Investment Ambassadors

Can you give an hour to help young people find out about careers in investment management?

Think back to being in school, college or university and being asked to think about career choices.

How did you make your decision about your next steps? Perhaps you always had a dream career, maybe a teacher guided you, or you fell into your first job through chance.

We ask young people to make decisions about careers without really knowing much about the options available to them. Most young people only know about the typical jobs which they see through the media – and those careers of their parents or friends.

And we know that too often investment management is not a sector that they know about or perceive to be for them, especially if they don’t know anyone working in the industry or financial services. Investment20/20 aims to change that.

Investment20/20 is an award winning careers service for the sector, which focusses on those young people furthest from the investment management industry. We deliver over 150 careers workshops in schools, colleges and universities every year, and spoke to over 7000 students – but have demand to attend many more.

Help us meet this demand by becoming an Investment Ambassador, sharing your career journey and promoting investment management as a place to forge a career.

Find out more about Investment20/20 here.

Watch our ‘You’ll be surprised who works here’ film.

Contact

Email [email protected]

Please quote Investment Ambassador in in the email title.

What will I do as an Investment Ambassador?

As an Investment Ambassador you will visit a school, college or university to talk to students about careers in investment management and share your personal career journey.

The session may last between 25 – 60 minutes, including a presentation and time for questions. We will provide you with a tried and tested presentation, with a range of interactive activities that will be chosen by the Investment20/20 Outreach Team to best suit the type of session and age of students.

We are also asked to attend Careers Fairs, where we answer students’ initial questions about working in the sector.

Making a real difference

We know that these visits make a real difference to student’s career choices and your presentation will be the first time that the majority of students have heard about the investment management industry.

From these visits we see many students signing up to our careers website and ultimately applying to become Investment20/20 trainees. Over the last 6 years we have supported over 1500 young people to begin their career in investment management – and for many of those young people, their interaction with Investment20/20 gave them a helping hand in accessing a sector that too often felt closed off.

Become an Investment Ambassador and show them a way into a career in investment management.

Where are the schools, colleges and universities?

The requests for careers workshops come from all over the UK, albeit with the majority from London, South East, East of England, Glasgow and Edinburgh. As Investment20/20’s aim is to increase diversity within the industry, we particularly look to visit schools, colleges and universities which have a greater number of students from different ethnic and social backgrounds.

When you sign up as an Investment Ambassador you will be asked to choose a region and if you are restricted to a specific location to let us know. This will help us to match a session to your preferred locations.

Who are the students?

In England, students are in year 11 (15-16 years old), 12 (16 – 17 years old) and 13 (17 – 18 years old). In Scotland, students are typically in S5 (16-17 years old) and S6 (17 – 18 years old). These sessions tend to be targeted as students are in a progression close to either finishing school or college, meaning they are making decisions about their next steps imminently. Occasionally we are asked to deliver workshops to younger students. We also deliver sessions to university undergraduate students from a range of subjects.

How will I benefit from taking part in the scheme?

Along with supporting young people’s career understanding, you will also be developing skills within an environment different to your day to day workplace.

According to Volunteering Matters, people who engage in voluntary activity report a greater sense of purpose, an opportunity to develop new skills, boost career opportunities, as well as making people happier.

Volunteering can add a lot of value to your own career and is viewed positively by employers – it demonstrates your commitment to skills development and improving performance.

How does my employer benefit from me being an Investment Ambassador?

Your employer will gain significant benefit from you becoming an Investment Ambassador. These include:

The skills you develop can be transferred back to the workplace and bring additional benefit to the work you do
Brand promotion of the company to school, college and university students
Connecting with the future workforce and consumer market

How will I be prepared for my first session as an Investment Ambassador?

When you sign up as an Investment Ambassador you will receive:

An invitation to attend a face to face training module on delivering the Investment Ambassadors outreach sessions. This includes expert presentation skills development along with familiarisation with the materials and content. Investment Ambassadors can attend as many refresher sessions as they wish. These sessions run once a quarter
An opportunity to shadow the Investment20/20 Outreach Team and other Investment Ambassadors to develop your confidence and skills before delivering your own session independently
Email and telephone support from our Outreach Team to guide you in advance of your session, including a briefing on the school/college/university if necessary
Access to the materials, including facilitator notes and links to useful sources of information
Connections to other Investment Ambassadors to share best practice and tips on session delivery. We can help to link you to another Investment Ambassador to deliver as a pair if you prefer.

Once I’ve signed up, what should I expect?

You will receive an email within 5 working days, inviting you to have a call with the Investment20/20 Outreach Team to discuss upcoming events in which you could participate.

You will be given a link to access the session materials which are delivered in schools, colleges and universities, giving you a chance to familiarise yourself with the content. You can of course contact the Outreach Team with questions about the content at any point.

Support materials will also be included – top tips on delivery, key preparation activities, and typical questions that you could be asked by students – with some standard responses!

The email will include a link to register to attend a training session, which happen quarterly. In London, these are held at the Investment20/20 office. In Scotland, our Client Relationship Manager will be in contact to arrange a suitable time.

Requests for visits from schools, colleges and universities can vary depending on the time of the academic year. We will endeavour to match you to a volunteering opportunity as soon as a session becomes available and as soon as you feel prepared to deliver, although please note that at key academic times (exam months for example) there may be a longer wait time.

Register as an Investment Ambassador

It’s easy to sign up. Just complete the registration form here.

If you would like to speak to someone direct, please email [email protected] quoting Investment Ambassador in the email title, and provide your phone number and one of the Outreach Team will call you.