LOCHGELLY High School pupils had the opportunity to attend a National conference for S5 female pupils aiming to empower and inform young women about the variety of roles and careers available within the business and finance sectors, writes Lauren O’Hagan, Abbie Ogg, Shanice Galli and Caitlin Arnold.

The conference was started with a key note speech by the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon who presented her vision for young women embarking in the world of work and channelled the message that as young women, we should never let gender stand in their way of our ambitions and dreams.

The First Minister also discussed how the gender landscape had changed considerably over the past twenty years for the better, however she made it clear she is aiming for a bigger and better shift in the coming years. The First Minister was then joined on stage by Young Scot of the Year – Chelsea Cameron, who shared her personal story and encouraged us not to let unconventional or difficult backgrounds stand in the way of what we want to achieve.

Jayne-Anne Gadhia (CEO Virgin Money) also presented and who taught us not to let small minded views of others affect our ambitions.

The three inspirational role models engaged in a question and answer session where the women discussed the importance of overcoming obstacles, highlighted that our opportunities are not limited and Chelsea shared with us the power of self-belief when faced with adversity.

An excellent section of the day involved representatives from a financial investment firm who each explained their job role, the core skills that they rely on and their personal career pathways that have got them where they are today.

This highlighted to us the variety of pathways and opportunities available relating to careers in the finance and business sectors. From this, we also developed an appreciation of how the roles all link together and how the individuals work together to achieve the goals of the company.

A truly inspirational talk came from Ross O’Connell, who talked about the challenges he had faced whilst travelling across the world in his aim to become the first man to pipe in every country of the world. Ross taught us to recognise our own abilities and skills and channel ourselves into a career that is closely linked to these to make sure that we love what we do and we are passionate about it!

The day was rounded off with a live performance of Scottish Women’s Anthem – Girl (Daughter of Scotland) by Scottish songwriter and musician Sharon Martin which we really enjoyed. This was followed with an inspirational closing speech by Mary Duffy, the former National Head of BBC Children in Need.

Overall we thought it was a very motivational day which highlighted to us the wide range of opportunities that a career in the business and finance sector could provide. The day taught us to challenge our thinking and our views about conventional career pathways and the incredible atmosphere of the day has us setting new goals and has inspired us to reach new heights!