Inspiring the next generation of financial planners

This summer, we have been delighted to welcome four work experience students – Grace, James, Michael and Emily – to Britannic Place, each spending a week with us learning more about the world of financial planning.

We receive quite a lot of requests for work experience every year, which is really encouraging. We are passionate about helping young people understand the opportunities available within financial planning and, wherever practical, we want to give them the chance to experience the profession first-hand.

All four of this summer’s students approached their placements with real enthusiasm, throwing themselves into the work and taking every opportunity to understand what we do and why we do it. We were particularly impressed by the quality of the questions they asked, which demonstrated just how much they had engaged with the different aspects of the business.

A genuine insight into financial planning

We wanted their time with us to provide a genuine insight into how a modern financial planning firm operates, rather than simply spending a week observing from the sidelines.

Our Business Manager, Andrea, put a considerable amount of work into developing a structured programme for the placements. Each student received their own workbook, setting out what they could expect from the week and helping them work through a schedule that exposed them to the different roles and areas of the business.

The whole Britannic Place team also deserves a big thank you. Everyone gave up time to work with the students, explain their roles and demonstrate how the different parts of the business come together to deliver a great experience for our clients.

More than a week of work experience

For us, providing work experience is about more than simply giving young people something useful to add to their CV.

We are passionate about encouraging the next generation to consider financial planning as a career. It is a profession that can sometimes be misunderstood from the outside, with people perhaps assuming it is predominantly about investments, pensions and numbers.

While technical knowledge is clearly important, good financial planning is ultimately about people. It is about understanding what matters to someone, helping them make confident decisions about their future and using their finances to help them live the best life they can.

That makes it an enormously varied and rewarding profession, with a wide range of potential career paths.

Inspiring the financial planners of the future

Having four talented and enthusiastic young people spend time with us this summer has been enjoyable for our team too. Their curiosity has encouraged us to think about how we explain what we do and reminded us of the importance of continuing to promote financial planning as a force for good.

We hope that Grace, James, Michael and Emily enjoyed their weeks with us as much as we enjoyed having them here – and that they left with a better understanding of financial planning and the opportunities our profession can offer.

Looking ahead to next summer

We are already expecting to welcome a similar number of work experience students next summer. Although we receive plenty of enquiries, we are always interested in hearing from enthusiastic young people who would like to learn more about the profession.

So, if you are a client and have a son, daughter, grandchild or another young person you know who you think might benefit from spending a week with us, please feel free to get in touch. We would be very happy to consider them for one of next summer’s work experience places.

Who knows? We may even help inspire some of the financial planners of the future.