Sophie Good
Tell us a bit about yourself and your background
Hi, I’m Sophie and I’m from Edinburgh. I attended The Royal High School and took part in the competition back in 2020. I’m currently studying Economics at the University of Bristol and preparing for my upcoming year abroad  at the Stockholm School of Economics. I really enjoyed the competition and think it sparked my interest in investment management. I’ve stayed involved with Future Assets over the years and am grateful to have done an internship with Nikko AM during my gap year and have some work experience lined up this summer at Par Equity, all thanks to Future Asset.
What was your experience like with Future Asset?
I got involved with Future Assets through the competition (the first one!) and my team and I were lucky enough to get through to the final. I really enjoyed the mixture of researching the company whilst analysing the financial side too to make a solid investment pitch. It opened my eyes to the huge range of factors to consider when investing in a company eg. Market trends, government policy, the make up of the leadership team, company ethos… The competition gave me a good start in the direction I want my career to go and helped widen my understanding of the financial sector as a whole and the opportunities that are available.
What are your current career goals or aspirations?
I’d really like to start off my career in investment/asset management and have been exploring as many different options to see what I like (and don’t like!) In a dream world, I’d really like to combine my passion for sports with finance but think that’s something much further down the line!
What advice would you give to students thinking about considering a career in finance?
Ask questions! Find out how people got into their current role, what they studied and why they chose finance, what people value when it comes to a job. I think just being inquisitive shows that you are keen and that in itself can lead to opportunities. Future Asset has some amazing industry links so if you do the competition and believe that it’s something you could be interested with it, keep in touch with them and attend some of the insight days, networking events etc they organise and this could lead to the next step.
What advice would you give to firms and employers?Â
I think there needs to be more of an emphasis on face to face connection and inviting young female students into the work place and scouting talent that way. So much of recruitment is being done through AI now and I think there needs to be a shift back to the “old-school” way. I feel it’s actually making it harder for firms to choose the kind of talent they seem keen to attract and maybe by putting more emphasis on genuine connection then they might be able to recruit more females into the financial sector.
Would you like to share your story? Contact jemma@futureasset.org.uk
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