Management Team
Viv Dykstra: Managing Director
Viv is a director and a co-founder of Graduate Solutions Ltd. She has 12 years’ experience within the investment banking industry. From 1997-2003 she headed up the campus recruitment function for Deutsche Bank (hiring some 800 graduates globally). Prior to this Viv ran campus recruitment for NatWest Markets, setting up their recruitment effort and building a team.
She began her recruitment career at Swiss Bank (now UBS) in 1994. Viv’s particular expertise is in the design/set-up of campus recruitment programmes from scratch. She has an extensive network of contacts at banks and financial services organisations across the City and many in New York – and a wealth of knowledge of current campus recruitment practices globally. She set up and ran a recruitment initiative in India for Deutsche Bank, one of the first of its kind - and managed recruitment from 57 universities and business schools globally.
She also has solid experience in the selection arena – designing competency frameworks, interview tools, assessment centres and delivering training to the business in best practice selection and marketing techniques (including diversity awareness). She has a degree in Business Studies, a postgraduate diploma in Marketing and is Level A BPS accredited
Sarah Chesser: Director
Sarah began her career as a Lloyds Bank graduate trainee, then moved into search and selection in the City with Alderwick Peachell and Walker Hamill. In 1991 she moved to London Business School where she recruited MBAs for the Full-time MBA Programme. Later she moved to Gemini Consulting (now CapGemini) as their European Resourcing manager and in 1997 moved into the Investment Banking industry, heading up European Campus Recruitment for Barclays Capital. Sarah’s career at Barcap spanned 8 years and most recently she was a director of resourcing and HR planning & projects, during which she project managed a range of HR initiatives including vendor evaluation and management, implementing an online applicant tracking system and an online mentoring programme.
In addition to her work for Graduate Solutions, Sarah also provides counselling and coaching to students of Said Business School at Oxford University. Sarah has a degree in European Studies and is also BPS level B qualified.
Chloe Olesinska: Campus Marketing Manager
Chloe Olesinska is a campus marketing specialist with four and half years’ experience within the investment banking industry. She graduated from York University in 1998 with a BSc in Economics and then worked in both institutional and retail marketing for a number of asset management firms. In 2002 she joined JPMorgan’s Marketing & Communications team.
Her move to the Graduate Solutions team brings strong project management skills and a wealth of experience in planning and executing campus recruitment campaigns regionally and globally: from brand positioning and message development through to media planning and on-campus events delivery.
Helen Helm: Client Project Manager
Helen Helm has 12 years Graduate Recruitment and HR experience within Investment Banking.
On graduation she worked in HR & Recruitment for Fujitsu Services (formerly ICL). At Deutsche Bank she held a number of positions within Graduate Recruitment and HR Advisory.
Heading a global team, Helen was responsible for the development and execution for all aspects of end to end Graduate Recruitment Processes. Covering school leavers, interns, graduates and MBA candidates for both Front and Back Office. She has extensive knowledge of recruitment practises across Europe, Asia and the US.
At Deutsche Bank, Helen also had experience as a HR Business Partner responsible for senior recruitment, talent management, compensation and HR Advisory.
Helen has been with Graduate Solutions for over 2.5 years working on numerous client accounts both in the UK and overseas. She has been involved with screening, conducting in person and telephone interviews and the running of assessment centres.
Helen has a degree in Marketing & Management and is BPS level A qualified.
Nadia Osgood: Client Project Manager
Nadia has 9 years’ experience in campus recruitment and 12 within the investment banking industry.
Nadia began her career in M&A at Morgan Stanley, spending four years there, and then moving to Deutsche Bank to recruit for their investment banking division. Later she moved to global markets recruitment and latterly headed up the global campus marketing function. Nadia was responsible for the design and implementation of Deutsche Bank’s first online application system and she managed the design and integration of a new global system and reporting platform which handled graduate applications and sophisticated global reports from the UK, Germany, America, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia. Nadia was also responsible for global campus brand management, website design and delivery, marketing collateral and vendor and roadshow management.
Nadia speaks fluent French and holds a degree in Business Studies & French from the University of London. She is also Level B BPS qualified.
Marybeth Stines: US Client Project Manager
Marybeth began her career in 1996 as a campus recruiter at Credit Suisse’s (via Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette) investment banking division in NY.
In 2002, Marybeth joined Bank of America Securities, where she implemented and managed their Investment Banking campus program. She moved on to manage the Sales and Trading campus program and was named Program Manager for the Equities division where she oversaw the new-hire rotations and permanent placement process.
Marybeth joined Graduate Solutions in 2006 working with the US HR Team at ICAP to roll out their pilot recruiting program. Marybeth was responsible for the scheduling, marketing and execution for all campus events as well as reviewing resumes and conducting first round interviews.
After 2 years of working exclusively with ICAP, Marybeth also started working with Renaissance Capital as they sought to hire MBAs from the US. In addition to managing the set-up and coordination of all US events for Renaissance Capital, she also screened applications. During her years in recruiting, Marybeth’s additional project management has included: vendor meetings regarding online applicant tracking systems, development of full time and summer training programs, new-hire placement process, training junior recruiters and coaching of senior management.
Marybeth has a degree in Business Management from Loyola University Maryland.
Recruitment Team
Heidi Plant
Heidi’s career in investment banking spans 9 years. She began at BZW within Campus Recruitment and later moved to UBS, where she became an Executive Director and global head of the campus recruitment function. In 2003 Heidi moved into Search, focusing on the Equity markets for Ray & Bernstdon Odgers. In 2004 she moved to Barclays Capital where she was appointed a Director in the Global Resourcing team. She now works as an Associate with Graduate Solutions. Heidi has a strong expertise in HR project planning, manpower planning and vendor management / procurement.
She speaks fluent French and holds a degree in Languages for Business and is a qualified ‘trainer’. She is also BPS Level B qualified.
Andrea Darley
Andrea began her career in graduate/MBA recruitment in 2000 at Goldman Sachs were she sat within Fixed Income, working on all aspects of graduate recruitment. From Goldman she moved to Deutsche Bank, again recruiting for Fixed Income where she was also involved in travelling to, and recruiting graduates from India. Andrea’s most recent full time role was heading up graduate recruitment for the Bank of England where she was responsible for the overhaul of attraction and selection, which included a complete rebrand, assessment centre redesign and the introduction of their first fully online application system.
Andrea has worked on a variety of projects for Graduate Solutions, including screening and interviewing for Nomura and Mitsubishi UFJ. In addition she also works for Teach First, taking the lead on screening applications and providing verbal feedback to unsuccessful candidates at assessment centres, she also delivers ad hoc projects and attends assessment centres. Andrea also supports Future Leaders and Tomorrow’s Heads with their first round selection process (screening applications and marking essays).
Andrea has a History degree, an MA in HR and is CIPD and BPS Level A qualified.
Jo Eddicott
Jo’s career in campus recruitment began at JP Morgan in 1995 where she was responsible for recruiting high volumes of graduates and interns for a variety of business streams. In 2003 she moved to HSBC Investment Banking & Markets. During 5 years at HSBC she worked primarily on Graduate and MBA recruitment for front office. She set up a new graduate recruitment team and introduced formalised undergraduate and MBA internship programmes from scratch. She was also involved in the introduction of their first online application system. Jo has worked on all aspects of the recruitment and selection of interns, graduates and MBA candidates for both front and back office. She also has extensive experience in developing recruitment processes and designing assessment exercises. Jo has been working as an Associate of Graduate Solutions since 2007. Since working for Graduate Solutions, Jo has continued to her work supporting high volume graduate and intern campaigns including Nomura, ICAP and MUSI. Jo is BPS Level A qualified.
Sarah Tay
Sarah began her career as an accountant at Arthur Andersen, working on audits for commercial and media clients. From there, she moved into recruitment and selection, focusing on graduates and interns in financial services. Sarah has experience of managing high volume screening processes; researching and collating competency frameworks; designing and implementing interview training programmes; designing validated vocational assessments for new graduates; and delivering assessment centres. She also has experience of recruiting for the education and health sectors.
Sarah has a degree in Social and Political Science from Cambridge University and a further degree in Psychology. She is in training as a psychotherapist and is completing her Doctorate in Counselling Psychology. Sarah also uses her psychology knowledge in coaching work. She is a part-qualified ACA and is BPS Level A qualified.
Hallie Trill
Hallie Trill has 11 years HR experience. For the first 4 years she worked as an HR Officer, firstly for Hertz UK Ltd and then for the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA). In 1997 she moved into the Investment Banking Industry, working for National Australia Bank (Wholesale Division) as an HR generalist. This role included responsibility for managing the Graduate Training Programme. In 1999 she moved to Lehman Brothers Ltd, where she spent 4 years as an HR Generalist, providing the HR function for the Finance Division. Within this role she managed the Finance Analyst and Intern Recruitment and Training Programme, with responsibility for development and delivery of all aspects of the process. Her last year with the Firm was spent in a part time Generalist role, with similar responsibilties, for the Operations Division. She has extensive knowledge of all aspects of Recruitment.
Helen Baldwyn
Helen Baldwyn has 10 years Recruitment, Graduate Resourcing and Development experience within the Investment Banking industry.
After graduation she worked in a recruitment consultancy specialising in financial services roles across the City. She then spent 3 years working as a Graduate Recruiter at Deutsche Bank recruiting candidates for their Global Markets Division.
She subsequently spent 5 years working at Citigroup, initially working as a Graduate Recruiter for the Investment Banking Division and most recently, working as a Business Relationship Manager, responsible for the EMEA end-to-end graduate strategy for Global Markets. This role involved close partnership with senior stakeholders to set the strategic direction, budget and oversee the management of: campus attraction, recruitment and selection (working with an onsite recruitment delivery partner), training, continuous development opportunities and talent identification. She also managed all programme rotations, desk allocations and the annual compensation and incentive awards for all Analysts, Associates and Interns ‘on programme’.
Helen has extensive knowledge of all aspects of the graduate life cycle from campus marketing and recruitment through to programme management.
Helen has an MA degree in Interpreting and Translating (French and Spanish) and is BPS level A qualified.
Emma Baradar
Emma began her career as an accountant at Moore Stephens, developing a working knowledge of modern audit practices with broad audit experience.
In 1997 Emma moved to Morgan Stanley as an HR Generalist for the Private Wealth Management Division and managed graduate , MBA and lateral hiring. Emma transferred to the Equities Division in 2001 and was involved in the design and implementation of Morgan Stanley’s first online application system for graduates and MBAs.
In 2005 Emma became Vice President and Head of MBA & PhD Recruiting and Training for Sales & Trading, Europe delivering a recruiting strategy that ensured the business received the highest calibre of hires possible on an annual basis. Emma executed effective and competitive marketing campaigns across European and US academic institutions and ensured the selection criteria of candidates met business needs and was competitive in regional markets.
Emma has experience of managing high volume screening process and all aspects of assessment and selection. Working with a global team, Emma acted as a global interface with regional heads to deliver best practice recruiting and training strategy in line with global and group direction. Emma has a degree in Social Administration from the University of Bristol. She is IPD and AAT qualified.
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Dykstra Associates
Dykstra Associates is a boutique Search and Selection company founded in 2004 More 
