Patrick Philpott’s Post

I love this partnership with Novuna and what we have achieved with it: unlocking hidden careers in financial services for young people from diverse backgrounds 🔓🔑 Unbelievably we kicked this off almost five years ago to the day 😱 Visionpath was a smaller business back then, but still with big belief in our vision that early careers can be an engine of social mobility and help companies to be truly diverse. Fortunately Kiru R. and Yoko Hitosugi Bessey shared that vision early on and trusted us to deliver on it for Novuna 🙏🏻 Then we had the support of others who shared the vision like Zara Hemingway Jessica Claus Gemma Fowle Charlotte Watmore Louise Mead Jacqui Close 🙌🏻 The partnership has won awards - including the Institute of Student Employers “Best Apprenticeship Development Programme” - but for me, the biggest achievement is helping many young people from Novuna’s communities in Leeds, Newbury, Staines, Trowbridge and Telford to build successful careers in financial services. 🚀🚀🚀 #apprenticeships #socialmobility #earlycareers #futuretalent #schoolleavers #careers #diversityandinclusion

I often hear from schools that students are focused on degree-level apprenticeships and don’t consider Level 3 roles because “they’re the same as A-levels” 🤯 Or I hear from students that they never looked at Level 3 apprenticeships because the advice was to only go for degree-level. And that’s despite Level 3 apprenticeships making up the majority of all apprenticeships out there and unlocking incredible career opportunities. This piece from Visionpath takes a look at why you should consider ALL apprenticeship levels, not just the relative few that will get you a degree too… #apprenticeships #careers #earlycareers #socialmobility #futuretalent #firstjob #schoolleavers #careersadvice

🔓 Unlocking apprenticeships with the UK’s communications regulator 🔓 Proud to see another great Visionpath partnership making early careers more equal. Congratulations to the five new apprentices who joined Ofcom this week. Really excited for what the future holds for Albert, Dawid, Kamran, Tiffany and Sakinah as they embark on their new careers in the Policy team at the UK’s communications regulator. Since 2022 Visionpath and Ofcom have partnered to bring school leavers into exciting roles across the organisation, with over 30 apprentices joining Ofcom through our programme so far. And we’ll see even more apprentices join next year, as we kick off our 2024-25 programme in the next few weeks 🎉🎉🎉 #apprenticeships #earlycareers #careers #futuretalent #socialmobility

A very warm welcome to Visionpath’s two new apprentices who started with us this week 🙌🏻 Social mobility is in our DNA and since 2017, alongside helping some great forward-thinking businesses to bring apprentices into their workforces, we’ve been bringing apprentices into our own team as well. They’ve all been amazing. So I’m super excited to have Frankie Austin and Katie Howe join the team. We ran our own recruitment process and Insight & Assessment day back in July and frankly we were impressed by everyone who attended. But Frankie and Katie both stood out to us and I’m delighted they’ll both be working on our programmes to make early careers more equal, unlocking great careers for school leavers. If you work with us, then you’ll be seeing more of them both over the coming weeks and months. Even better, our former apprentice (and now Programmes Officer) Sienna Smith played a key role in the whole process to find our next apprentices and did a great job of it too. Well done Sienna 👏🏻 If you’re thinking about apprenticeships for your business, I’ll be sharing a bit more in the coming weeks about how we did it as an SME. If we can do it, you can too! #apprenticeships #earlycareers #sme #futuretalent #socialmobility

One of the absolute joys of my work is seeing young people on our programmes set out on their new careers with our partners. And this week, Mars welcomed their first cohort of apprentices from their partnership with Visionpath! In 2023 we launched Building Bright Futures, a new early careers programme unlocking exciting apprenticeships at Mars Wrigley in Slough, for school leavers from diverse backgrounds. The programme has seen us: 🏫 Deliver workshops in schools connecting with hundreds of Year 13s to help them learn about Mars and see their future in one of their apprenticeships. 💡Bring students into interactive Insight & Assessment days to give them hands-on experience of life at Mars and showcase their skills. 💬 Connected students with over 30 Mars mentors, delivering over 200 hours of mentoring to support students’ career development, plus other experiences to build skills for their future career. This week, the programme culminated in 13 apprentices joining Mars in roles like engineering, operations, sales, marketing and finance🎉🎉🎉 Having worked closely with Mars on this programme I know the apprentices are joining a company with a great culture and an environment where they’ll learn and thrive. Definitely bright futures ahead (pun entirely intended). And watch this space as we launch our 2024-25 Building Bright Futures programme, more great things to come 🚀 #apprenticeships #futuretalent #earlycareers #careers #socialmobility #diversityandinclusion #schoolleavers

🏆 CAMPAIGN OF THE YEAR 🏆 Great night at the Insurance Insider Awards where the London Market Group x Visionpath partnership was crowned Campaign of the Year (and in a really tough field too…) Always lovely when a great collaboration is recognised but the award isn’t just for LMG and Visionpath, it’s for… 🏢 All the employers in the market (over 50 of them) who’ve supported the Futures Academy since it launched in 2023 - together providing over 1,000 days of work experience to over 250 students in the last two years. 🏫 The 50+ schools who are part of the programme, who’ve encouraged their students to seize the opportunity and experience the world of specialty insurance. 👩🏻🤝👨🏿 The students who’ve taken part, engaged with employers and made the most of the programme and what it can offer them. And of course it’s for the teams at LMG and Visionpath who make it all come together. Thank you 🙏🏻 Can’t wait for the 2025 Academy (and our Apprentice Discovery programme coming up this October) with even bigger things in the pipeline to make specialty insurance a destination career for young people 🚀🚀🚀 #awards #insuranceinsider #specialtyinsurance #insurance #careers #earlycareers #futuretalent

Recapping on our phenomenal Visionpath x London Insurance Life Careers Festival 🎉🎉🎉 Huge thanks to The Insurer TV covering the day, our grand finale to the epic two-week Futures Academy. The programme is genuinely shaping young people’s futures and the future of the London insurance market. Creating connections, building skills and providing pathways into specialty insurance as a destination career for school leavers who might never have thought of insurance as a place for “someone like me”. This year we had: 👩🏻🤝👨🏿 150 Year 12 students from 50 outer-London schools 🙋🏻♂️ Over 100 volunteers from across the market helping to inspire, engage and upskill the next generation of insurance talent 💡 Over 600 days of work experience providing real insight into careers in insurance 🏢 Over 50 firms involved providing work experience, joining our Careers Festival and hosting us in some amazing spaces. As Caroline Wagstaff says, next year we have big plans for the Futures Academy and our festival. Stay tuned 📺 London Market Group Lloyd's Market Association Lloyd's LIIBA - London & International Insurance Brokers’ Association International Underwriting Association of London #careers #earlycareers #insurance #specialtyinsurance #schoolleavers #students #workexperience #futuretalent #futuresacademy24 #futuresacademy2024

School’s out but it’s still all systems go at Visionpath, plenty to do on our mission to make early careers more equal. This week the team will be: 🦉 Training mentors ready for the fourth year of Berenberg Journey, our social mobility programme with investment bank Berenberg. We’ll be upskilling 20 mentors across the bank to work with diverse Year 13s for 12 months from September, helping to shape their future careers. 🍫 Supporting our partner Mars Wrigley as they prepare to welcome their first intake of apprentices through our new Building Bright Futures programme. We’re starting our work with line managers so they’re ready to support apprentices joining their teams in September. 💡 Back at AXA XL helping to upskill their summer interns ready for their future careers. We’ll be joining the dots between their strengths and possible careers in specialty insurance, as well as helping them explore the importance of networks to support their growth and development. Then we’re into August and the chance to regroup and prepare for our programmes in 2024-25. Summer slowdown anyone? ☀️😅 #socialmobility #earlycareers #mentoring #interns #schoolleavers #apprentices #futuretalent #diversityandinclusion

Another Friday in the London insurance market, this time with added sunshine ☀️☀️☀️ Great to deliver with Joe Bennett our insurance hothouse day as part of the AXA XL summer internship programme. Bringing to life the concept of risk and helping interns think of new risks to protect against in the world of net zero and energy transition. Big thanks to Chris Lockwood Natalie Williams and the AXA XL volunteers Louise Savage Noelene McKenna Skander Zribi Catherine Wood Cath McDonald Nathalie Thong #specialtyinsurance #insurance #earlycareers #careers #interns #socialmobility

What. A. Day. 🎉🎉🎉 The end of a mammoth two weeks on the Visionpath x London Insurance Life Futures Academy. Our Careers Festival at Lloyd's with over 30 market firms connecting with students and sharing their opportunities. This year’s academy saw us… 🏫 Deliver outreach in 50 schools meeting over 1,500 students 📄 Receive 500+ applications 👩🏻🤝👨🏿 Welcome 150 students into the London market 🧠 Run six learning days with over 100 market volunteers, from apprentices to CEOs 🏢 Provide 600 days of work experience with 40+ employers All finishing with our Careers Festival. An incredible day full of connections (and a mountain of merch!) 🍬🖊️🗒️ An epic team effort from everyone at Visionpath - Joe Bennett Elaine Channing Khalil Akhtar Sienna Smith Chantell Small Annie M. Carly Mcquillen Hannah Kemp - and of course the brilliant London Market Group team Caroline Wagstaff Jonathan Purser Graham Walsh We’ll be back in 2025 even bigger and even better…with huge plans to make the festival even more special. Watch this space 🤫 #futuresacademy24 #futuresacademy2024 #specialtyinsurance #insurance #careers #earlycareers #schoolleavers #workexperience #socialmobility