How to preboard finance graduates with Know-How

About the Author

Ruairi O’Donnellan is the Head of Marketing at Intuition. Intuition is your end-to-end strategic learning partner, helping you identify, design, and deliver the knowledge and skills your teams need to succeed. The perspectives in this article are informed by discussions with Intuition colleagues who work closely with risk teams across global financial institutions, as well as by ongoing delivery of risk capability and problem-solving programs.

***

Preboarding has become one of the most consequential and least examined stages of early-career development in financial services.

Finance graduates in 2026 arrive with unprecedented access to information and growing familiarity with AI-generated explanations. What they often lack isn’t content, but a real-world understanding of how finance actually works inside institutions.

Preboarding needs to close that gap. Know-How is increasingly used for this purpose because it explains finance as it’s practiced, guided by human expertise rather than automated summaries.

***

Know-How is a premier digital learning solution for financial services. It equips over 1 million financial services professionals with the knowledge to deliver in the rapidly moving global marketplace. The extensive Know-How content library is trusted by the world’s largest investment and commercial banks, leading asset managers, insurance firms, regulatory bodies, and professional services firms.

***

Table of contents

Preboarding exists to align understanding before formal onboarding

The purpose of preboarding isn’t just acceleration. It’s also alignment.

Across large global banks, graduate cohorts may look similar on paper, but their practical understanding of banking, markets, and risk often varies widely. In several early-career programs we support, preboarding with Know-How establishes a shared baseline before formal onboarding begins, ensuring graduates arrive with a common language and frame of reference.

Know-How supports this by focusing on:

  • How financial institutions operate in practice
  • How products, markets, and risk connect in real decision-making
  • The concepts graduates will encounter immediately in their role

Because the content is written by subject matter experts, it reflects lived industry context rather than simplified abstractions.

Is energy management the new time management?

early careers programs from Intuition
In multiple early-career programs, learning teams have observed that graduates arrive with familiarity but struggle to evaluate relevance, limitations, or downstream implications. This has become more pronounced as AI tools proliferate.

In an AI-driven world, human judgment defines understanding

In 2026, explanations are easy to generate. Judgment is not.

In multiple early-career programs we work on, we have found that learning teams have observed that graduates arrive with familiarity but struggle to evaluate relevance, limitations, or downstream implications. This has become more pronounced as AI tools proliferate.

Preboarding with Know-How addresses this by emphasising the expert perspective, ensuring that:

  • Context is preserved rather than stripped out
  • Risk and uncertainty are addressed explicitly
  • Understanding develops progressively

This approach has proven particularly valuable in regulated environments, where surface-level understanding creates real operational risk.

The anatomy of a successful early careers finance program

In one alternative investment firm we worked with, early versions of preboarding relied on optional access to broad content libraries. Engagement was inconsistent and outcomes were unpredictable. When preboarding was redesigned around a curated Know-How pathway aligned to the firm's roles, participation and confidence improved materially.

Effective preboarding depends on curation, not completeness

One of the most common preboarding failures is trying to cover too much too soon.

In one alternative investment firm we worked with, early versions of preboarding relied on optional access to broad content libraries. Engagement was inconsistent and outcomes were unpredictable. When preboarding was redesigned around a curated Know-How pathway aligned to the firm’s roles, participation and confidence improved materially.

Preboarding works best when it’s focused and intentional.

What does a future-ready financial risk function look like?

Preboarding is most effective when it complements, rather than competes with, instructor-led learning.

Preboarding strengthens learning and early application

Preboarding is most effective when it complements, rather than competes with, in-office learning.

Preboarding supports further learning so sessions can move quickly into application, discussion, and judgment. Graduates arrive with a shared understanding of foundational concepts, allowing facilitators to spend less time establishing basics and more time exploring how decisions are made in practice.

Preboarding is often a graduate's first sustained exposure to an organization's learning standards.

Preboarding signals what an organization values

Preboarding is often a graduate’s first sustained exposure to an organization’s learning standards.

In large, globally distributed early-career programs, this first signal matters. What graduates are asked to engage with communicates:

  • Whether understanding or shortcuts are prioritized
  • How seriously learning is taken
  • What standards of thinking are expected
Effective preboarding is less about volume and more about trust in what's being learned.

Why Know-How fits preboarding in 2026

Effective preboarding is less about volume and more about trust in what’s being learned.

Know-How brings together:

  • Human-created content written by experienced finance practitioners
  • Coverage structured around how finance actually works in practice
  • Flexibility to support global, role-specific early-career programs

Across banks, asset managers, and investment firms, this combination has made Know-How a natural foundation for preboarding finance graduates before day one.

early careers programs from Intuition

Key takeaways and next steps

Preboarding is no longer optional. It’s a strategic lever for building alignment, confidence, and operational readiness before graduates step into their roles.

The most effective preboarding programs in 2026 share three characteristics:

  • They prioritize understanding over coverage. Curated, role-specific content outperforms broad access to generic libraries.
  • They signal organizational standards. What you ask graduates to learn before day one communicates what you value.
  • They complement learning. Preboarding creates the foundation that allows in-office learning to go into more depth at a faster rate.

Know-How supports all three by providing human-created, expert-led content that reflects how finance actually works in practice.

Intuition launches new retail credit and AI tutorials in Know-How

Preboarding is no longer optional. It's a strategic lever for building alignment, confidence, and operational readiness before graduates step into their roles.

Frequently asked questions

Preboarding refers to the learning and preparation that takes place before a graduate formally joins an organization. In financial services, this typically focuses on establishing foundational understanding of banking, markets, risk, and regulation so graduates arrive better prepared for onboarding and early role responsibilities.

Graduate cohorts are more diverse in background and experience, and access to information is no longer the constraint. The challenge is inconsistent understanding and overreliance on surface-level explanations, often shaped by AI tools. Preboarding helps align understanding before formal training begins.

Know-How content is written by human subject matter experts with real experience in financial services. It is designed to explain how finance actually works in practice, including context, trade-offs, and risk, rather than offering simplified or automated summaries.

Yes. Know-How is well suited to optional preboarding scenarios. Organizations can define focused learning paths that respect graduates’ time while still signaling expectations and standards.

Know-How is used across global banks, asset managers, and alternative investment firms. In early-career programs, it is often used to establish a shared baseline before onboarding, particularly in large or globally distributed cohorts.

In an AI-rich environment, explanations are easy to generate but difficult to evaluate. Know-How emphasizes expert judgment, context, and real-world relevance, helping learners understand not just what happens in finance, but why it matters.

Yes. Know-How content is structured across channels that reflect different areas of financial services. Organizations can select and sequence content based on role, function, or regional focus while maintaining consistency in core understanding.

It signals that understanding matters, that learning is taken seriously, and that expertise is valued. Because the content is human-written and practitioner-led, it sets expectations around professionalism, judgment, and accountability from the outset.

New call-to-action