“The programme has allowed me to understand the different areas in business and finance as well as learn the different paths that can be taken to get a career in the business world,” - Freya
“Thank you so much for creating this wonderful Insight programme - it has been truly enjoyable and I've learnt so much about the company. I would definitely consider working here in the future,” - Yasmin
“I enjoyed meeting the professionals through the live webinars. It was good to see what certain occupations actually entail and how I can get there.” - Anon
Investec is an internally renowned leader in bank and wealth management, employing 8,500 people across 40 cities on five continents. From humble beginnings, it now has £61bn in funds under management and has lent more than £30bn to fuel clients’ business growth. Investec is one of just 8% of FTSE 250 companies to have a female CEO and is triple A-rated for sustainability - placing it in the top 2% for this metric.
Investec delivered us a fascinating brief.
The challenge was to create a programme which gave an insight into the industry and roles at Investec, and do so for students they might typically struggle to reach. This meant challenging stereotypes of bankers, and delivering an audience heavily weighted to those from disadvantaged areas and students from outside the London area. An even gender split was also requested.
The programme itself was designed to show what working in the industry might involve, the wide range of careers available and the varied entry routes into roles.
Importantly, the programme was also to boost overall confidence, to demonstrate to these students that fascinating careers could await them, whatever route they followed.
One in five pupils receive free school meals in the UK, and they are often underrepresented on traditional work experience programmes. For Investec, we delivered a programme where 48% of students, all aged between 15 and 18, qualified for free school meals.
Furthermore, there was an even gender split across the cohort and 57% of students were from minority ethnic backgrounds, more than meeting the challenge Investec set.
The first modules eased into the big questions that get asked at the early stages explaining exactly what Investec does, some of the job roles and how has the industry changed.
The programme quickly moved on to employee experience, a chance to demonstrate Investec’s superb credentials as an employer. Students got the chance to quiz staff members in live sessions, which were also made available on-demand.
Attention then turned to specific elements of the work of a modern investment bank and wealth management company, including specialist banking, wealth management, and technical business.
A section titled “Working at Investec'' pulled these diverse areas together to demonstrate the wide range of roles and routes into the company. Many students were surprised to discover that a highly sought-after internship was available.
A final module looked at general employability skills, a particularly useful element for this diverse cohort, many from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Investec hoped for a cohort of at least 100 students given their requirements for a diverse audience. We delivered 162 enrolments.
Male/female/prefer not to say: 50%/49%/1%
Ethnicity: Minority Ethnicity 57%, white 24%, Other or prefer not to say 19%.
48% of the cohort qualified for free school meals.
Students clearly valued the programme, giving it an average rating of 8.5/10 and a score of 8.7/10 for whether they would recommend it to classmates.
On completing the programme, 41% said they had excellent knowledge of the industry, up from just 4% before.
There is evidence this knowledge would change their behaviour, with 67% now saying they were very likely to consider a career in the sector, up from 36% previously, and 41% were now very confident of finding employment, from a base of 12%.
Perhaps most impressive of all, no students were considering an internship before the programme, but 33% were by the end, with 89% saying they would consider applying to Investec in some capacity.
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