Alumnae speakers inspire students at Career Tactics event

It was a pleasure to welcome back three alumnae Siobhan Reason (Class of 2006), Katie Davies (2019) and Charlotte Knee (2020) as speakers at a Career Tactics evening in October. In line with the event description, ‘navigating your way to success in a competitive environment’, our panel shared practical strategies from their experiences of working in banking, law and finance. They touched on the challenges they have faced and the opportunities which have helped them in their careers, speaking candidly about the realities of entering and working within competitive male-dominated sectors. The audience was predominantly female sixth form students from St Helen’s and local state schools, although the event was also open to young alumnae and parents. 

Our first speaker, Charlotte Knee, a Senior Assurance Associate in her third year on the Ernst & Young graduate programme, started by explaining how she explored a range of career avenues whilst at university studying Economics and Geography. Her research covered roles in the civil service, law, banking and she ended up choosing accountancy as the most suitable for her skills and preferences. She impressed on the audience the importance of taking every available opportunity to explore different careers and companies, explaining the benefits of all work experience even if simply to rule out certain sectors. A sobering message from Charlotte was that accepting rejection was part of everyone’s job search experience, and that resilience and perseverance were key factors to success. Interestingly when picking firms to apply to, she researched companies looking for those that championed women! 

Next to speak was Katie Davies, a Trainee Solicitor at law firm Clifford Chance. Having studied History, Politics and Economics at UCL as a first degree, Katie went on to study for a Diploma in Law, once she had made her decision regarding a career path. She stressed that this route did not put her at a disadvantage, and she had no regrets about her choice of university course, even if the conversion course was not the most direct route to a position in a law firm. Reiterating Charlotte’s point about persevering with job applications, Katie estimated that she had applied to fifty companies on graduating and that the application process was a numbers game. Applying for a role is a full-time job, she told us. Katie advocated for finding work experience placements wherever possible and however short, and for seeking informal mentoring opportunities. 

Our last speaker of the evening, Siobhan Reason, is an Executive Director at Coutts Bank. Having initially worked at Deloitte on a pre graduate scheme, Siobhan went on to university at Trinity College Dublin where she gained a Masters in Economics and History and then joined the Coutts graduate scheme. She has spent ten years as a Wealth Manager and now runs a team of ten. Her advice, to those choosing a career, centred on exploring companies and sectors widely to better understand what work environment and culture might be most suitable. For her, work life balance was a key factor for example, so investment banking whilst appealing in some ways, did not meet that requirement. Wealth management is the sector within banking that suited her best. Once in your early career, her advice was to be extremely keen by taking on extra learning opportunities, reaching out to mentors and preparing well for every meeting you attend. Be brave and ask someone you admire to be your mentor was her recommendation. Siobhan ended with an encouraging message for the students that the banking industry, whilst historically predominantly male, was crying out for women at the moment, and that being female was a great advantage. 

After hearing from the speakers individually, an animated and informative Q&A session followed. Our audience was invited to mingle with the speakers afterwards over drinks and nibbles, providing a further hour of questions and advice giving. It was wonderful to see the numerous interactions taking place on the night, and to hear the many positive reflections of the students the following morning on an extremely useful and insightful evening. Lower Sixth students Dorothy and Suriya commented that they were ‘especially struck by how ....they have all likely been rejected over forty times, inspiring us to ‘per severa’ despite rejection when we come to job applications in the future.’ They went on to say, ‘this experience helped us gain valuable insights into the world of work and develop fundamental networking skills.’ 

We are hugely grateful to Siobhan, Katie and Charlotte for inspiring, informing and engaging with the students. There were brilliant practical tips on everything from interview preparation to networking, internships and work experience. There was sage advice on resilience, planning and latching onto any opportunities on offer. Thank you to our alumnae speakers for their time and support! 

Photos of the event can be viewed below.