Financial Services and Providing an Apprenticeship

Apprenticeship Proposal
An apprenticeship at Fidelity Investments would be a great way to start off your career in finance. The finance industry is always on the lookout for up and coming talent that has both know-how and experience in the field. An apprenticeship offers people the opportunity to immerse themselves in the world of investments by shadowing professional traders, portfolio managers and financial advisors as they interact with clients, plan investment strategies, offer tips and guidance to investors, and focus on achieving positive returns for clients. As the U.S. Department of Labor (2017) points out in ApprenticeshipUSA, “the financial industry, including the banking and insurance sectors, is critical to our country’s economic competitiveness” (p. 1). As such, it is highly important that Fidelity do its part in helping people become talented and trained in this field. The apprenticeship is one great way to ensure that this happens.
At Fidelity Investments, an apprentice will learn a number of skills. The first skill the apprentice will learn is how to manage a client’s portfolio. When a client invests with Fidelity Investments, it can be through a number of options—such as through a 401(k), a margin account, an international trading account, and so on. The apprentice will learn how to properly a balance an account depending on the client’s preferred risk strategy. The apprentice will also gain insights into the rules and regulations governing trading and fiduciary responsibility. This will help prepare the apprentice to eventually earn a Series 7, which is obtained by taking the General Securities Representative Exam (GSRE)—a test administered by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). The Series 7 is a license that traders must obtain in order to place trades for investors. The apprentice will also obtain skills needed to test for the Series 63, which is another securities license required of traders to trade in particular states.
The modeling and practice techniques that will be used will be based on the concept described by Pratt and Johnson (1998) in which cognitive modeling is effected: that model includes the following (p. 99):
· Modelling by the master and development of a mental model/schema by the learner
· Learner approximates replication of the model with master providing support and feedback (scaffolding/coaching)
· Learner widens the range of application of the model, with less support from master
· Self-directed learning within the specified limits acceptable to the profession
· Generalizing: learner and master discuss how well the model might work or would have to be adapted in a range of other possible contexts.
Feedback that is provided is given in both formal and informal modes. Informal feedback is offered continuously throughout the apprenticeship, as the apprentice performs task, and consists of verbal assessment given on the spot by the master to the apprentice. Formal feedback is provided at the end of every week and consists of a checklist with comments based on observations by the master so that the apprentice can look it over.
The apprentice will work 25 hours per week and the entire apprenticeship lasts for 2.5 months, which will give the apprentice roughly 250 hours on the job that can add to his or her experience in the professional financial sector and provide a suitable foundation for entering the industry at a future point.

References
Pratt, D. and Johnson, J. (1998) The Apprenticeship Perspective: Modelling Ways of
Being in Pratt, D. (ed.) Five Perspectives on Teaching in Adult and Higher Education Malabar FL: Krieger Publishing Company
U.S. Department of Labor. (2017). ApprenticeshipUSA. Retrieved from
https://www.dol.gov/apprenticeship/pdf/FinancialSector.pdf