“IT’S NOTHING LIKE THE WOLF OF WALL STREET”
Three reasons to consider a career in investment banking
IT CAN BE FLEXIBLE AND FULFILLING
Investment management, in general, is often seen as “an appalling career, from a diversity perspective,” admits Deirdre. “This industry has struggled a bit to recruit young women because of perception.” Generally speaking, though, most people who work in either private equity, listed equity or quants (quantitative analysis) see it as a quiet, research-focused role – no Gordon Gekko-style hair gel or suspenders required. “With investment management, you can do a lot of research in your own time. It’s a career that can really fit the criteria of a lot of young women, they just don’t necessarily think about it as something for them.”
YOU CAN MAKE A POSITIVE IMPACT
Another perception around investment banking is that you’re simply making rich people richer, but it can genuinely be a job “that is meaningful, and that can have a purpose,” Deirdre says. Whether you’re helping companies who have solutions for climate change to raise money, working on micro-financing schemes in less developed countries or helping to increase the number of women-owned start-ups, there is huge potential to do good in the world of finance and find interesting work. “While some roles are more financial data-focused, the number one skill to work in the industry, I would say, is intellectual curiosity,” says Deirdre. “You want to understand companies, know what drives them.”
THE INDUSTRY NEEDS YOU
“There’s an enormous diversity problem in investment management,” says Deirdre. Organisations like the US-based Girls Who Invest have a mission to grow the percentage of the world’s capital that’s managed by women from mid to high single digits today to 30 per cent by 2030, through both financial literacy and by encouraging more women to see investment management as a viable career option. “It’s an incredibly important mission because the people who decide who to give money to and who not to give money to have an enormous amount of power – and right now they are 90 per cent male.”