Marina ThomasIf you want to work as a professional in the huge, varied and interesting field of finance then there are a lot of options to choose from. However, you must know that a career in finance is essentially not only about money, money and money. Therefore, to make it big in this field if you simply have a business graduatedegree then consider it to be just the beginning. Once you have all the relevant degrees and fulfill the requirements of this multifaceted finance industry you will need to do some thorough research on the variety of positions that this industry has on offer.
All these different sectors will need different set of skills and interests that will cater to some niche opportunities in this sector and multiple sub-industries. In short, you must take up a job that has the utmost compatibility with your set of skills and interests.
Therefore, you are starting afresh or anew in this field wanting to give it a shot, here are a few common career paths in the financial services industry to consider at length.
Corporate finance jobs
These jobs involve working for a specific company. Your job profile will include finding as well as managing the necessary capital for the enterprise to operate. Therefore, you primary focus will be on minimizing financial risks and maximizing corporate value. The functions that you may implement include:
- Setting up an overall financial strategy for the company
- Forecasting company profits and losses
- Negotiating lines of credit
- Preparing different financial statements and
- Coordinating on behalf of the company with outside auditors.
If you take on more sophisticated corporate finance jobs then you may also be responsible for mergers and acquisitions activities that will include computing the worth of an acquisition target or defining the value of disunion for a spinoff. Few additional corporate finance jobs include treasurer, financial analysts, and internal auditors.
Commercial banking jobs
You choose to work in commercial banks that include large number of entities to local institutions. You will offer a wide and varied range of financial services right from checking and savings accounts to loans and IRAs. The different career options available in this particular sector include:
- Bank tellers
- Loan officers
- Operations manager
- Marketing manager and
- Branch manager.
If you can show your talent here you can even advance from a local branch to the corporate headquarters with added job responsibility and a raise in your salary. Such type of promotions will expose you to a variety of other areas such as international finance and others.
Investment banking jobs
This sector offers some of the most glamorous but intense job opportunities. Investment bankingjobs deal with the following:
- Facilitating issuance of corporate securities
- Making such securities available for purchase by the investors and
- Providing financial advice to both individual customers as well as corporations.
There are many different responsibilities and objectives of investment banking firms that you will have to follow such as:
- Interacting with issuers of securities
- Work with mergers and acquisitions professionals and
- Help the trading desk with stocks, bonds and securities in the secondary market.
Hedge funds
This is a specific sector in the finance market that too offers you with a lot of job opportunities. These are typically unregulated private investment funds. Here the managers can buy or sell different types of financial products and assets. These types of funds and firms are surrounded by mystery much unlike the relief organizations such as Nationaldebtrelief.com or others making these jobs somewhat more glamorous and appealing. The range of jobs in hedge fundincludes:
- A trader
- A financial analyst
- A regulatory compliance officer
- A quantitative analyst
- A marketing manager
- A portfolio manager, and lots more.
Financial planning
You can also join the financial sector as a financial planner to help different individuals in developing strategic plans that will help them to attain present and future financial stability.
- Your job responsibility will typically include reviewing the financial goals of your client and find any flaws in it. If there is any, you will need to generate a suitable plan according to the financial condition of the client for saving as well as investing that will fit well with the individual needs.
- Your job will also be to focus on the wealth preservation aspect and investment growth of your client. Sometimes it may also include tax and estate planning.
There are different types of financial planners work in different industries that may be a large nationwide group or even a small localfirm. Few planners may charge a flat fee for their service while others may charge a percentage of assets under their management or even receive commissions on the products such as mutual funds sold by them.
However, the most demanded position among all types of financial planners is the Certified Financial Planner. If you want to work as a CFP then you will have to obtain a three years financial planning experience, pass different other exams such as a two-day, 10-hour case study exam and also meet with the mandatory requirement of continuing education.
Other fields of choice
You may also make a good living and name in a few other areas of finance. You can look for finance jobs in the insurance industry. This will involve helping the organization as well as the individuals to anticipate the potential risks and to suggest ways to protect them from incurring any loss.
You may also try your hands out in the field of public accounting. This is broad area with lots of opportunities helping businesses and individuals to abide by The Generally Accepted Accounting Principlesor GAAP.
However, do the research well to discover the most suitable option. Make sure that you take a closer look at all available career options and also take out some time to measure the pros and cons to find out which industry sector suits you the best and has the greatest need for new professionals. This will help you to stay ahead of the competition and increase your chances of grabbing your desired job.