The GAIN Empower Investment Programme

A GUIDE FOR FIRMS

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Designed to give young women and non-binary people an opportunity to learn about the investment management industry, our internship programme provides training and mentoring together with hands-on experience and investment decision making exposure, to students and recent graduates.

Firms who participate are invited to showcase both their organisation and the industry in order to build a strong and diverse pipeline of talent for future investment roles.

Internships on the programme are:

Full time, paid positions
Summer placements (June – September)
A minimum of 4 weeks in length
Funded by the participating firm

What is the GAIN Empower Investment Internship Programme?

GAIN screens all applications to the programme for eligibility and manually matches internship candidates with participating firms, considering any criteria provided by the firm, with the overall objective of preparing a diverse, programme-exclusive slate of candidates for the firm to review. The candidate assessment process is determined by the firm but should be completed within the timeframe set by GAIN.

We ask firms to keep GAIN updated on their candidate review and assessment progress via a platform called Pinpoint. Candidates who accept an internship offer from a participating firm will join the GAIN Empower Investment Internship Programme and benefit from:

Pre-internship training from AmplifyMe
Soft skills training from GAIN & our partners
A dedicated mentor from the GAIN or Level 20 network
Networking opportunities with other participants on the programme

Why take part?

Who is eligible to apply?

Eligibility extends to penultimate or final year as well as masters and MBA students studying at any university or business school. Recent graduates (within the past 12 months) may also apply. Applicants must have the right to work full time in the UK for the duration of the internship. Applicants should be predicted, or have attained, a minimum of a 2:1, but this can be in any degree discipline.

What else do I need to know?

In addition to the assessment process, the participating firm decides the successful candidate’s rate of pay and benefits such as holiday, the internship start date and the length of internship.
We recommend the internship offer made to candidates is competitive for the industry. GAIN can provide relevant benchmarking data on request.
A fee of £1,250 (+ VAT) is payable to GAIN upon successful hiring of an intern to cover our administration costs of running the programme and the cost of your intern’s training programme. GAIN Platinum sponsors are exempt from this fee.
GAIN promotes the programme extensively via our social media channels and website, and via societies and careers fairs at universities across the UK, highlighting participating firms as diverse employers.

What do our former host firms say?

“Our intern has exceeded our expectations in all aspects, becoming a true asset to the team.”
“Hosting interns over the summer brings immense value to the team. They bring fresh perspectives and innovative ideas, contributing to our commitment to continual learning and driving forward the excellence in investment management that we strive for.”
“During her time in the Investment Team our intern consistently impressed us with her enthusiasm and work ethic.”
“Great experience all round. The GAIN team provided high quality candidates, timings were clear and the team are always great to work with.”
“It was a pleasure to work with the GAIN team. Their partnership in creating a smooth and efficient process was invaluable”
“The training that GAIN provided meant our GAIN intern was better prepared than interns from other schemes, which allowed her to have a positive impact”

Can my firm take part?

Whether you are an investment firm looking to host your first intern or an organisation with an established internship programme, GAIN would like to hear from you.

We partner with firms large and small including Asset Managers, Private Equity firms, Hedge Funds, Sovereign Wealth Funds, Private Wealth Managers, Pension Funds, Investment Consultants, Family Offices, Impact Funds and more, ranging in size from 4 - 500+ employees.

GAIN interns should be given exposure to investment decision making by the firm, rotating where possible around different teams or team members to enrich their experience.

Requirements & Expectations

There is no expectation of a permanent position at the end of the internship. Applicants understand they are applying to the programme to benefit from a solid foundation of training, industry experience and mentoring with which to move on and secure a graduate position. There are however some firms who are involved in the programme who use the internships as an 'extended interview’ and key part of their graduate recruitment process.

You are not required to take an intern or pay a programme fee if you decide that none of the candidates GAIN send you are suitable for an internship with your firm. Please note that we encourage firms to interview as many of the candidates they are allocated as possible, however we will send replacement candidates to firms if they are certain they do not wish to take one (or more) of the candidates forward in their assessment process.

We ask that:

HR and Investment Team align on business needs and candidate criteria prior to completing the GAIN Application Form.
Candidate CVs and applications are reviewed promptly, and the Pinpoint platform is kept updated with every candidate's status in the firm’s assessment process.
Candidates are communicated with directly to introduce the firm and internship opportunity and to arrange interviews using the contact information in their application. If an interview is completed but the candidate unsuccessful, brief, constructive feedback should be provided to the candidate.
Timely, industry competitive offers are made to candidates and firms manage any candidate background checks required together with the issuing and signing of contracts.
GAIN is informed of internship dates and intern salary.
Firm keeps in touch with intern periodically between offer acceptance date and internship start date, and where possible ahead of the internship, invites the intern into the office to meet the team.

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Interested?

Our application window for firms who would like to take part in our summer 2025 programme is open 20th May – 12th July 2024.

GAIN will review applications and notify firms who have a place on the programme by the 9th August 2024.

Apply to host an intern in summer 2025

Key 2025 Programme dates:

2024:

9th September – 27th October: Student application window.
6th November – 17th January: Firms receive shortlist of candidates and conduct candidate assessments. Offers made by firms to successful candidates.
9th December: Clearing pool phase involving firms who are unable to start their assessment process until after 9th December.

2025:

February – June: Training programme for interns delivered by GAIN and our partners, AmplifyMe.
June – September: Internship placements (dates vary according to participating firm). Mentor allocated to support every intern.

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Winners of the GAIN Intern of the Year award at our annual awards ceremony

Firms taking part in 2024

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The GAIN Empower Investment Internship Programme is supported by the following organisations:

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