Celebrating the success of the Kickstart Scheme

Investment Managers across the UK, Invesco included, have self-funded job opportunities for 16- to 24-year-olds on Universal Credit as part of The Department of Work and Pension’s Kickstart Scheme.

At Invesco, six Kickstarters joined us in September 2021 across the business for six-month placements and have had great success.

We worked closely with Investment 20/20 (the Investment Association’s talent solution for the industry), as the Kickstart gateway organisation, supporting young people throughout their work placement. They provided our Kickstarters with industry knowledge and skills development based on Investment20/20’s award-winning Think Investments programme.?

Ross Nicholas is a Junior Analyst within our Front Office Operations team. Having completed his six-month Kickstart placement through Investment20/20, we’re delighted to confirm that he has just accepted a permanent role at Invesco!

“Having done my Bachelors and Masters, I was surprised that finding a job was such a struggle but it was during the pandemic when a lot of young people were finding it hard. I was on Universal Credit and needed to find work to fully support myself. It was a depressing time. But being on Universal Credit was what got me into the Kickstart scheme, and I was told about Investment20/20 and roles in the investment management industry. I was skeptical because I’ve seen similar careers stuff at university but when I saw others like me from different ethnicities and how vested Investment20/20 was in the whole process, I thought it could work. It was a detailed recruitment process, but I got hired by Invesco as a Junior Analyst. I’m amazed at the level of responsibility and learning I have been able to achieve in my short time – it’s been a great experience working with the portfolio managers and I can’t believe I have a permanent job. I can really see opportunities to grow.”

The Kickstart scheme is a great initiative to provide young people from diverse backgrounds with access to training, skills development and industry experience within an inclusive and supportive environment and we are proud to partnering with such a great scheme.

Take a look at some of the other Kickstart success stories here: https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/investment-2020_kickstart-scheme-success-stories-activity-6919656590513963008-MqyU?utm_source=linkedin_share&utm_medium=member_desktop_web