Progeny Hosts Third Annual Summer School

Leeds based professional services company, Progeny, hosted its third annual financial services summer school last week.

Eighteen students aged 16-18 took part in a varied programme that introduced them to the range of roles and routes into financial services, the financial advice and investment process and offered guidance on CV writing and interview skills.

Summer school student, Natasha Baidoo, comments:
“Progeny’s summer school has been the most informative work experience I have attended. The week, including the presentation by the CII and the Progeny Academy, has opened my eyes to all the interesting and fulfilling career options in the financial sector and I could see myself becoming a financial planner in the future.”

Another student, Grace Myers, adds:
“This past week has taught me about the jobs available in financial services but also helped teach me a lot more about communication and people skills, which is very important in a generation where people often communicate online.”

This year, key members of the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) also joined day four of the programme and delivered a session on careers in personal finance, the value of Chartered status and working in partnership with a professional body.

Dr Helen Phillips, Chair of the Chartered Insurance Institute, comments:
“As an industry, we need to ensure that we are getting our fair share of the best and the brightest young talent and Progeny’s summer school is such a valuable programme. I’d love to see this model rolled out by more advisory firms, to help create better visibility and engagement with the many career opportunities within financial services.

“I was also delighted that half of the summer school students were young women, which paints a positive picture for the future diversity of our sector.”

Progeny UK MD, Caroline Hawkesley, summed up the successful week:
“As ever, we were really impressed by the energy and enthusiasm of the students and their interest in finding out more about a career in financial services. We were also really grateful to have the support of the CII, who provided valuable insight on career choices and Chartered status.

“As well as a number of local students, we had people travelling from London, Nottingham and Anglesey, which illustrates the value that young people see in this type of work experience opportunity.”