Career Journey

Location: London

Time at Shell: Eight years

Degree: Politics and Economics

“To me, the combination of physical & paper trading - as opposed to pure financial - is more real, more multidimensional. It’s also more exciting. We’re among the top global trading houses, and Shell has assets across the globe.

There are so many ways of adding value, and more are emerging all the time. You have to be good with numbers, but you also need to have other kinds of specialist knowledge. There’s a huge amount of information that you have to understand, analyse and make decisions about. For most graduates, it takes about nine months to find your feet - you do get responsibility very quickly.

Our team is diverse – to say the least. The people come from different countries, speak different languages and have widely different academic backgrounds. But they definitely share an optimism and desire to solve problems. Good traders are eloquent and persuasive. They don’t have to be asked to do things – they always look for new ideas and approaches. It’s a combination of lateral thinking and logic that helps them be successful. To help, our graduates get a lot of support from senior members of the team. It’s one-on-one training that makes the biggest difference.

The biggest challenge I face is finding the right people. It’s incredibly important to Shell Trading and the wider business too. Volatility throughout the oil complex has gone up, so more people have entered the market. There’s so much more competition. The team needs to grow, and we need more talent than we’ve ever had before.”

Shell International Trading and Shipping Co.Ltd. is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.