Success Breeds Success

A couple of weeks ago we went to a 6th form in south London to meet a group of very sharp and focussed A Level students there (thanks again for the invite Dominic Cheuk Christ The King Sixth Forms). The stand out moment of that session was when we asked “who’s thought about a career in finance?” and about 5x more kids put their hands up than when we ask the same question in Manchester, Sheffield, Birmingham etc. When we left the school we walked to the end of the road and noticed we were looking straight at the City of London.

As the saying goes “if you see it, you can be it” (or something like that) and we do see clear evidence that students from London are more likely to consider a career in finance, with proximity to ‘the City’ the most common inspiration. The “it” that students see doesn’t have to be a load of buildings though, more impactful is young people seeing peers from their area succeeding and then looking to “be” that. The good thing is that this effect can occur anywhere in the country!

It only takes a small number of success stories to provide inspiration to a large number of others coming up behind them. Their success in turn impacts an even larger number coming up behind them and so on.

We believe a continuation of the increase in work from employers to access the best talent in all areas will continue to support this multiplier effect and have an ever increasing impact in promoting opportunities across the UK.