Social Mobility

10 years ago, Bruin responded to a challenge issued to the financial services sector by Labour MP, the Rt Hon David Lammy to address the barriers to entry within the industry. With little or no vital social capital, such as connected friends and family, many of the best and brightest from British society miss out on career opportunities, particularly in the City, where the privately educated are dramatically over-represented.

Working in conjunction with the Social Mobility Foundation, Bruin launched the City Talent Initiative, a programme dedicated to supporting high-achieving young people from low-income backgrounds gain entry to leading City firms. Such was its success, the City Talent Initiative has since been diversified into a cross sector programme, offered across the UK.

Today, we continue to lead from the front, partnering with UpReach, the Social Mobility Foundation,and other social enterprise organisations to provide mentoring and work experience, as well as CV skills workshops and mock interviews. Bruin is also proud to be an accredited supporter of the cross-party Social Mobility pledge initiative. These employers are tackling the issue as they would any other business challenge: by formulating a systematic plan to change their recruitment and progression procedures to ensure that the brightest talent is given a chance.

 

Prioritising potential, not polish

Social mobility refers to the facility for movement from one social or economic position to another. Britain has some of the lowest social mobility in the developed world and the financial services sector is particularly reflective of this lack of equality

Recent research found that 41% of employees in financial services had parents working in the same sector, against a national average of 12%, and 37% of recent intakes and 60% of leaders were independently educated – compared to 7% of the school population.

As a result, making hiring decisions based on the assumption that the best talent progresses according to their ability and achievement, can transfer advantages to candidates based on their background, rather than their aptitude...

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