MB Associates provides new career opportunities during rising unemployment among young people.
The pandemic has hit many people hard, and young people have been badly affected. Since the start of the pandemic, unemployment among the young has risen by 52,000 – a ten per cent increase. The number of people aged 18-24 claiming unemployment benefit has risen by over 263,000 from February 2020 to March 2021 – an increase of 110 per cent. With young people badly hit by the impact of the pandemic, MB Associates is keen to create new career opportunities for apprentices.
The company is recruiting two young apprentices to help them develop promising careers in the mortgage business.
The new recruits will join the company on 17 May. Working closely alongside our mortgage advisers, they will provide admin support to the advisers while receiving full training and developing the skills required to become mortgage advisers themselves in the future. MB Associates will cover the cost of their formal training and qualifications while providing ongoing support at work.
Enthusiasm and ambition
The team members are Cian James-Small, a former junior tax consultant at Selfridges and Morgan-Jade Fisher, who has previously worked in retail. ‘We purposefully looked for candidates who could demonstrate enthusiasm and ambition,’ says MB Associates’ Sales Manager Phil Leivesley.
Being ambitious from an early age is certainly a quality that MB Associates’ founder and Managing Director Monica Bradley can understand only too well. ‘When I started my career in my early 20s, I remember being ambitious and feeling like I had a lot to learn,’ recalls Monica. ‘I wanted to gain as much experience as possible. I was given an opportunity to do that and I’m keen to offer career prospects to ambitious young people eager to learn new skills.’
Good people skills
Apart from having an interest in finance, mortgage advisers need strong people skills as they deal with a diverse range of clients from many different backgrounds. Good social skills are critical. ‘It’s very important to be able to speak to people and build rapport,’ says Phil. ‘There’s a huge amount of person-to-person interaction. Having the right personality is more important than having relevant experience and we know that Cian and Morgan will be great additions to our friendly team.’