Following its Young Learners Programme and last year’s inaugural Women into Finance event, the Brightstar Group will host an event to specifically encourage young women into a career in the financial services industry, supporting the group’s ongoing commitment to the Women in Finance Charter and further improve diversity and inclusion.
On 4 July, Sirius Property Finance, in collaboration with MT finance, will host Women into Finance, an initiative that will aim to provide an opportunity for young women to participate in a programme of events at the London-based brokerage and thus bring them ‘into’ the world of finance.
As part of Sirius’ ongoing partnership with Debden High School in Essex, the event will host 12 6th Form students who are interested in pursuing a career in financial services. The programme will provide opportunities for these young women to spend time in a variety of different areas in the business including time with brokers, case managers and the marketing/design team as well as time with the operations and finance functions of the business. They will also be invited to apply for a fictional job role and be interviewed by team members in the business who will provide feedback to the students.
An addition to this year’s event will be the opportunity to prepare and ask questions to member of the MT Finance team during a panel discussion, with the aim of finding out about career journeys, challenges, achievements and the experience of being a woman in finance.
Sirius Property Finance’s Young Learners Programme champions the route from case manager to broker via its in-house training and CeMAP Programme and also by supporting and nurturing what it describes as its ‘youth team’, preparing these young people for roles in the business for the future.
Leoni Alexandrou (pictured), head of operations at Sirius Property Finance and event organiser, said: “Building on the outstanding success of last year’s event, I am really excited to be welcoming these young women into the business to hopefully provide some inspiration for them to join this industry and gain access to the variety of opportunities that it affords.
“We are proud to say that we already have so many shining examples of young people who have come to Sirius for work experience placements, some of whom have gone onto take full time roles with us. These team members have been pivotal in the organisation and leadership of this year’s event and will be highly relatable to the young women. They serve as fantastic role models, providing inspiration to other young people looking to join our business and the industry.”
Clare Jupp, group director of people development, added: “This extension to our already hugely successful programme demonstrates that at The Brightstar Group we are taking real action to both improve the representation of women in financial services and to also build the next generation of this industry. Opening the doors to the working office is the obvious way to give young people a real taste of what it means to work in this fantastic industry.”