Building pipeline before they hit university, with Macquarie Group

OBJECTIVES

Macquarie Group partnered with The Careers Department to build their early talent pipeline by introducing high school students to careers in finance — at the exact moment career decisions are being made.

The goal: get Macquarie on students' radars before university, not during or after. A key priority was reaching young women, who remain underrepresented in finance, and shifting their perception of what a career in the industry could look like for them.

PARTNERSHIP INCLUSIONS

The Careers Department built a gamified Virtual Work Experience module designed to test students' appetite for problem-solving and critical thinking; through a simulated, custom built trading platform.

Students were given a $50,000 virtual portfolio to manage across five industries, trading against real stock prices during live market conditions including the COVID-19 crisis and the interest rate surge. Every decision had consequences, and students received their trading results in real time.


Via completion, students could earn a co-branded Macquarie digital badge, shareable directly to LinkedIn and their ePortfolio as a verified credential of industry experience.


The module was supported by a video showing the Macquarie workplace, giving students a genuine feel for what it means to build a career there.

RESULTS

Over 17,200 students completed the module across Australia; 43% of whom were female.

The Careers Department aligned the module to the national curriculum and ran dedicated webinars with Economics teachers, showing them how to integrate it directly into classroom learning.

[01] 29% of students updated their Game Plan on the TCD platform post-completion to include finance-related courses and careers.

[02] Further, 3,871 Year 10 students reported changing their Year 11 and 12 subject selections as a direct result of their experience. One student, Jessica, explained, "I hadn't even considered studying Economics, or going into business or finance as a career, I thought it [the finance industry] was just accounting. I loved this module and didn't realise jobs like this even existed."

LEARNING

When students encounter a brand through real, relevant experience; not advertising, it changes how they think about their future.

The right content, delivered at the right moment in a student's decision-making journey, builds brand affinity that lasts well beyond the classroom.