But for students with a disability or a long-term health condition, it doesn’t end there. You’re also trying to work out which businesses will support you properly. Who’ll enable you to manage your condition in the workplace? Who’ll empower you to do your best work? Are there prejudices to overcome in the industry?
Attending firms include: Bank of America Merrill Lynch and BlackRock.
If you’re wondering about investment banking, we can help. This interactive event provides undergraduates with disabilities and long-term health conditions with direct connections to investment banking opportunities. You’ll talk to knowledgeable employers. Meet successful investment bankers with disabilities. And you’ll get a sense for how to get ahead in a career that’s right for you.
To come along to Access to Banking, there are a few things we’ll need you to be:
What do we mean by that? Well, first of all, don’t worry – we’re not going to ask you to prove anything to us. We’re looking to help anyone and everyone with a physical or mental condition that has a substantial long-term effect on their day-to-day life.
Your condition could be all kinds of things, many of them not covered here, but just a few examples include: mental health conditions, visual and hearing impairments, mobility impairments, Asperger’s Syndrome, diabetes, epilepsy, dyslexia, dyspraxia, mental health conditions, speech impairments and major illnesses such as cancer and MS.
Investment banking is accessible for everyone – but that doesn’t change the fact that it can be competitive sometimes. The businesses you’ll meet at the event will all support you, but you’ve got to be bright and curious too.
That said, we do know that not everyone has had the same opportunities to demonstrate that, and many people find themselves barred from academic success. So, with all that in mind, while we generally ask for good grades at A Level, we’ll carefully consider any and all mitigating circumstances.
You might be a first or second year university student graduating in either 2020 or 2021. You might be at college, looking to go to university. You might even be in your final year of secondary school.
Whoever you are, you’re considering your options for entering the working world. Whether you’ve made up your mind that investment banking is for you, or whether you’re just curious to find out more, this event and its surrounding opportunities are all tailored to your life-stage.
This day-long event is carefully crafted to provide all sorts of vital information about your potential future industry, from how you’ll be supported to how to apply, and whether to declare your condition. Each of our banks is here to get to know you personally, and provide you with all the honest insight they can.
Session include:
Hear from our motivational guest speaker on why we should all champion disability and inclusivity in the workplace.
Get specialist investment banking training session from Alpha Development.
Putting a little focus on the brilliant highlights you’ll experience in the industry.
Key advice and practise to help you get comfortable with networking in business.
Breaking down each stage of applying, so that you know what to expect.
Senior representatives and previous participants from participating banks talk about their condition and their experience.
Practise your newfound skills as you talk to representatives from participating banks.
Our organisers run a whole series of events to help young people from all kinds of backgrounds to crack their chosen industry – and plenty of them go on to internships and graduate programmes, thanks to us. Here, you’ll meet students from our previous disability-focused events:
What did / do you study and where?
I went to University of London, Queen Mary and I studied Economics and Finance. What drew you to the organisation you are working for / did your internship with? Having met many people from various institutions, the people and culture at Bank of America really stood out. What impressed me was their commitment to diversity and inclusion, teamwork and meritocracy. Everyone was extremely supportive, helpful and welcoming.
What drew you to the organisation you are working for / did your internship with?
Having met many people from various institutions, the people and culture at Bank of America really stood out. What impressed me was their commitment to diversity and inclusion, teamwork and meritocracy. Everyone was extremely supportive, helpful and welcoming.
How do you manage your disability at work?
Bank of America makes sure that any challenges or disadvantages are minimal. This is not only due to the network they have available to help you out with equipment, but the people are what make the biggest difference to me. Everyone is understanding, supportive and enthusiastic.
How has your employer helped you to do well at your workplace?
Before joining, Bank of America’s HR team made sure that things were put in place for me. I met with occupational health, knowing I could follow up with HR if I needed to. I have had several adjustments made for me also. I’ve found everyone at the bank to be very open and the Bank of America team has been very accommodating.
What did / do you study and where?
I am studying Maths and Economics at LSE.
What drew you to the organisation you are working for / did your internship with?
I was attracted to Barclays by conversing with members of the Barclays team at the Getting In Banking networking session. Their friendliness and inspiring chats encouraged me to apply.
How do you manage your disability at work?
I have a remote speech to text reporter during meetings. I also have a notetaker during long sessions.
How has your employer helped you to do well at your workplace?
Barclays has been very helpful from the start of the recruitment process to the end of the internship. At all stages, I have been asked what adjustments would be useful and they have all been implemented. Barclays also liased with Action on hearing loss on deaf awareness training for the team, as well as any potential equipment/adjustments that maybe added.
What did you gain from attending Getting In?
The event was very useful giving a good insight of the Banking industry and various roles in it. In particular the panel discussing disability and reasonable adjustments was very motivating and informative on dealing with disability in the recruitment process as the work place.
What advice or top tips would you offer?
It is obviously very important to network at events such at these – make sure you try meet as many people as you can from all the banks!
What advice or top tips would you offer?
If you have a disability, accept that it’s what makes you special, and that’s who you are. I would also advise you to be very open about it. The more transparent you are about your disability, the more people are able to provide the support you need in order to succeed in your career.
We’ll also reimburse you for any reasonable travel costs to and from the event. Usually, that only covers standard-class transport fares and not accommodation, but obviously sometimes there are exceptional circumstances – whether it’s because of a disability or because you’re travelling a particularly long distance to be with us. If you aren’t sure if we can cover your expenses, all you need to do is get in touch and ask us at events@staffordlong.com. This won’t affect your registration at all, and it’ll be kept in confidence by the event organisers, so please just let us know.
Access to Banking
Collecting and protecting your data
Access to Banking is organised by our parent company Stafford Long & Partners. In the run up to the event, we’ll be collecting certain data about the people attending. Below is a brief outline of why we need that data and what we do with it when we have it.
There are also a few options for you to decide what data you share with us. If you feel comfortable doing so, we’d really appreciate it as it helps us focus our diversity effort to ensure we engage with under-represented groups and a wider pool of talent.
You can view our full Privacy Policy here.
When you apply, your CV and covering letter will be viewed and stored by our Diversity Solutions team. Firstly, so we can see if Access to Banking is the right event for you. And secondly, so we can let you know if your application has been successful.
If we offer you a place at the event and you agree to attend, we’ll need to share your CV, contact details and any dietary or accessibility requirements with the participating companies so they know who’s attending on the day. It’s also so they can let you know about future career opportunities that might be of interest. The participating firms are:
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To help us understand how well we’re attracting different demographics of students, we may ask for more details about your ethnicity, sexual orientation and any disabilities you consider yourself to have.
If you’d rather not share this information, that’s absolutely fine. Simply tick the ‘prefer not to say’ box in the relevant sections. But rest assured, anything you do tell us will stored and processed anonymously, and won’t form part of your application.
We’d also love to keep you posted about other events that might be of interest. So make sure you tick the box that says you’re happy for us to stay in touch.