20 years of Eagles

By Sally Roberts, Eagles Programme Director

As Eagles celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, it has been an absolute privilege as well as a joy to have been involved with the graduate development programme for the past two decades.

We set up this social mobility programme in 2005 in response to record levels of underemployment in east London and, since then, have helped over 460 graduates get their careers off to a flying start.

We pride ourselves in our ability to find hard-working, talented and ambitious young people with the potential to thrive in a corporate environment. The pre-placement training greatly improves their employability skills and shows that the world of banking and financial services is within their reach. There is also clear evidence of progression, with many former Eagles found across the City, often now in managerial positions and hosting an intern themselves.

It has been a pleasure to work with the companies offering placements to our eagles. I am constantly impressed at their genuine interest in helping their interns develop existing skills, gain new ones and ultimately significantly improve their employability.

There have been encouraging improvements in upward mobility over the past twenty years, but we need to go further and faster and there remains a need for programmes such as Eagles. This year we are carrying out research to explore the overall impact of the programme on the interns and the participating companies and we will share the results at a celebratory event later this year.

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