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.
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.
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."
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.