Young Women Into Finance

Knowing what route to take after leaving Charters Sixth Form can be overwhelming for some students, and we always stress that it's Ok not to know exactly what career path to follow, but to pursue something which interests and excites.

One student in Year 12 has a very firm idea of the career she would like to follow and has just been accepted onto the prestigious Young Women into Finance course, which aims to balance the male/female intake of annual graduates into the sector which currently has a ratio of 75 males to 25 females. Creating a pathway into the industry for dedicated individuals, you can her Sophie's motivation to join the scheme below:

"The Young Women into Finance course is a 5-year course dedicated to "demonstrate to young women that they can pursue a career in Finance". It is only for young women, one of the reasons I applied to it in the first place. Throughout the course, you are supported while completing CISI qualifications, which are valuable in the finance industry and very respected, completing courses that become increasingly advanced as you go. Besides the qualifications going onto your CV, it will also provide important information on the finance industry and key knowledge that could boost your Uni application and help you talk to professionals in the industry. 

The course does expect you to go to University, however they do accommodate gap years or courses of different length times. While at University, they help to connect you with their sponsor companies to get two lots of paid summer internships at their sponsor companies that are leading banks/funds/advisors/sponsors in the Infrastructure & Energy market. While these might seem quite narrow markets to some, many of the companies work with sustainability, a growing industry, and provide work experience that might prove valuable in any competitive industry you wish to go into. Work experience can give you a boost compared to other people applying to the same role.

While at University, you also learn to build a financial model from scratch supported by one of the courses sponsor organisations and then at the end of your 5-year journey with them, you receive free help from One Search who "coordinates and manages your applications to their sponsor organisations, but also encourages and helps you in any other applications in the wider world, finance or otherwise."

There is no pressure to stay on the course, but it does provide you with networking opportunities between other young women and major companies and provides experience that could be valuable in any field you may consider."

Sophie said that if she could give one piece of advice, it would be to apply to anything you can, as she genuinely was not expecting to receive an offer! 

Post-Charters, Sophie is planning to go to university and is currently thinking about studying Economics, but is not sure on the course yet. She is planning to apply to LSE and other Russel Group universities and hopefully Oxbridge.

We wish her well with for her future plans and look forward to hearing where your career path leads.