The specific nature of these programs depends on the nature of the bank and on the position for which the new employee is training. Most large banks have a more or less formalized training program, which varies in length from six months to two years.
After a two week orientation period the new man spend two months in the various departments to acquaint himself with the workings of the bank. A month at a branch office completes the program; and the candidate, with the aid of the training program director, is ready to choose his special field. Examinations every four to six weeks and written reports on each department help the bank rate the employee's interest and understanding.
Is small banks the training is much less formalized. The college graduate is usually required to work through various departments of the bank until he has gained the necessary experience and know-how to fill a responsible position.
Most banks are switching to the educational plan since it gives the trainee a thorough grounding in all aspects of the banking business and helps find the trainee's interests and capabilities in order to determine a permanent assignment which will be best from the point of view of his long-run development into an executive of the bank.
Special Courses
For those who have poise, personality, and education many of the larger banks offer special executive training courses. These are offered to inexperienced people with college degrees, but often the college man is shifted all around the "back office: and closely checked by an older employee, during his first weeks of employment.
One week to two months in spent, in the most common form of training program, in each of the divisions of the bank instructing the executive candidate in the finest details of the running the establishment. A month in the mail, bookkeeping, statement, and credit departments shows the "flow" of business form receipt to payment.
The second month introduces the employee to the departments of notes, where he learns the issuance and collection of customers' notes, tellers, money collection, where mortgage and loan payments are directed, and money transfer, where checks from other banks are sorted for the clearing house.
Four months of intensive training in the foreign exchange, trust and stock transfer departments, two more months in the credit division, six weeks in the branch offices, two weeks with the comptroller, and one or two weeks in each of the investment divisions and the man is ready for promotion.
Note that the investment divisions are saved until the very end of the training program. Investment banking today has become such a specialized part of the industry that it is now considered a separate field. No less important than commercial banking, investment banking supports our city, state, and national government as well as our industries.
A wide variety of talent and training is required to carryon the operations of buying or underwriting, and there is a fairly wide field of work for those desiring to specialize. Accounting, however, is a prerequisite for all jobs Once securities have been bought, it becomes the duty of the selling staff to sell them through various financial clearing houses and stock exchanges. In practice, the buying and selling staffs are often interlocking.
The vast amount of legal work connected with originating and distributing securities open up a broad field of opportunity for skillful corporation lawyers. In face, many of the leading figures in investment banking began as lawyers. The transit and country departments handle the transactions with other U. S. banks; coupon collection takes care of sending notices of payments due on notes; the candidate spends two weeks in each of these