Students from London and the home counties taking CISI qualifications in sixth form alongside their A Levels recently took part in the CISI’s Work Experience Week 2017
Left: work experience presentation winners; top right: Robert Russell, director of business development at Divento Financials, speaks to students about a career in trading at a speed-networking session; bottom right: Mathew Bolton, teaching and learning specialist, CISI, runs an ice breaker session with students
The students, totalling 25, came from Bellerbys College, London SE8; City of London School, EC4; Homewood School & Sixth Form Centre, Tenterden, TN30; Kemnal Technology College, Orpington, DA14; King Ethelbert School, Birchington, CT7; Morpeth School, London, E2; Northfleet Technology College, Kent, DA11; Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys, Canterbury, CT4: Sutton Valence School, Maidstone, ME17; The City Academy, Hackney, E9; Tormead School, Guildford, GU1.
The week began at the CISI’s offices at 20 Fenchurch Street (the Walkie Talkie building), where students launched into a teamwork activity, followed by an interactive session on developing their own elevator pitch – a succinct and persuasive sales pitch. Students then took part in a speed- networking session with professionals from across the industry, where they learnt about different job roles and routes into financial services. Our speed-networkers were Robert Russell, Divento Financials; Priscilla Ross, investor relations; Donna Poynter, Kaplan Financial; Tom Huysinga, HSBC; and Zara Williams and William Young from RKH Speciality.
In the afternoon the students prepared for their following days’ work experience across the city or further afield, with The Brokerage Citylink. They considered how to make the most of their work experience and selected the project that they would be preparing while with firms on work experience to present back to a panel and their peers.
Students were placed for three days’ work experience at Winterflood Securities, Close Brothers Asset Management, Bloomsbury Wealth, Divento Financials, Pool Reinsurance Company and Thesis Asset Management where staff made them very welcome.
On the final day of the week, students returned to the CISI offices in the Walkie Talkie, where they delivered their presentations on either ‘Understanding risk’, ‘Investment decisions’ or ‘Brexit – one year on’ to an interested panel of CISI and industry staff.
Positive feedbackOne student said the week was “fun, and far more interesting than I expected”. Another said: “I’ve learnt that preparation is vital in the market making industry and that you have to be able to think on your feet in order to react to changes in the market … different options and opportunities were made clear to me … I definitely want a job in finance”.
Kate Nathoo, client director at Thesis Asset Management, said: “Thesis has been involved in the CISI work experience programme for the past four years. The programme is well constructed and provides a positive learning experience for the students involved. We are very pleased to be part of this valuable and dynamic learning experience for young people.”
Rebekah D’Cunha, head of HR at Winterflood Securities, said: “Participating in the CISI work experience programme was a very rewarding experience. Students in the programme already have an interest in financial markets or related careers as they are already studying for a CISI qualification and so were familiar and engaged within our working environment. We also saw a more diverse cohort introduced to the firm, so we hope the students remain in contact with the firm throughout their studies and consider our entry level programmes upon completion.”
Inspiring futures and developing the next generation of financial services professionals
The CISI partners with schools, colleges and universities to offer qualifications and careers education for young people to learn about the financial services sector and gain an understanding of the diverse job roles and employment opportunities available. If you or your firm can offer support to our work with education both in London and in other regions nationally, please contact educationdevelopment@cisi.org