I was very encouraged by recent figures suggesting that people in Britain are feeling more optimistic about the country’s future economic prospects.
According to Ipsos MORI, there has been a surge in confidence in the UK, with 30 per cent, up from 22 per cent in a month now feeling that we will be better off over the next year. Even the Bank of England, for the first time since prior to the beginning of the financial crisis in 2008, upgraded its projections for the country this month in its Inflation Report forecast.
That said, with the youth unemployment figures, it is easy for young people to feel hopeless about the future and it would not be surprising to hear that many currently preparing for exams are wondering whether there is any point in getting qualifications.
You only have to look at figures in the recent report from the International Labour Organisation suggesting that there is a feeling of hopelessness among many young unemployed people. This is worrying but it is not impossible for us to raise young people’s morale and raise their aspirations. More companies need to join forces with skills organisations to alleviate this issue and engage better with young people through various schemes.
It has never been a more crucial time to communicate better with youngsters about the diversity of jobs available to them as well as the different routes into the industry. We must also be mindful of the fact that the rise in university fees is causing many school leavers to think about whether or not to go to university. We need to do our bit to educate bright and talented individuals with or without degrees, as well as younger children who are still in school, about all the ways into our industry.
There is such an array of interesting jobs to be found in the financial services sector for which you do not necessarily have to have a degree. If only young people knew. But how do we communicate with young people about the diverse jobs available and about the different ways into the industry?
First of all, businesses must try to adopt a positive mind-set of ‘hope’ and by taking on a more optimistic outlook, it is hoped that more companies in the financial services sector, and other sectors will see the benefits of creating high quality work experience programmes to help young people become more employable, and to ensure that they have a future talent pipeline.
With apprehension among many businesses to train young inexperienced talent during these testing times, due to limited resources, and with many preferring to take on graduates or others, who already have experience, the sector should look into less-costly and time-consuming ways to help young people. The situation has prompted the Financial Skills Partnership to develop a host of inexpensive but high quality employer led schemes and programmes to help match employers with young people.
Creating high quality work experience does not have to be difficult, costly or time-consuming. The Financial Skills Partnership’s virtual work experience scheme, GetInGetOn, is an online work experience scheme through which young people can complete a placement. The placement comprises learning units which can be completed in their own time, and each young person who is registered on the scheme via FSP’s Directions website, is assigned an e-mentor. The mentors are individuals in the industry volunteering to engage with the youngsters, to answer queries they might have about the industry and their learning and to signpost them to resources for further information.
Essentially, the aim of the virtual work experience placement is to give youngsters the chance to gain insight into the employability skills needed at work, brought to life by people at work. In turn, employers can better comprehend what drives young people. GetInGetOn, which is the only one of its kind, is a good scheme for prospective individuals, who are pressed for time. They only have to give up a few hours to train to become a mentor, undergo a Criminal Records Check and commit to one calendar month per mentee. And what’s more? They do not have to respond to emails in real-time and there are no phone calls involved.
Another initiative developed by the Financial Skills Partnership to help prepare youngsters for the industry is the Graduate Foundation College. The Graduate Foundation College is developed in association with the industry and seeks to prepare graduates for the financial advisory sector. This scheme, as well as GetInGetOn, is partly funded by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, with employers providing the rest of the funding.
The programme is a 10-week pre-employment induction course for selected graduates and it comprises a mixture of e-learning tools and face-to-face workshops, exam preparation training and industry experience. In line with RDR, the course includes the Financial Services Regulation and Ethics module, either through the Chartered Insurance Institute or Calibrand.
In short, the Graduate Foundation College prepares future advisers for work in financial advisory firms, and they will have the opportunity to work for three to six months in a paid internship capacity, at participating firms, on successful completion of the 10-week course.
Feedback from the GFC’s first intake which started the course in October 2012 has been overwhelmingly positive. Among that cohort is 34-year-old Panagiotis, from Reading, who took the course in London and has two undergraduate degrees, one in Accounting, another in Accounting and Finance, and a postgraduate degree in Risk Management from the University of Reading. Panagiotis who already had some risk management work experience is now considering a career in financial advisory as he would like to work more with people.
Interestingly, many graduates without prior experience in the financial services industry or without relevant degrees were unsure of what to expect from the course. Roccio Simon, 35, from Birmingham who has a degree in Quantity Surveying and had worked as a quantity surveyor for several years, before deciding she wanted a career change, felt that the course gave her a good grounding in financial advisory.
Panagiotis’ and Roccio’s experiences and reasons for joining the GFC programme resonate with many of the trainees on the programme. As they now look to the future, they feel more knowledgeable about the financial advisory sector, and feel that they have better insight into how financial advisers interact with clients.
With many independent financial advisers on the verge of retiring or retiring earlier than planned, the financial advisory sector needs an injection of new blood. With the Graduate Foundation College, participating small and medium- sized advisory firms have a talent pipeline at their disposal. The intensive training course ensures that they will be taking on committed graduates on internships to eventually be considered for permanent employment.
In April 2013 the GFC started offering additional streams of pre-employment training to bright and enthusiastic graduates. These streams cover mortgage advice, paraplanning, wealth management and general insurance advice.
Small and medium-sized firms who are interested in the Graduate Foundation College should contact the FSP as we are increasing the number of locations covered. We already have a number of graduates waiting to start on financial planning internships especially in Birmingham, Manchester, London, Leeds and Edinburgh and we are now taking our next intake in London, Glasgow, Norwich, Belfast and Cardiff.
In addition to paraplanning, wealth management and financial planning we would like to hear from firms interested in taking new entrants in compliance roles. Firms should contact us to find out more about how the GFC could help them grow their future talent pipeline. And don’t forget to sign up to be an e-mentor. We will do the rest to help you engage with young people.
Liz Field is the chief executive officer of the Financial Skills Partnership
