Financial & Related Services Taster Day

We were back at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), just a day after the Bloodhound Rocket Car event that we supported, to deliver a day focused around the world of Financial and Related Services.

On Thursday 13th July, over 100 students from Tabor Academy and Thomas Lord Audley took part in the first Financial & Related Services taster day. Our young participants learnt about the value of working within this sector and some of the key skills and roles, in addition to the impressive salaries, that it could entail. On the day, several sessions took place with leading, local employers including: International Financial Data Services (IFDS), RSA Insurance Group plc and Etec.

Members at ARU gave students a tour of the University campus, including an exclusive look at their Bloomberg Financial Markets Lab where they learnt about stock markets and investments.

Etec held an engaging presentation on cyber security, currently a very relevant field within the Financial and Related Services sector. IFDS held a 'Build a Company' activity in which students had to consider the means of financing the company and what risks are involved with the buying and selling of shares.

After a well-deserved lunch, the kids were taken to the auditorium for a presentation with key stats found in our 'What's Your Thing? Careers Information Booklet'. As the kids guessed true or false statements in a What's Your Thing?: Finance quiz, some interesting facts came to light while many misconceptions about the sector were overcome.

To end the immersive day, Genine from RSA explained what a typical day within her role is like and IFDS had an apprentice speaker explaining alternative routes into the sector and what his experience was like as an apprentice.

Our sector lead for financial & related services and Resource Manager at IFDS, Adele Carnera, also came to support the event before leading our sector action group meeting for that day.

Etec, RSA Group, IFDS and staff at ARU all did a wonderful job of hosting the event, and we would like to thank Thomas Lord Audley School and Tabor Academy staff for all of their support.