How Career Development Empowers Fisher Employees

My unique journey to Fisher

After earning my Associate’s degree, I pursued work in skilled labor, focusing on large apartment complex renovations and stonework repair and maintenance. After a couple of years, I returned to school and pursued a Bachelor’s degree in Finance at Washington State University, Vancouver. Several of my classmates worked at Fisher Investments as Junior Associates and spoke very highly about the company. I applied for a part-time Junior Associate position and was offered a role on the Corporate Learning and Development team. While I had no background in learning and development, I was excited to join a team that interacts with every group in the firm, serving a crucial role of training and supporting fellow employees.

Building my depth and knowledge

Upon graduation, I had the opportunity to shadow different departments across the firm to determine where I’d like to transition for a full-time role. I decided to stay in Learning and Development and was offered a position to pioneer a new Associate role. This role focused on evolving our understanding of the technology space, facilitating our Culture trainings, and supporting our Analyst Learning Journey.

My next opportunity was on our Career Development team where I continued to facilitate our firm’s Culture trainings and coordinate the Presentation Exhibition, a firm-wide program allowing employees to learn about Fisher’s culture while developing their presentation skills. I also supported the build-out of many of our Career Development eLearnings and materials. This opportunity helped develop my knowledge of the corporate training space, while deepening my understanding of the firm’s structure, and simultaneously growing my network.

As a Career Development Analyst, I oversee our Global Career Counseling program, support our business units with their career development initiatives, create and maintain developmental tools and resources, and provide support with our Learning Management System. What I love most is the opportunity to assist employees in growing and shaping their career, alongside an amazing team who share the same passion!

Empowering employees’ career growth

Fisher’s Career Development group empowers employees’ growth and success in many ways while also supporting the firm’s vision of enabling employees to build lifelong careers. We help employees understand their strengths and abilities, provide insight into available career opportunities, and assist in aligning their development with their career goals. We also provide curated Learning Journeys to ensure employees develop the core competencies and skills needed for success in those roles. Ultimately, our goal is to support employees by providing tools to better know themselves, understand their career options, focus on a plan, and take action on their development.

Highlighting our Career Development offerings

Fisher has many resources to support employees’ development and help them reach their goals. Here are some highlights of what we offer:

• Global Career Counseling: This program supports employees’ career development through thoughtful conversations and guidance provided by our Career Counselors. This tenured and diverse group of experienced Fisher leaders meet with employees to discuss a range of topics, from career development to firm perspective, and align with employees on actionable next steps to support their unique career.
• Global Job Shadow Program: This program increases awareness and knowledge of business units, teams, and roles across the Fisher organization through on-the-job learning. Whether employees want to better understand a future role, or improve their collaboration with other teams, the Global Job Shadow program provides structure and support to foster symbiotic learning.
• Learning Journeys: Our Learning Journeys provide a curated learning experience for employees based on their job category. Through engaging, formal trainings and resources that directly target the skills and competencies aligned to each job category, employees are set up for success in their current and future roles as they grow their careers.
• Internal Career Center: Our internal career center features our current Fisher job posts as well as a host of resources to help employees prepare for the transition process. From here, they can request a job shadow for a posted role, support in preparing for the application and interview process and find resources to better understand the structure of the firm.
• Internal Talent Advising: Internal Talent Advising (ITA) supports our internal hiring process, something that is core to Fisher’s career development philosophy. ITA supports hiring managers, and helps employees with statement of interest writing and interview prep. This facilitates a smooth process for employees who are ready to take the next step in their career.

Growing a lifelong Fisher career

As I build my own unique and rewarding Fisher career, I’ve been impressed and thankful for the support from the firm, the Career Development group, and my managers. I’ve learned a great deal about the finance industry and have become a valued member of a high-functioning team whom share my passions, all while getting to oversee high-impact programs which help build peoples’ careers—growing an amazing network of colleagues around the world.