Women in Financial Services Blog

Five things that every women should ask in an interview

Mark.Freed / 01 Aug 2019

Five things that every women should ask in an interview, to ensure that the firm they are interviewing with is going to support them in their career, enable them to fulfil their ambitions, succeed, flourish and be valued. 

1. Test the firms commitment to diversity.
   If they have signed the Women in Finance Charter, ask who the responsible executive is and what their WiFC commitments are/progress is? Ask a question about the solutions they have implemented to solve their gender pay gap. These are usually highlighted in their gender pay gap report (Google “name of firm” gender pay gap report). 
2. Test the data. 
   Look at the last two year's gender pay gap data – how do they compare against competitors, are they progressing? Is the commentary believable? Ask the questions... 
3. Ensure you're not there to make up the numbers.  
   If their pay gap reports/recruitment strategies mention gender balanced long/short lists ask for confirmation before the first interview, to ensure you are not having your time wasted, that your experience and skills sets are in line with or exceed the requirements for the job. Ask where they are in the recruitment process – do they have any candidates (male) at final stages?      
4. To ensure that you will be happy and flourish ensure that the firm/team culture will enable and support you.    
   Request to meet another woman in the team you will be joining, the firm's head of their women’s/diversity network and a woman who will be senior to you and ask them about culture in the firm and team.
5. To ensure that your personal expectations, criteria and desires will be met.
   Ask for a separate session to discuss those things that are important to you – how they will support you in your career ambitions? What are their flexible working policies? What matters the most to you for a successful work life balance...

For two decades, E2W has been supporting and helping women to progress, continue and return to their financial services careers. We have watched the industry progress on its diversity and inclusion journey. We have seen, supported and developed best practice and helped and encouraged financial institutions to recognise the benefits associated with a diverse workforce. 

Now, established as the go-to place for women in financial services, financial institutions are turning to E2W for support. These firms are committed to making progress towards gender equality within the workplace, and have chosen E2W to help get them there. 

We have developed a benchmarking survey to enable us to help financial institutions to holistically measure and understand their gender diversity position against best practice, enabling us to help firms to utilise the knowledge and experience that we have spent years building. 

If you’re really committed, we’ll even act as consultants providing in-depth benchmarking feedback and constant support and suggestions to get your firm at the forefront of the gender diversity conversation, meeting targets, and publicised as one of E2W’s Top Employers. We celebrate firms that work for women, promoting them, pushing them and helping them to achieve their goals.

To ensure that firms who we work with as a recruitment partner are ‘working for women’ we ask them to complete the survey and we ensure that they are committed to the journey. 

If you are looking for your next opportunity and would like our recruitment team to support you through the lifecycle of your career, with peace of mind that our clients are proven to be great places for women to flourish and thrive, please contact Robyn. 

 

 

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