An internship program designed to help minority college students secure jobs in finance is now seeking to expand its reach into technology careers.
Philadelphia's Steppingstone Scholars launched the Inveniam Equity Internship for local Black and brown college students interested in careers in financial services industries where they are underrepresented like private equity, investment management and venture capital. The recently-wrapped summer internship program will likely expand into computer science, data science and analytics, and telecommunications next year.
The goal is to build students’ networks to help them get jobs post-graduation, said Chris Avery, vice president of programs at Steppingstone Scholars.
“If we’re going to diversify the space and provide access to students, there really has to be a warm handoff to their career rather than a warm handoff to a great summer experience,” Avery said.
SVPGlobal, Conshohocken-based Hirtle Callaghan & Co. and Moore Capital Management all participated to host seven local college students this summer.
Many interns in financial services would be able to call a parent, family member or friend with backgrounds in business to ask for help with tasks such as writing a memo, but Avery found that many Steppingstone Scholars interns did not have that kind of network. Participating companies not only would have to provide paid internships, but they would also have to sponsor students and offer employee mentors from the firm who could provide an open line of communication to interns who may not have their own network, both during and after the internship, Avery said.
The financial services industry has a lack of diverse talent, especially in high-level roles.
A 2018 Deloitte survey of more than 200 firms in venture capital found that racial and ethnic minorities were underrepresented in VC. Out of 1,824 employees, 76% of them were white. Just 4% were Black or African-American, and 5% were Hispanic or Latino.
A recent McKinsey & Co. survey of 11 private equity firms across the United States and Canada found that there was more racial diversity in entry-level and lower-level positions than in director-level roles, but even those positions were largely held by white people.
Avery sees an opportunity to be a “front-runner” in Philadelphia by expanding the program, helping local students secure jobs and slowing the brain drain of college students leaving the region. The goal is to have 25 students involved in 2022, up from seven this year, he said.
The future expansion into more technology roles stems from Steppingstone Scholars’ focus on computer science education and exposure. Those students are qualified for careers in STEM, but the nonprofit would need more placement partners in those fields, Avery said.
“One of the things that’s been very clear for us is that because this doesn’t exist, we have to build it from the ground up,” Avery said.
Internship participant Ruth Celestin wasn’t initially set on working in financial services. Celestin, a rising senior studying marketing at Penn State University, wanted to pursue marketing for social impact, not a career in financial services. She applied because she saw an opportunity, and “you never know when the opportunity might turn into something else.”
At Hirtle Callaghan & Co., she worked with teams in human resources, client engagement, investment strategy and more. Now, after the internship, she said she could see herself getting more involved in investment management through portfolio management or operations. Celestin said the program helped her build experience in areas like data and statistics, along with soft skills like communication and flexibility.
“Because I have an open mind now when it comes to my career, I'm not just focused on marketing, marketing, marketing,” she said. “There's other aspects that I may be ignoring that might be like the perfect fit for me.”
