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Just as entry level jobs are hotly contested, the same can be said of
all positions from across the financial spectrum. So if you have
decided that you want to pursue your career further and are
wondering what your next move could be, here is a selection of
some of the paths open to you from across the accountancy,
banking and financial services industry.
Graduate Accountant
Qualified accountants are hot property and there are a number of
different avenues that you can take. Some opt to specialise in areas
such as tax or management accounting in the public or private
sector while others choose to moving into a Senior Accountant,
Auditor, Financial Controller or Management Accountant role .
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Accountancy Corporate Finance
Financial Analysis Financial Control
Financial Planning Financial Sales
Insurance Investments
Risk Management Tax
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Actuary
As a Student Actuary you will be expected to work towards
becoming a fully fledged actuary - a process that can take anywhere
between three and six years. Once fully qualified your Actuarial
career will move forward relatively swiftly, first into a Senior
Actuary/Junior Consultant role and then Section Manager position.
Investment Analyst
After around three years of when you will have undergone
professional development and developed considerable experience
as an Analyst, the next logical step is Fund Manager before moving
into an Associate role.
Tax Adviser
Upon gaining the Association of Taxation Technicians (ATT)
qualification you can move into a number of specialist fields of tax
consultancy, commerce, industry, government or the private sector.
Some people opt to go it alone as a freelance tax consultant.
What makes you stand out? What makes you the most suitable
person for promotion? What makes you so different to all other
applicants?
Are you the person who consistently plans and implements highly
profitable strategies for new and existing financial products?
Perhaps you are the most proficient actuary in your department at
identifying potential risk and introducing significant cost-saving
measures. Or maybe it’s you who your manager turns to when he
needs a French-speaker to liaise with colleagues based in Paris.
So you need to identify the key requirements of the job you want and
think of as many relevant examples of instances when you have
outperformed your colleagues and gone beyond what is expected of
you in your current job – instances when you gained recognition for
doing more than a good job.
Effective CVs are those that make employers sit up and take notice
and recognise that you bring something extra to the table. Just
remember to keep your example statements relevant to the job you
are applying for, not the job you already have.
Further Reading
- How should I list my previous jobs on my CV?
- What makes a good CV design and layout?
- How can I make my CV more effective?
However, if you can demonstrate that you can hit the ground running
whilst saving both time and money, you will win many admirers.
Each new step in your career will have a new set of new skills that
you will be expected to learn on the job. But if you can show an
employer that you already have some of these key skills your
application will stand out from your fellow applicants.
You are in control of your career and it is up to you to find out what
skills are needed for each new job that you move into. Speak to
people already working in the role you want to find out what it is they
do, what skills and attributes they posses and what makes them
good at their job.
Look at the job description in adverts or get a copy of the full job
spec from your HR department to get an understanding of the key
skills needed. And once you have this information find out what staff
development and training schemes exist in your company to help
you acquire the skills you will need.
If your boss doesn’t realise how good a job you are doing your
career will progress as fast as a snail in mud. So you need to take
the bull by the horns to boost your status and get the recognition you
deserve without making it look like you are craving attention.
When asked when you can complete a report by, always say Friday
even though you know you can do it by Wednesday. But you also
need to over-deliver on your promise too. Make sure the report not
only fulfils the brief but contains recommendations for a range of
client investments, for instance. This shows your determination to
add value to everything you do and that you will always deliver on
time.
Sometimes, though, the path you want to take forces you to make a
decision as to whether you stay with your current employer or
pursue your ambitions elsewhere.
Choosing to stay with your company out of some sort of loyalty may
earn you the appreciation of your employer but it will do more harm
to your career than good if the opportunities that you crave can
never be realised where you are.
It’s all very well being the best Analyst but will that make you a good
Fund Manager who has to manage ten other people as well as the
person replacing you, and have to suffer the wrath of a client when
an investment has not delivered the anticipated set of results?
Or will being the most prolific Stock Broker in the business mean that
you will have the necessary skills and personal qualities to manage
an entire team of brokers or investment analysts?
Further Reading
- How can I secure a pay rise?
- What can I do to ensure a promotion?
- How can I improve as a manager?
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Whilst you need to be a master of your current job, you also need to
have an understanding of a wide range of other roles. Equally
important is the ability to oversee a number of different projects
simultaneously.
So the ability to manage your time effectively, keep your cool under
pressure and prioritorise tasks will be essential.
Although we cannot predict the future of the industry with any great
certainty, we can at least recognise a number of developments
which are already taking place that will undoubtedly be the shape of
things to come in the finance sector.
The flip-side of this is that demand for specialist skills will inevitably
rise.
Does your place in the industry motivate and excite you as much as
it once did when you were a fresh-faced graduate, full of hope and
ambition for your finance career? Or do you crave to do something
entirely different?
Even though you may have spent the best part of your career in this
sector this is no guarantee that the rest of your career will be as
good as this. The priorities you had during those early days
invariably centred on salary, job title, and the opportunity to move
your way up through the ranks.
But as we get older our priorities change and you may start to feel
that gaining recognition for the work you do or feeling suitably
challenged with the opportunity to learn new skills become more
important to you.
The skills you obtain whilst working in the finance sector can be
transferred into an innumerate range of different careers. So if you
feel that this industry is not right for you, your options to try
something else are considerable.
What Next?
If you’re still looking for advice on finding the right job, creating a
great CV or tips on job interview, career-advice.monster.co.uk
contains everything you ever wanted to know, and more!
They say that the grass isn’t greener on the other side, but
often it is. Our series of eBooks brings together expert advice
to help you secure the job you want and build a successful
career.