EARLIER THIS year the government announced plans for a new careers programme that will encourage primary school pupils to think about the jobs they would like to do in the future.

The initiative, which links lessons in an age-appropriate way to different careers has been rolled out across 55 disadvantaged areas in the UK.

Announcing the initiative Minister for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education Robert Halfon said it was “essential that careers advice and work experience helps young people from all backgrounds to climb the ladder of opportunity”.

Halfon’s statement seemingly acknowledged a problem that education and social mobility campaigners have been trying to tackle for several years.

Thousands of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds across the country, particularly those from Black and minority ethnic backgrounds, face significant barriers in acquiring the education, work experience, access to networks, and skills needed to enable them to forge high-paying careers.

According to research published by Teach First in 2017, pupils born in the poorest postcodes of the country have only a one in five chance of progressing to university.

Young people from lower socio-economic backgrounds also face issues such as being more likely to drop out of university if they are accepted and a greater likelihood of missing out on career opportunities than their peers in wealthier postcodes where half of all young people go on to higher education. And, as several other studies have highlighted, wealthy, white students are still significantly more likely to secure high-status, lucrative jobs.

It’s an issue that one woman is determined to play her part in addressing.

Nathalie Richards is the recently appointed CEO of SEO London, a charity that supports underrepresented young people through education, training, and mentoring programs to fulfil their career potential.

Launched in 2000, its vision is to transform the lives of talented pupils from these backgrounds by opening up opportunities in fields such as investment banking, asset management, consulting, insurance, private equity and corporate law at the same time as addressing the lack of diversity in these sectors.

Barriers

Richards is passionate about helping to dismantle the barriers that prevent young people from fulfilling their potential.

“If we as a country want to be able to continue to have great businesses that innovate, grow and create prosperity, we need to draw from the widest possible talent pool” she tells The Voice.

“There are many young people from Black and minority ethnic or low-income backgrounds who have talent and ambition, but who don’t have the opportunity to be able to achieve. It’s not about positive discrimination, it’s about positive action. Our role is to create life-changing opportunities for young people to fulfil their potential.”

She continues: “That’s important because frankly, it’s the right thing to do. Everybody should have an equal chance of being successful and prosperous in their lives.

“One of the reasons there has been so much interest in supporting organisations like ours over the last few years is that people were horrified by the death of George Floyd and other issues around race inequality such as the lack of diversity in top professions. While there has been progress in recent years, you’d be hard-pressed to find anybody who wouldn’t acknowledge that we still have a very long way to go. At SEO London, we’re focused on accelerating the pace of change.”

Our role is to create life-changing opportunities for young people to fulfil their potential

Nathalie Richards, CEO, SEO London

In the 2021-22 academic year, SEO London worked with nearly 4000 young people, who took part in its employability skills and internship training programmes aimed at demystifying careers that may have previously seemed unattainable.

Of that number, 89% were from Black or minority ethnic backgrounds and 51% were from low socioeconomic backgrounds.

At the heart of the organisation’s transformative impact are three main strands.

Through the SEO Schools initiative, high-achieving students in Years 11 to 13 gain invaluable exposure to industries such as banking and finance and insights into the higher education options that are the best fit for them. They also benefit from learning essential work readiness skills and being given networking and mentoring opportunities.

Support

The SEO Careers program offers comprehensive support for university students aiming to get jobs at leading companies. They are given tailored seminars and workshops about the technical skills needed in certain fields as well as soft skills training and seminars delivered by industry experts.

The third strand, SEO Alumni, fosters a lifelong community of SEO London alumni with a focus on lifelong learning and networking. And crucially, giving back to the next generation.

“There are certainly some great organisations out there doing great work in this space” she says. “However, our approach is about combining areas such as communication and personal branding into a really powerful training offer. We see our success metrics as being aligned with getting young people into these top firms. And because of the very powerful relationships we have with our partner firms, we’re able to deliver that in a way that I think a lot of other organisations might struggle with.

“Because we now have thousands of alumni in leading companies, some in quite prominent positions, they’re able now to pay it forward by mentoring and sharing knowledge so that the next generation can also come through.”

Before joining SEO London Richards enjoyed a high-flying careerin management consulting and technology.

After earning an MBA from the prestigious international business school INSEAD she shifted gears to launch EduKit in 2013, a social enterprise that provides schools with support for their students through wellbeing apps and mental health data analytics. The organisation received the Department of Education Award for Innovation a year after its launch.

Impact

She grew EduKit to the point where it had a team of 20. However, Richards decided to seek out a new challenge, one that would have an even greater level of social impact.

She joined SEO London, inspired by its mission of empowering young people and promoting diversity and inclusion in the corporate world.

Another reason that led her to join was that her own career benefited significantly from the type of mentoring and guidance that SEO London offers.

“I’m incredibly committed to this work because I am somebody who has benefited from being told about careers and opportunities I absolutely had no idea about while growing up in Ilford,” she says. “I was supported by an organisation called the Windsor Fellowship.

“Through their programme, I did two internships at the Bank of England which provided a great insight into financial services and jobs in the City. Until then I had never really thought of a career in consulting or technology, which is where I landed when I graduated.

“What I liked about consulting was that I could move across different sectors and projects and really make things happen not just in the UK, but in roles in France, Italy, South Africa, India and the US.

“The early mentoring and career assistance that I received was life-changing. It’s that kind of support that is so important for the young people on our programmes. And we’re now more ambitious than ever to scale our impact. So we hope that your audience will help us to spread the word so that as many talented young people as possible can benefit.”

For more information on the work SEO London does to prepare talented students from underrepresented backgrounds for career success, click here