Investment Advisory Graduate Reading 2024

Without careful consideration today, tomorrow’s pensions don’t exist.

That’s where Isio comes in, giving our clients the advice and support they need to deliver better outcomes and financial wellbeing for their members in the decades to come.

Isio provides full-service pensions consultancy to our 1000+ corporate clients, from actuarial expertise through to investment advice and third-party administration, and advising clients on providing the best possible reward and benefits packages for their employees. Isio launched in March 2020 out of KPMG UK’s pensions practice and has grown to over 1000 people working across 10 offices across the UK.

We’re a People First business, so we want to make sure that you are supported to reach your goals, whatever they may be. We’ll support you with studying, be flexible around family life and enable you to give back to the community through paid volunteering days.

We aim to create an environment where you can succeed in a role which makes the most of your existing skills and develops new ones.

We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion – bringing your whole self to work every day. We have hubs across the UK and many of our roles are flexible in location to help create a work-life balance that works for you.

We are keen to support those starting their career at Isio with building a strong foundation for success. Whether as a Graduate, Industrial Placement student, Summer intern or as an Apprentice, Isio will provide a great experience working alongside experienced professionals. You will have the opportunity to help fulfil our purpose of creating better outcomes for our clients, their members and society by empowering and developing our people.

Isio is growing at a fast and exciting pace. Starting your career at Isio will be a great balance of working with experts in their field within an innovative organisation that is looking to drive positive and innovative change in its sector.

Graduates at Isio have acknowledged their positive experience, as shown by our ranking as the Top Employer for Graduates to work for in Consulting according to the Job Crowd 2023 rankings.

Length of programme

Around 3 years to achieve your relevant professional qualification, however you are employed on a permanent basis from the start of your graduate role

Qualifications you’ll work towards

Charter holder of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) qualification or Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries (IFoA).

Entry requirements

• To apply for this role you need to have completed an undergraduate degree or higher level qualification by 1 September 2024 and have achieved a 2.1 or higher. If you are in your final year of university study, we are looking for those on track to achieve this.
• We are open to applications from those studying any subject. Studying towards the CFA or actuarial exams will require strong mathematical skills and a keen interest in financial concepts.

Working as an Investment Consultant at Isio

Our Investment Advisory team is an area of rapid growth within our Pensions Practice. Providing invaluable services to pensions, trustee, corporate and wealth management clients, we advise on a diverse range of investment-related subjects, including asset allocation, financial risk management and fund manager selection.

For graduates, it’s the chance to take the first step towards becoming an expert in your field. Challenging and rewarding, working in Investment Advisory requires strong communication skills and financial acumen, paired with the ability to take responsibility right from the beginning.

The Investment Advisory team is focused on delivering proactive and strategic advice through the production of insightful, independent investment research.

Our services are purely advisory - we don’t manage any money for clients or trade in any securities. Working with institutional investors such as pension funds, companies and charities, we offer a wide range of investment advice in areas where our investment graduates will build their experience;

• Asset Liability Modelling – enabling investors to better understand the risks arising from different investment strategies.
• Risk Management – analysing a client’s financial risks and making recommendations on how to hedge them.
• Capital Markets Views – assessing investment opportunities for our clients’ portfolios.
• Fund Manager Selection – helping clients to pick high quality fund managers.
• Implementation and Transition Management – helping clients to implement our advice in the most efficient way.
• Fiduciary Management – advising clients on selecting, implementing and monitoring a fiduciary manager

What you'll do

As a Graduate working in Investment consulting at Isio you will get involved in:

• Working in a client team to assist in the delivery of client advice, ranging from design of an appropriate investment strategy, to implementation of the chosen strategy.
• Setting up our asset liability and allocation models to better understand the client’s range of potential future outcomes.
• Preparing and presenting investment monitoring reports to our clients.
• Asset class research; evaluating investment cases and current market pricing for asset classes – from traditional equities to alternatives such as direct lending.
• Researching fund managers and fiduciary managers.
• Presenting your investment analysis and recommendations to the rest of the team and to clients.

You’ll study for a professional qualification whilst being trained on the job. Your role will see you build up a wide range of knowledge on investments and capital markets, through delivering both client work and researching asset classes. Later in your career, you’ll have the option to tailor your client and research focus, to specialise in certain asset classes or investment strategies.

Training and development

As an Investment Advisory graduate at Isio, you can choose whether to study for the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) exams, or for the actuarial exams to qualify as a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA). We recognise the challenges and time constraints involved in balancing work and study commitments, so we’ll support you with a study day allowance and tutorials.

Additional support will come from

• Meeting your peers and senior leaders at a Graduate induction event.
• Support with developing your personal and professional skills.
• Regular technical training and opportunities to develop wider market knowledge throughout your career within Isio.
• A buddy from your first day to help you settle in.
• A Study Mentor who helps advise and guide students through the study and exam process.
• A Performance Manager to support you with your individual progress and performance.

What we are looking for

Our success stems from the quality of our team. That’s why we have an entrepreneurial atmosphere that offers the opportunity for every member to influence the shape and future development of the team. So, as well as financial acumen, we look for graduates who are articulate with strong communication skills.

It is important to be able to maintain a good level of self-discipline and time management to balance your work while studying for professional exams. We will also be looking to see how applicants align to our core beliefs:

Power in Partnership: We work in partnership with our clients & each other – building open and trusted relationships. Working together allows us to deliver the best for our clients.

Future Focus: We want to push our industry forward by solving problems in better ways that benefit both our clients & society.

Strength in Difference: We work with diverse perspectives to find better solutions. Working with differences makes us stronger.

People First: We recognise that pensions is a people business. People are the source of Isio’s expertise, and it is people’s lives that we affect through our advice