St. James’s Place (SJP), the UK’s largest wealth management company, is offering work experience to 500 young people with a three-day virtual taster for those interested in a career in financial services.
Taking place from 8th-10th August, SJP’s Virtual Work Experience programme is designed to offer an understanding of what working in financial services, and the financial advice profession, could entail. Those taking part will hear from existing financial advisers from a range of backgrounds, as well as speakers from across SJP and the Partnership, including those overseeing the SJP Academy programme. The aim is to help participants to develop soft skills and provide broader employability training.
Aimed at school students in Years 12-13 and those at university, the range of dedicated training sessions and teach-ins includes a host of topics. In addition to an overview of understanding the role of a financial adviser, the pathways, and roles within an advice firm, the sessions include work on personal branding, CV writing, interview techniques, harnessing social media and presentation.
The programme also includes the opportunity to work with others on a dedicated project, with the winning team taking home £500. At the end they will be presented with a certificate to mark their attendance and participation.
Places will be allocated on a first come first served basis and there is a dedicated registration website with an application form and an overview of what the programme entails.
Andy Payne, Head of the SJP Academy, said: “This virtual, interactive work experience programme has been developed over the last few years as an ideal opportunity for young people from all backgrounds, educational qualifications and geographical areas to take part. It provides is a comprehensive taster of what working in financial services, and in financial advice in particular, looks like. Virtual work experience that is genuinely accessible and flexible means that we are removing barriers to participation and opening up the opportunity to all.”
This is the fifth time that the successful virtual work experience programme has run in its current form. It was first developed in 2020 during the pandemic in response to the lack of in-person opportunities and has been run and refined on four previous occasions, in October 2020, April 2021, October 2021 and July 2022. More than 6,000 young people have already utilised the programme to build an awareness of what a career in financial services could look like, with the aim that over the longer term it provides a feeder programme to attract candidates for a career in financial services more generally and SJP in particular.
