Every conference, panel and podcast I’ve been part of lately seems to circle back to the same truth: as tech helps us pick up the pace of change in our industry, it’s more important than ever to make space for growth.
But the lang cat’s Home Game 5 event just swivelled the spotlight. There’s something else we need to make room for: new blood.
Last week, I headed up to the lang cat’s HomeGame conference and wow, what a day.
The ‘New Blood’ theme really had me thinking – I really enjoyed the fact they didn’t shy from using the term. It’s often considered a tad vampiric and we instead opt for softer terms like ‘new people’, ‘fresh talent’ but, as their opening video clearly explained, new blood is essential for all living life forms.
On my panel, I underlined the need to break outdated stereotypes to show students the true breadth of potential with a career in advice. The appetite is there, we just need to show up for the people trying to break in. The new blood.
So if financial services is a living, breathing form and without new blood it withers (not even sorry for the dramatic analogy) why wouldn’t we save ourselves by bringing people in?
The message of the day was clear: finance is a fantastic career choice and as the people already here in this world, it’s on us to demystify the sector, tackle the blockers and create space for newcomers.
That message really struck me, because at Verve we’ve been working for years to bring new blood into finance.
Here’s how we’ve been tackling the challenge:
Collectively these initiatives have already helped hundreds of people break into finance, who maybe otherwise wouldn’t have considered – or couldn’t afford - to make the change. Hundreds. And we’re tiny!
I promise you, people are choosing a career in finance, but it’s on us to make space for them. And as proud as we are of the work we’ve done so far, the truth is demand far outstrips what we can deliver.
In fact, we have 10 x as many applications as we have funded spaces on our Foundation programmes. That has always been the case on The Grad Scheme too; hundreds of applications for each cohort.
The dream of course is to find room for everyone who wants in, and give them the freedom to apply their fresh approach, new skills and ability to mix things up to this profession that is in flux. We would all be better off for it.
So a final thought on new blood: There are huge corporations in finance with much deeper pockets than us. If we can have this much of an impact through just being scrappy, innovative and grafting at it, imagine what could happen if the biggest players got involved?
Our industry doesn’t just need new blood, it needs all of us to make space for it.
Cathi is the Founder and CEO at Verve, with a background in finance and special interests in AI, championing female leadership, and diversity in financial services.
