Event panel will tackle the topic of how to build and develop this key skill
Opportunities for women in the mortgage and finance industry have increased significantly over the past several decades, and gender ratios at major firms have been slowly moving towards more balanced numbers.
However, there are still many conversations to be had around diversity and equal opportunities within the industry, and the Women in Mortgage and Finance summit will tackle some of those in its first ever live New Zealand event taking place next week.
The event has been brought to the industry in partnership with Bluestone Mortgages, and New Zealand head of sales Sue Griffiths (pictured) said she has certainly seen a shift in the gender ratio throughout her time in the industry - particularly over the past year, as the pandemic has shaken up the job market.
Read more: Women in Mortgage and Finance: agenda
“There’s definitely been an increase of women coming into the industry,” Griffiths said.
“You see a lot of women in the PA and admin type roles because they usually have really good organisational skills, but there’s definitely been an increase of women coming into the mortgage adviser roles as well - particularly post-COVID.
“With the environment that we’re in at the moment, I think we’re definitely seeing more and more women coming into the industry, which is fantastic.”
The event will be hosting a number of panel discussions on various topics, but Griffiths said she is particularly looking forward to the panel focused on building resilience - something which continues to be very important for anyone working within the field of finance.
“I’m really looking forward to the panel where they’re going to talk about building and strengthening resilience,” Griffiths said. “I look at it from a generational view, and when we started in the industry, there weren’t as many opportunities available to us, so we had to fight quite a lot to get where we wanted to be.”
Read more: Speakers gear up for first ever Women in Mortgage and Finance event
“I see things being quite different with the newer generations,” she explained. “I see a lot of ‘fair play’ and not having scores at sports days, for example, and I am interested to see how those social skills will develop in the workplace where you are in a high pressure job, and you need to be resilient. We build resilience when we lose, so it will be interesting to see if that resilience will be there.”
“Overall, I’m just so excited that we’re going to be in a room full of likeminded people,” Griffiths said.
“The people I’ve spoken to in the industry are really excited about the event as well. It’ll be a great opportunity to network, and to know that you have a lot of avenues of support.”
To register for the Women in Mortgage and Finance event, click here.
