In all of our trainee and graduate roles, we always start with the basics first – it’s the best foundation for success. This means getting grounded in financial services and understanding the billion-pound UK sector, the importance of sound financial advice, and how businesses like ours operate.
From there, you’ll move into your specialist area with real work, real responsibility, and a team around you to support your development. We know that most people don’t often know exactly where they want to end up – and that’s fine. This programme is designed to grow with you.
This is an entry-level role into the world of financial services, designed for someone who wants to understand the industry from the ground up. You’ll start by developing a strong grounding in financial services theory and practice before moving into a technical specialism that matches your strengths.
That specialism could be paraplanning, compliance, technical research or another area of our growing business. No prior experience in finance is required – we’ll provide everything you need to build a genuine career.
In your first couple of months:
Learning the fundamentals of financial services, including regulation, products and the advice process.
Supporting client administration and case preparation under the guidance of senior colleagues.
Getting familiar with the software and systems we use day-to-day.
Reviewing real client cases to develop your understanding of how advice is delivered.
Beginning your journey towards a financial services qualification, fully funded and supported by us.
After your initial review, once aligned to your specialist area:
Applying your growing knowledge to live client work within your chosen team.
Contributing to technical tasks in paraplanning, compliance, or research, depending on your placement.
Continuing your professional development with structured study support and funded qualifications.
As an organisation, we ask for only two things: you do a top-quality job (we’re not the place for people seeking to do the bare minimum), and that you’re a nice person (we champion a positive workplace). Both are key ingredients to a successful career with us.
We have a great track record of attracting new talent – having won awards for our graduate programme and had members of the team recognised as future leaders in the sector. If you’re committed to learning something new and have a genuine interest in building a career in financial services, we’d love to hear from you.
Strong written English is a must, as is a proactive, can-do attitude. A degree is not a prerequisite.
Verve offers a range of services to financial planners and, along with its sister company, the not-for-profit Verve Foundation, works towards two key aims: to help support good-quality financial advice firms to grow and develop, and to attract new people into financial services and help train them up, for the benefit of the future of the profession.
Across all departments, we approach financial services with an innovative and positive outlook. Our focus is on relentlessly improving and never settling for doing what has always been done. We’re passionate that more people can and should benefit from financial advice, and it’s our mission to make that more accessible.
Standard benefits (based on a full-time position)
21 days basic holiday allowance (increasing by 1 day per year of service, up to a maximum of 26 days), plus bank holidays, Christmas close-down, and your birthday off if it falls on a weekday.
Personal development budget for exams, training, and anything to help you excel.
Death in service cover.
Health and wellbeing programme, including access to our in-office gym, desk massages, team hikes, and yoga/fitness sessions.
Access to lifestyle benefits including a meditation app and high street discount and rewards app
Hybrid working, available upon successful completion of your probationary period.
EMI share scheme and enhanced parental leave, available after a qualifying period of two years.
The cherry on the top.
No formal dress code – we trust you to dress appropriately for the day ahead.
A lively, positive office environment – expect great (and occasionally dubious) playlists, a drinks fridge, snacks, a social space, and a ping pong table.
Two official company parties per year, plus ad hoc team nights out and monthly enrichment sessions.
Friendly office dogs always welcome.
A starting salary of £24,800, increasing as your training and experience develops. A degree is not a prerequisite – we’re interested in your attitude and aptitude.
4th May – Deadline for applications
6th & 7th May – Introduction calls (approximately 15 minutes)
12th May – Assessment day in Darlington
Want to hear from our existing graduates, and what they think of their jobs with us?
We believe in people feeling comfortable in bringing their authentic self to work – we have an open and diverse working environment and so we designed our application process with exactly the same philosophy. It’s a three-stage process, each step designed to learn that little bit more about you as an individual.
So, leave all the typical CV phrases and corporate buzz-words at the door and truly embrace what we think is a really fun, unique and self-discovering application process.
The Grad Scheme is a structured two-year training programme, combining a 3 month paid role, learning the foundations of all available roles, (with an additional 3 months job specific probation thereafter) with on-the-job training and any exam qualifications you need to accelerate your career in financial services.
Like anything, you will start with the basics, like learning how to make the tea (ok, that’s a joke!) and getting to grips with the ins-and-outs of ‘The Verve Group’ as a company. This will give you a taste of the type of company we are and how we operate. It will also introduce you to the clients we provide a service for and the culture and environment we’ve created – so you can really immerse yourself within the team and ultimately, excel in your role.
We appreciate that everyone is different and we all learn at different paces, so as long as we can see the potential in you, we’re happy for you to progress through the programme at your own speed, obviously with some key milestones agreed from the outset to make sure you keep on track. Naturally, those milestones will reflect the role you take in the business – think of it as your very own personal career guide!
Check out the vacancies here - http://www.thegradscheme.co.uk/vacancies/
