BSc (Hons) Accounting and Finance student, Rahidul Haq Bishal, attended "Breaking Barriers, Building Futures" at STEAMhouse, an event run with Barclays for Black and Asian students and early-career professionals in finance. Find out what he took from the evening and his advice for students trying to break into the industry.
When I first came to the UK from Bangladesh to study Accounting and Finance, I assumed the hardest part would be the coursework. I was wrong. The hardest part has been figuring out where I fit into an industry which, from the outside, can feel like a closed room with no visible door.
That’s why “Breaking Barriers, Building Futures” hosted at STEAMhouse Birmingham in partnership with Birmingham City University and Barclays meant more to me than a typical careers event.
The evening brought together Black and Asian students and early-career professionals working in finance, alongside recent graduates and seasoned industry voices. What struck me wasn’t the polish. It was the honesty. People spoke plainly about the parts of breaking into finance that nobody puts on a careers website: the unspoken codes, the networks you don’t know you’re missing, the confidence that comes from simply seeing someone who looks like you already in the room.
As an international student, I’ve often felt that gap quietly. Not because I lacked the qualifications or the work ethic, but because access to opportunity isn’t distributed evenly, it’s built through exposure, relationships, and visibility that some people inherit and others have to build from scratch.
Sitting in the small group discussions, listening to professionals talk candidly about navigating their own early careers, something settled in me: getting into this industry and staying in it are two different challenges, and nobody succeeds at either alone.
A few things from that evening have already changed how I think about my own path. I’ve stopped treating networking as something separate from “real work”. It isn’t optional, it’s part of how this industry functions. I’ve also started being more intentional about visibility: putting myself in rooms, asking questions, and not waiting until I feel “ready” to take up space.
As I move toward starting my ACA/ACCA chartership, that mindset shift feels timely. The technical knowledge is something I can study for. The confidence to walk into unfamiliar professional spaces and stay there - that’s something I’m still building, and evenings like this one are part of how I’m building it.
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If you’re a student reading this and you’ve ever felt that finance seems built for people who already know the rules, you’re not imagining it. But spaces like this one are slowly rewriting that. My honest advice: go to the events that feel slightly intimidating. Sit in on the conversations that aren’t polished. That’s usually where the real learning happens.
Huge thanks to Birmingham City University, Barclays UK, and everyone who spoke so openly that evening. Representation in finance isn’t just about who gets hired, it’s about who can imagine themselves staying. This event made that feel a little more possible for me, and I hope it does the same for others.