From Conference Participation to Career Readiness
Preparing the Next Generation of Financial Services Talent
Overview
Increasing representation in financial services requires more than inviting students into professional spaces. Emerging professionals also need industry exposure, practical preparation, trusted relationships, and structured opportunities to translate access into informed career decisions.
Representation gaps remain pronounced within financial planning. As of August 1, 2026, CFP Board reported that only 2.0% of CFP® professionals self-identified as Black or African American. Developing more visible and accessible pathways into the profession remains an important workforce priority.
Across three consecutive years, a higher education institution partnered with Reimagine Talent to expand the career-readiness value of its Next Gen Forum. The partnership connected conference participation with practical learning, industry relationships, participant reflection, real-time assessment, and recommendations for continued program development.
“Be flexible and adapt as technology advances. Use it for your benefit.”
The Business Need
The Next Gen Forum connects college students and recent graduates with professional development, financial services education, mentorship, internship exposure, and entry-level career possibilities. As the initiative evolved, the institution recognized an opportunity to create a more cohesive experience before, during, and after its annual professional conference.
Participant input collected across the partnership revealed persistent but evolving needs. Students described uncertainty about career direction, limited access to opportunities, imposter syndrome, financial constraints, difficulty standing out, and a need for greater support with networking and professional relationships. They also wanted guidance on adaptability, personal branding, mentorship, artificial intelligence, workplace expectations, and long-term career management.
The institution needed more than an isolated conference workshop. It sought a partner that could develop relevant content, engage students and sponsors, create practical resources, capture participant perspectives, and translate the findings into recommendations for future programming.
Our Solution
Reimagine Talent designed and facilitated an evolving, three-year professional-readiness initiative shaped by institutional priorities, participant feedback, and emerging workforce trends.
Partnered with institutional leaders to clarify annual program goals, understand the student audience, and identify priorities for each Next Gen Forum.
Evolved the annual emphasis from future-ready skills, adaptability, and AI in 2024; to career ownership, personal brand, and employer dialogue in 2025; to career clarity, intentional relationships, and action-planning in 2026.
Designed learning experiences addressing career ownership, adaptability, professional relationships, personal branding, workplace readiness, artificial intelligence, and long-term career development.
Used interactive polling across the three year partnership to capture student perceptions, early career challenges, learning priorities, and intended next steps.
Engaged sponsors and financial services professionals as active contributors, giving students access to authentic career stories, practical advice, and industry perspectives.
Created two way dialogue between scholars and sponsors to help students learn from established professionals while giving employers direct insight into emerging-talent expectations.
Developed practical resources, including the Own Your Career Worksheet, to help students assess their development, relationships, growth goals, and desired conference outcomes.
Facilitated reflection and action planning so students could translate conference learning and new relationships into specific next steps.
Synthesized 2026 student polling, sponsor input, and facilitator observations into the Next Gen Forum Facilitator Report, which included five findings and four recommendations for future program development.
Our Results
Across three annual Forums, participant and sponsor feedback provided evidence of perceived program value, career-readiness needs, reflection, and intended application. Because the annual polls used different questions and may have included different participants, the findings illustrate recurring themes rather than longitudinal student growth. The available evidence does not yet establish sustained behavior change, internship placement, employment outcomes, or increased representation within the industry.
“Seek out what you desire. Don’t wait for it to come to you.”
2024: Understanding future-readiness needs
Future-ready skills
Thirty-eight responses identified adaptability, communication, relationship-building, confidence, critical thinking, leadership, curiosity, and AI fluency as important capabilities for the coming decade.
Early-career barriers
Thirty-eight responses identified challenges including limited access, financial constraints, networking, imposter syndrome, lack of experience, uncertainty, and difficulty securing an opportunity.
Adaptability
Twenty-three responses described how students had adjusted to changing personal, educational, and professional circumstances.
Use of AI
Twenty-seven responses described applications including résumé development, research, studying, writing, scheduling, marketing, and professional communication.
2025: Deepening career ownership and employer dialogue
Participant value
Among 31 respondents, 77% rated the workshop “very valuable” and 23% rated it “valuable.” No respondents selected “somewhat valuable” or “not valuable.”
Learning takeaways
Thirty-two responses emphasized adaptability, authenticity, curiosity, career ownership, personal purpose, networking, and continuous learning.
Continued-development needs
Thirty-two responses requested more support with mentorship, internships, networking, interviews, personal branding, emotional intelligence, financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and navigating workplace challenges.
Sponsor insight
Thirty-one responses offered scholars guidance related to curiosity, self-advocacy, adaptability, mentorship, preparation, and relationship-building.
Employer insight
Thirty-two scholar responses described what students wanted employers to understand about their generation, including their desire for respect, mentorship, flexibility, meaningful contribution, innovation, and work-life integration.
2026: Translating insight into intentional career action
Career outlook
Seventeen responses described students’ current career perspectives using words such as “growing,” “grateful,” “hopeful,” “emerging,” and “in flux.”
Career challenges
Seventeen responses identified concerns including career-path confusion, imposter syndrome, limited opportunities, difficulty standing out, uncertainty, and securing internships or jobs.
Intended application
Nineteen responses named post-session actions. Networking, intentional relationship-building, and following up with professional contacts were the most recurring commitments.
Sponsor perspective
Four sponsors reflected on recent situations requiring agility, while five offered career-relationship advice emphasizing persistence, preparation, humility, self-advocacy, and follow-through.
Client satisfaction
Reimagine Talent received a 10/10 Net Promoter Score from a 2026 institutional partner respondent.
Practical and strategic resources
Students received the Own Your Career Worksheet, and the institution received the 2026 Next Gen Forum Facilitator Report, including five findings and four recommendations for future Forums.
“Working with Reimagine Talent (for our third year in a row) was another valuable experience. Chelsea and her outstanding team are exceptional partners. Through thoughtful conversations, excellent client support, and spot-on content and programming, Reimagine Talent helped us expand our collegiate program, enriching the lives of the next generation of diverse financial services professionals. We look forward to collaborating with them again in the future!”
“It was a pleasure to partner with Reimagine Talent! Chelsea’s career development workshop resonated deeply with our audiences and provided valuable insights into how we can continue helping students and career changers become job-ready in complex industries. We are grateful for the knowledge and expertise that was shared with such intention and care.”
— MANAGING DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT AND EQUALITY, AUGUST 2026
