Role Model Videos: Career Options for Women -- Finance and Investment

The “Career Options for Women: Emerging Opportunities” videos introduce your female students to high-wage careers in traditionally male-dominated occupations. Each program reveals the personal experiences and insights of successful women in technology and trades occupations, and sends the all-important message to women and girls that the sky is the limit!

Finance and Investment

This 24 minute video features profiles of three women who have embarked on careers in the finance and investment industry.

• Charlotte Faulkner, a stockbroker who works closely with investment clients
• Karen McMeekin, a market supervisor for the Montreal Exchange
• Josée St. Hilaire, a micro-finance advisor who helps provide capital to tiny start-up companies in developing countries.

Additional information from co-workers and supervisors supplements each job profile.

Developed in 2006, the Career Options for Women series is an outstanding resource for schools wanting to attract women and girls to science, technology and trades.

Note: These videos are interspersed with Canadian salary and labor statistics, which are similar to the numbers in the United States. As there is a no-return policy on these publications, please make sure to look at the preview video clip for the DVD(s) you are ordering.

Charlotte -- Stockbroker

Charlotte Faulkner is a stock broker at Odlum Brown. She looks after the financial interests of companies and individuals by helping them invest money, mainly in stocks, bonds and mutual funds. Charlotte's up early to follow the markets and keep her clients' portfolios on track.

There are a lot of ups and downs when you're a stock broker. It can be emotionally demanding. No one can consistently predict market performance. In order to give expert financial advice, a stock broker has to stay ahead of the latest investment trends.

As a child, Charlotte wanted to go into art, but her family's dinner time chats about stocks must've rubbed off on her. “I just love my job. When a client phones you and thanks you, when I feel that I've helped somebody, I feel really good about that.”

When Charlotte meets with a client for the first time, she helps them identify financial goals by taking into account the client's income, assets, liabilities and other factors. Even though the client makes all investment decisions, Charlotte plays an important role by presenting a number of options, making recommendations and keeping the client informed.

Karen -- Market Supervisor

Karen McMeekin is a market supervisor in the monitoring department for the Montreal Exchange, the only derivative exchange in Canada. Her job is to oversee the derivative trading process and to ensure that the computer system that facilitates all the trades is operating in top form.

Karen's training qualifies her to work as a broker, an operator for financial transactions, a sales and marketing representative and more. As a market supervisor, she experiences the action by facilitating market trading, but doesn't have to take the worry of client investments home with her. She just keeps the traders happy.

Karen works in a very dynamic, team oriented environment. When it comes to vacations, only one person can be away at any time. Karen likes to spend her green on the green, fine tuning her swing. “What I love most about my job is the unpredictability and the excitement of following financial markets.”

Josée -- Micro-finance Advisor

What can ten dollars buy these days? Well, in some countries, it's enough to start a business. Providing expertise on how to manage these types of loans is the job of micro-finance advisor Josée St. Hilaire.

Josée's employer, Desjardins International Development, assists financial institutions in developing countries. Individuals with no assets are provided with small loans that are guaranteed by a group they form. For some, it's enough to change their lives.

It's not easy to introduce financial concepts to people who have never been exposed to traditional financing. Josée uses creativity to adapt financial projects to the needs, resources, economic conditions and cultural backgrounds of people she works with in developing countries.

“What I really like about this job is the satisfaction of knowing that we are helping people improve their lives.”

Josée loves the travel aspect of her work and Africa in particular. Going overseas gives her a chance to learn business hands-on in a developing country. She gets to use finance to help people and have an adventure at the same time. Afterwards, Josée returns to the office to manage the numbers, reports and follow-up for her business activities.