Q&A

Student spotlight: Isabelle FitzGerald

Meet Isabelle FitzGerald, part of Cicada Capital — the all-female finalist team whose work in the 2025 Investment Competition caught the attention of Schroders. Impressed by their presentation, Schroders invited the whole team to spend three days in their Sydney office. Isabelle shares what she learned, what surprised her, and what she’s working towards next.

Tell us a bit about yourself

I am 20 years old studying a Bachelor of Advaanced Finance and Economics at the University of Queensland. I live in Brisbane and enjoy playing sport, travelling and spending time with friends.

How did you hear about Future IM/Pact and what do you find most valuable?

I heard about Future Impact through UNIT UQ’s instagram posts and friends that are part of the society. The most valuable aspect of the program was the investment competition and the opportunity to travel down to Sydney to present our case. This led to another opportunity of work experience with Schroders Sydney where our team visited Schroders offices to do a three-day program which was an amazing experience.

Tell us about participating in the Investment Competition

Delivering our presentation to industry experts, both the judges and the audience, was an incredible opportunity to broaden our skills and test our abilities. I learned a lot from the process and got a sense of how much work is involved in delivering an investment presentation.

Would you do anything differently? Any advice for participants?

It is very important to talk to industry professionals after the presentation to broaden your knowledge and gain insights into real-life presentations and q and a equivalents. I found the industry professionals to be generous with their insights and full of practical advice.

I learned throughout the Schroders 3-day experience the importance of collaboration and clear communication. The anonymous stock voting was also very interesting and made for stronger decision-making.

What was the most memorable part of your 3 day experience with Schroders?

Meeting all the different teams was interesting to get an overall view of the company and see how everyone works collaboratively to achieve the same goal. Sitting in on the equities team meetings was an invaluable experience and seeing how volatile news and media affects companies and their share price. It was also interesting seeing how equity analysts at Schroders distinguished events that affect the companies short-term and long-term earnings.

What did you learn from sitting in on real meetings and pitches?

The way the equities teams used an anonymous voting system to eliminate bias was very interesting. Additionally, this process was very collaborative both between the equity analysts and the rest of the companies all working together to achieve a common goal.

What is one key insight or skill you gained from this experience that you didn’t expect?

One skill I learned throughout this process is the importance of collaboration and clear communication. I observed how the leading analyst answered the pre-prepared questions and then continued to clarify any further misconceptions with each equity analyst to identify what could be adapted in the model. The anonymous voting then made the final judgement on whether this stock should be bought or not a decision not impacted by the level of senior of the participants or the most senior voice in the room which makes for stronger decision-making.

How did presenting your case challenge to Schroders differ from the competition setting?

We presented to Schroders in a board room which allowed for a more casual presentation with the question time feeling more like a conversation to work together to understand the company, NextDC and their key development areas. This also meant that the Q and A went for a lot longer, pushing our abilities which was an invaluable experience with real-life industry professionals.

Did this experience influence your career aspirations? If so how?

This experience made me better understand the inner-workings of an asset management firm and allowed me to gain insights about what equity analysts do. This experience solidified my interest in being involved in the industry and perhaps becoming an equity analyst.

What are your career goals, and what will you do to better position yourself?

In 5 years, I see myself working in asset management or management consulting. Further down the track, I would hope to be involved in a senior management position in my chosen area. For now, I’ll continue to participate in case competitions and improve my technical skills for interviews and presentations.

What topics are you most curious or inspired by? Any great podcasts or books you’d recommend?

For a deep dive into the history of large companies the podcast Acquired is very insightful.

Both the Investment Competition and the 3-day Schroders experience solidified my interest in being involved in the investment management industry and perhaps becoming an equity analyst.

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