Females of the future programme candidate Review

I was so grateful and excited to be a part of this programme. The project manager [This section of the comment has been removed by a member of the RateMyPlacement Team because it did not meet our site terms and conditions] and her team were exceptional. I have really bonded with the cohort as a whole and have had so much fun as well as learned so much. I can’t express how strongly and positively I feel after this experience. I will never forget it and I hope that it continues on for as long as possible as there is a real issue with BAME and female representation in the financial sector and I appreciate the FCA is actually doing something practical and concrete to address this.

We were consistently engaged and involved. Interactivity was a priority which I really appreciated and as a result I felt very included and seen as well as valued. We were also consistently reminded of how well we had done to reach this stage of the programme. Additionally, we were able to spend time listening to and engaging with people that were in very influential positions which really reinforced the value that we had placed on us.

We were extremely supported via having a consistent means of asking questions and with a plethora of examples and information that helped equip us with such significant preparation for the assessment centre that it really reflected in how we were able to perform. Additionally having access to the individualised feedback was very very helpful as well as the generalised feedback so as to be able to bond on the similarities of the group. The personal development focus on the last day was really kind and showed that the programme was here for us and for us to improve overall as people.

The skills and experience I’ve received will be so helpful in so many ways. First and foremost, the gratitude that I will carry in my heart for the existence of programmes like the females in future programme even exist is abundant. Furthermore, I have never had the opportunity to do an assessment centre before and so to be able to experience it in this setting where there is such guidance and resources is so amazing.

I really appreciated the amount of thought and planning that had gone into the structure. The handbook we had received prior was very helpful and gave us an opportunity to get to know each other a bit through our fun facts and what we hoped to gain. It was also a very streamlined outline for the days. The only reason I give 9/10 stars is because the lunch on the first day was slightly too short, however, I really really appreciated the bite sized breaks in between events as it allowed me to reset my brain. Also another positive is that we were almost always generally on time with the outlined plan which shows professionalism and experience with planning from [This section of the comment has been removed by a member of the RateMyPlacement Team because it did not meet our site terms and conditions] and the team’s perspective.

At first when no one knew each other yet it was quite awkward as could be expected, however, this was very short lived as we all quickly became very comfortable with each other and it’s hard to believe that it’s been such a short amount of time but that it’s essentially over. Even through the technical difficulties that were sometimes a challenge, it was always resolved quickly and swiftly and questions were asked in the meantime to keep us engaged until we could continue.

In terms of personal training and development, the company invested in us by providing a very focused day on the last day to help us gain insightful feedback and to receive a talk or presentation form professionals who normally focus on leaders. This consolidated the focus that there was on personal development; I specifically found the formal written personal feedback very helpful and ultimately really found that I had benefited from the experience so much.

There was definitely a strong sense of the culture that would be integral to how day to day life working with the firm would look like. There was a lot of vague reference to the departments, however, there wasn’t much specificity as to how each department worked together and the key roles of and within said department. I give 8/10 stars because we didn’t do much of the technical aspect of what working with the FCA would look like.

The firm’s culture was something that came across very strongly in a number of ways. It was emphasised through the people who work within the company as well as through the values and core skills (JEDS). Most importantly, it came across through the action; it was the time, the effort and care that was put into us that really gave off the vibe of the culture that we can expect to encounter at the FCA.

I genuinely believe that the FCA is somewhere I can see myself working. Picking mathematics, a very broad subject, as a degree choice was a deliberate decision I made to keep my options open. I wanted to head into the world of finance, however, I was reluctant based on the unethical aspect that came with many of the regulated firms. The FCA serves on the public interest, with integrity and ethics; this is what made it so appealing to me.

I think that the length of this programme would not warrant being made. Personally, I feel that I definitely gained so much in terms of knowledge and experience that a lack of monetary gains was neither here nor there. That being said they did offer to reimburse anyone For rent costs who needed to travel to London back when it was a physical programme before it was turned into a virtual event. They also offered to provide laptops to facilitate anyone who didn’t have the access which was very considerate.

There were opportunities to meet others from the firm and to network in a more natural way, however, I give this an 8/10 stars as there wasn’t a designated networking time or place which meant that at times it felt awkward to randomly blurt out that you would like to connect with someone on LinkedIn, for example. I do, however, also appreciate that with the current pandemic things needed to be rearranged in order to be best suited to a virtual experience.

There were opportunities to meet others from the firm and to network in a more natural way, however, I give this an 8/10 stars as there wasn’t a designated networking time or place which meant that at times it felt awkward to randomly blurt out that you would like to connect with someone on LinkedIn, for example. I do, however, also appreciate that with the current pandemic things needed to be rearranged in order to be best suited to a virtual experience.

This was something that was mentioned briefly, however, it was quite easy to skim past and skip over as, given the nature of the programme, there was such an intense pace. Some of the things mentioned were the CEO programme which is a volunteering based activity that graduates do. There were also the BAME groups that were discussed called spectrum. I’m sure there is plenty more available, however I think it wasn’t emphasised based on the pace of the programme.

Absolutely yes. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I would recommend every BAME female to attempt to access this scheme or anything like it. I must say I have a particular soft spot for this programme as it felt so personal and vulnerable. The intimate connection that was made was something so genuine that I don’t know if I will ever experience something like this again. I feel so lucky and grateful to have has the chance to access something like this.