yearbook

Changing lanesNoor Khan is a Brokerage Alumnus,former Deutsche Bank analyst and currentleadership associate at social enterpriseproject ‘On Purpose’.I came across the Brokerage Citylink in 2006 when I was doinga Foundation Year at City & Islington College. I had failed myInternational Baccalaureate, so I spent my Foundation Year makingsure I got into university. But that was not the main aim; I had myeyes on a graduate scheme and was looking for any summer workexperience opportunities. My career advisor at City & IslingtonCollege told me about the City of London Business Traineeshipprogramme at the Brokerage and I applied.A few weeks later, Melissa called to tell me about an internship atReuters. I applied and was successful. At university, my experiencewith Reuters gave me confidence to apply for more internshipsmyself. With CV/interviewing skills under my belt and a lot ofperseverance, I secured a one-year placement at Credit Suisseand a summer internship at Deutsche Bank in business analysiswithin technology.The internship at Deutsche Bank led to a graduate offer which Iaccepted in 2011. I felt fulfilled in that I had finally achieved my goalof getting into investment banking IT. I enjoyed the financial rewards,training opportunities and on-the-job learning. However, I felt I justdidn’t draw deep relevance and meaning in what I was doing. I feltit was hard to see my impact on the wider world in such a largeorganisation.I knew I enjoyed volunteering through the Brokerage Alumni Networkand other charities, so wanted to see if I’d enjoy working in a charityor social enterprise. After three years as an analyst at Deutsche Bank,I decided to take a very big, very uncertain leap to move into thesocial sector.I found out about taking a new career direction by simply goingto career events around broad topics that interested me. Climatechange, technology, social enterprise, etc. As I met people andorganisations, and built awareness of each area, I identified thosethat resonated with me. I came across social enterprise, becamecurious and researched more into it. At the same time, I attendedevents around career change which all emphasised the importanceof basing career decisions on personal values. I learnt that byidentifying your personal values- what matters to us the most – isan essential starting point. I realised that I value working towardsa social cause and building innovation in tacking social problems.My research into social enterprise led me to discover On Purpose,the one-year leadership programme in social enterprise. ThroughOn Purpose, I gained exposure to social financing, problem solvingframeworks, campaigns, inspirational leaders, social innovation andso on. This experience has enabled me to discover more areas ofinterest, and through this exposure, I know my current curiosities liewith mental health and youth empowerment. I’m now on my nextstep of my journey to meet people, organisations and opportunitiesin the mental health and youth work sectors.Find out more about On Purpose: http://www.onpurpose.uk.com14