In March, Industra Bank participated in the career day organized by the Riga Technical University Career Centre to introduce themselves to RTU students as a potential employer, as well as a financial partner for when they begin to establish their businesses. 

Agija Freiberga, Head of Personnel at Industra Bank, noted, "Our bank is currently more recognizable in the business audience as we primarily work with companies. We participated in the RTU career day to acquaint RTU students from Gen Z with us as both potential employers and future collaborators. I must admit that our participation also brought us great joy and an energy boost from interacting with these enthusiastic, curious, and ambitious youngsters."

We seized this opportunity not only to introduce ourselves but also to explore their perspectives. We challenged aspiring engineers and future entrepreneurs on what their ideal bank of the future would be and what aspects influence their choice of one company's goods or services over another.

What do RTU students from Gen Z say?
We asked to what extent organizational values influence their decision to purchase its goods and services, asking them to rate it on a 5-point scale, where 1 means it is not important at all, and 5 means it is very important. The response was almost unanimous – 76% of the surveyed youths acknowledged the importance of values, with four or five points indicating the significance of values in deciding in favour of one company's product or service.

As a significant portion of engineering students will soon become entrepreneurs, which is the primary target audience of the bank, we wanted to ascertain the extent to which Industra Bank aligns with the values of these youngsters – we hoped for it, but we did not expect such high results – one of the four values of the bank is essential to each of them. 77% of the surveyed youths indicated that integrity and empathy are important to them, 67% – knowledge and experience, 50% – transparency and clarity, while speed and flexibility are significant to 40% of the surveyed youths.

The third question was about their ideal bank of the future – what should it be like. Many responses emphasized that it should be responsible, fair, and secure. Youngsters also expect pleasant and understanding communication, convenient digital solutions, and video tutorials, user-friendly online banking, flexible credit, and investment solutions. Additionally, they expect quick and easy payments, stability, and financial expertise from the bank, with some mentioning lower rates and fees as characteristics of the ideal bank. In total, we surveyed 48 visitors of the RTU Career Day 2024.