‘Few companies in the industry are very old’
“I’ve seen quite a few companies in the industry that are very old,” said Samantha Kamiesiak, chartered financial planner at Aegis Financial Planners.
Kamisiak, who has been a financial advisor for 14 years and is a mother of two, argued that some companies in the industry, while not on purpose, do something against women when it comes to working from home. Shows bias.
When talking about her work/life balance, Komisik noted that, before becoming self-employed, it could be difficult to juggle work and adequate care for her children.
“When I’m employed, I have to spend a certain amount of time at work, come home and work until six, and balance it with my children’s various activities,” she explained.
This is something that has improved since becoming self-employed as she added that it has become “a bit easier”, allowing them to work more effectively around their children.
However, before making the transition when she was looking for a job at companies, Kamek recalled seeing some companies that looked “very old”.
She said some companies are unintentionally biased against women because “the average consultant is a man in his 50s and they don’t have the work/life balance that a woman with children should have when it’s like school. Coming to things”.
“A lot of companies think you have to be in the office from nine to five and that’s something that’s very difficult to do when you have two kids,” she added.
As an example of this, she mentioned that before she was self-employed and looking for work, she encountered a few companies that said “because you have children and you need to go to school Go away, it’s not working.”
While admitting that it has improved in recent years, especially after the rush to work from home that occurred after the Covid-19 pandemic, Komicic suggested that the trend may be starting to reverse.
“Now I think a lot of other companies will say you can work from home one or two days a week but that you still need to be in the office most of the time,” she said.
“I haven’t found an employer role where they really consider my situation, but I don’t know how many women with young children are financial advisors,” she added.
Industry issues
Additionally, speaking about current issues in the financial services industry, Comeyk identified one in particular as very important.
“More regulations, more regulations, and more regulations,” she said.
She explained that as a result of such constant changes, it is “very difficult” to stay on top of them, especially in the context of the ongoing election which is “obviously an issue”.
career journey
Recalling her career journey, Kamiesiak said she served in the Navy for four years before joining the financial services industry.
“When you leave the Navy, you have to give a year’s notice, so after I made the decision to leave, after I gave my notice, I had another year to think about what I wanted to do,” she said. “
“I sat down with my father and we went through our opportunities and as he is interested in SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats), so we did all that and he said, ‘You better Work. Financial Advisor”.
“I thought I couldn’t do it so I started training as a paraplanner, so I started doing qualifications when I was in the Navy.”
As a result, Kimic was involved by the time he left the Navy.
After her departure, the comedian applied to hundreds and hundreds of companies and while some of them rejected her, some were interested.
“I did well, I had a few companies give me a chance with no new experience and just some qualifications,” she said.
“They liked the fact that I did it on my own when I was very entrepreneurial, doing it without any guidance, paying for my own tests and things like that.
“So I was lucky in that regard.”
tom.dunstan@ft.com
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