Lab Assistant position for 2023-2024 Academic Year
Position: Lab Assistant
Location of Work: Rotman School of Management, BMO Financial Group Finance Research and Trading Lab
Job Type: Part Time
Targeted Years: All years
Work Term: Casual employment from September 1, 2023, to April 30, 2024.
Expected Work Load: 5 hours per week on average.
Application Requirement: Resume.
Application Deadline: 11:59 pm on June 20, 2023.
Description
The BMO Financial Group Finance Research and Trading Lab (FRT-Lab) is a state-of-the-art facility that focuses on the integration of theoretical and practical applications. Research databases and real-time access to global financial resources allow students to link classroom lessons to actual securities and markets. In addition, our custom-designed suite of instructional products uses interactive simulations to develop skills for making good financial decisions when faced with uncertainty about future outcomes.
The FRT-Lab mandate is:
- To enhance the Rotman School’s teaching and training by providing students with access to the global financial community and its resources in a real-time setting.
- To contribute to the integration of theory and practice by delivering hands-on experience to users in order to enhance the global competitiveness of our students and our School.
- To become an innovator in new curriculum development, business initiatives, software development, and other activities of value to the Rotman School and business communities.
- To provide a focal point for research and training in a range of financial disciplines, including investment strategy and portfolio management; financial engineering and risk management; trading; and analysis of the microstructure of markets.
In addition, we organize extra-curricular activities, such as the Rotman International Trading Competition (RITC), Rotman Portfolio Management Competition (RPMC), Commerce Trading Competition (CTC), Rotman Online Trading Competition (ROTC), and many more.
The FRT-Lab employs an enthusiastic team of Lab Assistants to help students and faculty throughout the year. Lab Assistants work on shifts (in-person) either from 9 am to 2 pm or from 2 pm to 6 pm every weekday during the semester (September to April) depending on their schedules.
As a Lab Assistant, you will need to help students with the use of financial software such as Bloomberg, FactSet, Capital IQ, etc. In addition, each Lab Assistant will help with the planning, preparation, and running of the extra-curricular events.
We will provide training to all Lab Assistants before the start of the semester. Training is mandatory for all new Lab Assistants.
This is an excellent opportunity to work in an innovative and unique environment, learn most of the financial software used in the industry and grow professionally and personally by developing additional skills.
Qualifications
All students who apply for this position should be interested in the field of finance and investments. We are looking for friendly, social, and enthusiastic students who can assist in providing an exciting and enjoyable experience for other Lab Assistants and for users of the FRT-Lab.
Required skills: MS Office (Excel, Outlook, Word, PowerPoint), Python, MS Visual Basic.
Nice to have skills: MS Visio, Matlab.
Your skills may be tested if you are selected for an interview.
Lab Assistant responsibilities
While each Lab Assistant’s responsibilities may differ across different positions, the Lab Assistants are generally responsible for the following duties:
- Covering a pre-assigned lab shift to monitor ongoing activities and answering inquiries,
- Providing administrative, teaching, and/or general support to FRT-Lab userbase,
- Supporting planned or ad-hoc activity or research projects,
- Working on different types of databases to collect and analyze data,
- Assisting execution of FRT-Lab activities such as various competitions and workshops,
- Process and manage service desk support tickets,
- Works with faculty, TAs, and staff to prepare documentation, including lab manuals,
- Ensures users get appropriate training, guidance, and instructional materials,
- Engage with students for a better experience using the lab resources,
- Support the development and testing of simulation cases,
- Develop lab manuals and teaching material aids,
- Coordinates the operations of the FRT-Lab space with the staff (in-person),
- Update training and instructional materials to remain current,
- Demonstrate lab resources as required,
- Maintain the lab physical space,
- Conduct scheduled and non-scheduled IT support and maintenance tasks,
- Acquire Rotman Interactive Trader/Rotman Portfolio Manager knowledge to support users.
Mandatory training
Software/data resources training provided by the lab staff that includes:
- Rotman Interactive Trader
- Rotman Portfolio Manager
- S&P Capital IQ
- FactSet
- Bloomberg
- ServiceNow – ESC service desk