine.

In infectious disease, we helped to develop the world's first vaccine for malaria with our research activities in Kenya. Wellcome also developed a highly effective Ebola vaccine following the 2016 outbreak. It is now stockpiled and ready for use.

In mental health, we were early funders of the first new schizophrenia drugs in 50 years that has recently shown to be effective in phase three clinical trials.

Another breakthrough initiative is Wellcome LEAP Fund. Wellcome LEAP builds unconventional research programmes that aim to deliver breakthroughs in five to ten years which change existing practices and deliver transformative health benefits that don't fit the traditional research funding model.

Turning to how we fund our important medical research, our Investment Portfolio stands at £38 billion pounds as of September 2022 and this graph shows our long-term performance. The red line is our long-term return target of a blend of UK and US inflation plus 4%. This is important to preserve and grow the real value of all capital whilst we make charitable grants. The green line is the performance of global equities over that time. The turquoise line shows Wellcome's investment performance with the cumulative blended return on the endowment of over 10,000%.

Over the year to September 2022, our portfolio was down 7% against very difficult global markets. But much more importantly, we've compounded 11% per annum since 2009.

So how do we generate these strong investment returns? The answer is simple. We invest in a globally diversified portfolio of the world's leading companies. This picture gives a flavour of our exposure. Our investments range from Google, Microsoft and Amazon in the tech space to banks in e-commerce in Latin America. Closer to home, we're on a large property portfolio in South Kensington and a leading Marinas business in the UK. We own Swiss-listed global companies such as Nestle or Novartis, who we believe are compound over the long term. In Sweden, we own payments provider Klarna. In India, we own HDFC Bank, the largest national mortgage lender. In Asia, we invested in Chinese internet giants like TikTok and Alibaba, AI Insurance and the leading banking franchise in Indonesia BCA.

So how can you contribute to our investments process as a graduate? We look for a few characteristics. Initiative rather than process. Productivity not face time. Challengers not consensus thinkers. And broad minds that work across our asset classes and our sector teams.

We think about fear, greed, emotion and logic when it comes to markets. This chart shows that market participants tend to buy when everyone is greedy and markets are high, and sell when everyone is fearful and markets are low. Doing this repeatedly makes you poorer. We try to do the opposite.

As a graduate, you will be part of a world-class Investment team with diverse nationalities, career backgrounds and heritage. Whilst everyone works hard to hold their place on the team and add value to the portfolio, we have a one-team culture where we respect, support and develop one another to generate the best possible investment outcomes for Wellcome.

Now we'll tell you a bit more about what investment graduates can expect from Wellcome. After two years in Investments, what happens next? In terms of our outcomes so far, 12 graduates have joined Wellcome's Investment Graduate scheme. Of those, five had stayed in Investments and three are currently on the scheme. Other destinations include Cambridge Associates, Majedie Asset Management and Syncona Investment Management.

Across Wellcome's broader graduate programme, other candidates have gone on to work for the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, Cancer Research UK, the British Heart Foundation, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, amongst many others.

Taking a step back, the graduate programme was introduced to create age diversity at Wellcome and so much more. Wellcome benefits from development and learning from a new group. Our programmes are rotational and for Investments they follow an Investments career-specific route. You will have access to great support networks, including a former business mentor, a line manager and an informal buddy.

In terms of learning and development, you will develop a personalised plan in collaboration with your line manager. You'll have exposure to the Wellcome induction process, core skills courses, investment-specific training following our apprentice model and financial sponsorship and study leave for the IMC Investment Qualification.

In terms of other benefits offered by Wellcome, this includes pension contributions, salary, an on-site gym, on-site restaurants, a great hybrid working environment and volunteering days.

Now over to our current Investments graduate John Lee to share his perspective.

Hi, my name is John and I'm in the second year of the Investments graduate programme.

In terms of my background, I grew up in Essex and I went on to study Economics at Warwick before joining Wellcome.

So what makes Wellcome's Investment Grad programme unique? You will be exposed to a holistic view of our investment universe, learning about a globally diversified portfolio and different investment asset classes, which span many geographies and sectors. You will have weekly interactions with our chief investment officer (CIO) and the entire Investment team attends our weekly meetings, which are chaired by our CIO and they are our forum to debate investment ideas and to make investment decisions. You will be asked for your opinion in the first meeting because we value multiple perspectives and new voices and we always want to hear your opinion.

In terms of your personal learning and development plan, this will be mapped out soon after joining. Examples of training include support for the IMC Qualification, basic financial analysis and modelling, public speaking and presentation skills, and debating and negotiation skills. You will work with a small, highly motivated Investment team who enjoy working to serve Wellcome's purpose, which is to improve health. And being part of such a small team gives you the benefits of developing strong relationships that will prepare you very well for your future career.

As a grad, you'll work on a variety of interesting and exciting projects. Graduates have made important contributions across a variety of investments in the past. And these have included analysing stocks, for example, Apple, meeting company management teams, reviewing existing private equity funds, contributing to our sustainability analysis, doing due diligence on venture capital funds and working alongside the healthcare team.

Graduates have played a very important role in designing and launching our Net Zero strategy as part of our internal Net Zero Working Group. You'll also have the opportunity to attend external events such as conferences and workshops at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and the Investor Forum, to name a few.

Our internal meeting schedule is also very stimulating and creative and these include weekly investment decisions meetings, blue skies, big picture discussions, dedicated industry sector teams and asset class team meetings. So in a nutshell, there is never a dull moment.

Thank you for listening to our Investments Graduate presentation.

We'd encourage you to apply to Wellcome.

Here are some links to further information. We wish you the very best of luck with your application and your future career journey.

1. Resilience: The ability to adapt to change, managing yourself and others through change and having a growth mindset when responding to feedback.
2. Agility: The ability to to be agile, adapting to pace of work, prioritisation, flexibility and decision-making.
3. Influence: The ability to create networks, understand stakeholder engagement, peer connections, presenting and influence and persuading.
4. Leadership: Includes self leadership (such as self-confidence, self-worth, ability to be proactive, take accountability and be inclusive) and social leadership (encompassing Wellcome and personal values, understanding global perspectives, sustainability and peer-to-peer learning).

Complete an online application form – you’ll be asked to answer a series of scenario-based questions.

Please note, that our application process is anonymised. So please ensure you fill out all the required fields, as they will be collected for use later in the process. We do not accept CVs as part of the application process. However, for those who make it to the final stage, you will be invited to share your CV with us before your interview. 

We will host an in-person open evening to provide an introduction to our graduate investments programme.

The evening will commence with a presentation about Wellcome and the structure of the graduate investments programme. This will be followed by a Q&A and an informal opportunity to connect with the representatives from the Early Careers and Investments team.

If your initial application is successful, you will be invited to participate in a video submission answering competency-based questions. You will be sent the relevant information including a link which will contain instructions on how to complete and submit the video interview via email.

If you’re successful at the video interview stage, you will be invited to an assessment day which will be held at our office in Euston, London. This will be a full day which will consist of a series of exercises that reflect the types of activities you would experience in the role. It’s also a great opportunity to see where we work and meet some of our current employees to talk about their experiences.

Following the assessment centre, you will be invited to the final interview where we will use this opportunity to learn more about you, you can also use this time to ask any questions, and learn more about Wellcome and who we are.

Following the final interview stage, you will find out if you have been successful or not – we provide feedback to all candidates that make it to this final stage.

I'd say the best thing about working at Wellcome is just how friendly and open everyone here has been at sharing what they do here, and helping you to know how to engage with their work as well.

The most surprising thing for me about working at Wellcome is how much I've developed in the past year, and how my interests have changed compared to how I thought they might lie at the start of the scheme. I started working Wellcome Collection, but I found I really enjoyed all the roles across the Trust.

So for me, the best thing about working Wellcome is that you have a really good balance of working in a really big organisation that is really well known around the world, and so it gives you a lot of kudos when you're going out and interacting with people outside of Wellcome. But at the same time, it doesn't feel like a big organisation where no one cares about you as an individua. It feels like somewhere where you can genuinely feel part of a community and there's a lot of cross talk between different departments here. It doesn't feel alienated or isolating in any way, even though there's a lot of people working under the same roof.

What has surprised me about working at Wellcome, is the difference and kind of working practice and culture between teams, which you really get to understand when you're a graduate and you kind of move from rotation to rotation to those teams. Different divisions can work in very different ways and look for very different things in their kind of day-to-day practices, basically, and that's been really interesting to get an understanding of.

So, one of the best things that I absolutely love about working at Wellcome is the opportunity to kind of get involved with lots of things kind of outside of your day to day job. There's so many kinds of social committees sports committees to get involved with. I've started on the Wellies committee this year which is Wellcome’s own kind of sports and social committee, and there's the opportunity to kind of run events and to kind of organize competitions and just meet lots of different staff from all over the Trust, which is brilliant.

There are a lot of great things about working at Wellcome, but one of the really nice extra things that we have are a lot of great benefits. So, for example, we have a free gym in the building which is really great for keeping healthy and keeping good mental health as well. We also have some really great subsidised delicious food available and there are a lot of discounts available through our benefits portal, for example eateries and cinema, which is also great.

So, my top tip for the application process is to really prepare well. I actually think preparation really pays off and so, for example, if you're preparing for a video interview or an assessment day or even preparing to write your application form, it's a really good idea to do some solid research on Wellcome find out a little bit more about what they do. What sort of activities they're involved with at the moment. What their priorities are. You can do this through a lot of different ways. We have a great website, but it also might find it useful to attend career's events and speak to people who work here or to attend webinars.

My top tips for application process would be to be explicit and really use those key skills that are listed and also to not be afraid in showing your enthusiasm and by making your application unique to you and genuinely showing your interest in Wellcome.

So, one of my top tips for the application process is to really think about why this scheme suits you right now. Because it's the opportunity to try out lots of different things, you're kind of not being trained just for one particular role, it's the opportunity to kind of like experiment with different activities. So, you have to really think about why is that important to you. Why does the structure of the scheme really work for you?

When you are doing your application my top tips for the application process would be to be as self-reflective and self-aware as possible when answering our questions for the Graduate Development Scheme at Wellcome. We’re really keen to hear what you'd like to achieve over the two years with us, as well as your strengths.

One of my top tips for the application process would be to make it perhaps as unique as possible. I think that something I drew on was kind of unique experiences I've had through work experience I've done in the past or kind of a project that I did at school that kind of stood out from other things in my life. I think that kind of gives you a bit of an edge and it kind of shows that you are doing things outside of just schoolwork that's on the curriculum as it were. So, yeah, I would definitely recommend picking unique things about yourself that really make you stand out against other applicants.