Getting the job done: graduate at the FSA helps the public to manage their money
When Lynda Vesco joined the Financial Services Authority’s graduate scheme, her first assignment was to co-ordinate their ongoing Money Doctors project, now in its fourth year. The project is part of the FSA’s national strategy for financial capability. ‘Financial capability involves educating the public about the financial system,’ explains Lynda. ‘The Money Doctors project specifically encourages students to confront debt, take control of their finances and make the most of their money.’
The project provides training to existing student advisers at a number of higher education institutions, giving them the skills they need to deliver proactive finance advice and instil good money management habits in students for life.
Raising awareness
‘In the third year, when I joined the project, the overall aim became two-pronged: to raise the profile of financial capability not just with the public, but also with the government,’ she says. This meant Lynda’s responsibilities revolved around keeping the previous years’ momentum going (recruiting more universities and colleges to join the scheme, and working with student money advisers), as well as liaising with the Treasury and other key external stakeholders to get them to endorse financial capability on a national level.
‘I had a hand in everything from organising training events and mapping out project plans and evaluations, to budgeting and forecasting project spend and drafting speeches for our director,’ says Lynda. ‘Due to the generally hectic nature of the project, there was a lot of groundwork to do and I often worked independently from the other members of my team.’
Becoming a confident communicator
The second strand of the project centred on co-ordinating with government departments and lobbying external stakeholders in the education, finance and voluntary sectors to back the project based on its past success. ‘I learned to approach and negotiate confidently with key stakeholders – skills that also benefited me when I was working across internal departments supporting other teams,’ says Lynda.
‘Since the project was part of the government’s wider national financial capability policy, it was a joint effort with the Treasury, so I had the opportunity to work closely with government officials and see how things operate behind the scenes.‘
She also contributed to and prepared research documents for publication, most notably a high-profile document that raised awareness of financial capability and outlined the FSA’s plans and their achievements to date. ‘Since the document was part of the government’s wider national financial capability policy, it was a joint effort with the Treasury, so I had the opportunity to work closely with government officials and see how things operate behind the scenes,‘ Lynda recalls. ‘Good teamwork and clear communication were essential.’
Creative input
One of the highlights of the project was the freedom Lynda had to be creative. As the main point of contact for the FSA, she commissioned an external company to produce a video snapshot of the project. ‘The video summarised what the project was and the experiences of both the volunteers and students involved,’ she explains. ‘It was good fun and a really effective way of getting the key messages across at events and online.’
The project continues to be a success. ‘This is definitely down to the hard work of the volunteer student advisers: they were so enthusiastic!’ Lynda stresses. ‘It just goes to show that finance isn’t all about maths and the technical side of things – it affects people too.’
Lynda Vesco is an associate at the Financial Services Authority (FSA). She has an MA in economics and German from the University of Glasgow.
