Top 5 career options for finance graduates from American universities

The reason why so many students choose to apply for the finance major is that in recent years, the financial industry has become a common employment field and the overall industry income is relatively higher. Many parents also hope that their children can enter the financial industry after graduation and support themselves with superior conditions.

　　This means that most of us who choose finance as our major have a common goal, which is to find a good job after graduation.

　　Next, we will share with you what industries you can enter after graduating from the finance major. This will help students choose their major and have a clearer idea of ​​their future career path.

　　The following list mainly lists five types of employment fields that finance graduates can enter, namely: securities, banking, consulting, insurance, Internet and fast-moving consumer goods industries.

　　▍Brokerage

　　Most students would like to join securities firms, which include investment banks in the primary market. Front-office positions and participation in the issuance of stocks or bonds fall under the work scope of IBD (Investment Banking Division), the investment banking department.

　　Industry researchers in the secondary market will issue investment recommendations to fund companies and investment institutions. If you are the person in charge of a project segment, you will have more direct communication and roadshows with investors and can directly convert profits. You can be classified as a front-end position. If you are a pure research position, you will be more middle-back-end. However, the secondary market is more volatile than the primary market, and sometimes employees are required to be on call 24 hours a day to follow up on the latest market trends in real time.

　　Institutional sales is more about selling industry research reports to fund companies, investment institutions and asset management companies. Students who are good at dealing with people can also consider institutional sales positions, because the clients they target are relatively high-end. After long-term accumulation, if you do well, the remuneration may even exceed that of investment banks and industry research positions.

　　Securities firms also include some mid- and back-end positions, including data support, business support, risk control, and legal compliance. Another front-end position is in the field of fixed income. Employees working in front-end proprietary fixed income have relatively less pressure. One reason is that fixed income products are relatively stable. Secondly, proprietary fixed income is equivalent to directly managing wealth for securities firms, not directly for “Party A”. Therefore, many students who want work-life balance tend to choose fixed income positions in securities firms.

　　However, if you want to enter the securities industry, most students are required to have relevant internship experience before applying for a job. Some well-known securities firms will further provide a return offer (formal employment opportunity) based on an assessment of students’ practical abilities during the internship.

　　Therefore, it is recommended that you try to find an area that you are interested in or good at in the early stage, prepare and lay the foundation in advance, so that you will gain greater benefits in the future.

　　References for various brokerage firms:

　　• Foreign companies: Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, etc.

　　• State-owned enterprises: China International Capital Corporation, CITIC Securities, China Securities, Huatai Securities, Haitong Securities, Guotai Junan Securities, etc.

　　* If it is difficult to enter the above brokerage firms, you can also consider some small and medium-sized joint-stock brokerage firms

　　▍Banks

　　This industry recruits a large number of people and has a wide variety of job positions. There are sales department positions that directly serve customers, as well as positions that are relatively difficult and require a lot of financial knowledge.

　　The retail and corporate banking departments at the front desk of a bank are the two business departments that directly generate the most revenue, and the main revenue here refers to lending. Other front desk businesses, such as peers, investment banks, gold markets (financial markets), international business and other department positions, may be more concentrated in the bank’s head office, and the power delegated to branches is relatively small, so students who are interested in these positions can pay more attention to the recruitment information of the head office.

　　In addition, many students will also choose the position of management trainee. Since the requirements for management trainees in the head office have become increasingly higher in recent years, most of the management trainees of the four major banks in China, namely Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, and China Construction Bank, have doctoral degrees, and the competition is very fierce. Therefore, you can also consider applying for management trainee positions in branches.

　　Bank references:

　　• Foreign capital: Citibank, HSBC, Hang Seng Bank, etc.

　　• State-owned assets: Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications, Postal Savings Bank of China, local commercial banks, etc.

　　*Commercial banks that are more of a joint-stock system. The work pressure in these banks is also high, but the salary is relatively higher than that of state-owned banks.

　　▍Consultation

　　The more famous consulting firms MBB, namely McKinsey, Bain and Boston Consulting Group (BCG), belong to the pyramid of the consulting industry and are difficult to enter. In addition, you can also choose some outsourced consulting companies of foreign investment banks and Chinese consulting companies. It is worth noting that consulting companies are similar to securities companies and will also examine students’ internships. For students who do not have relevant internships, the probability of getting an offer is lower.

　　The Big Four, namely PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Deloitte (DTT), KPMG (KPMG), and Ernst & Young (EY), are four well-known accounting firms. Their job positions are mainly divided into two categories: auditing and consulting. They also have consulting positions, but compared with other consulting companies, the Big Four recruit relatively more people for consulting positions.

　　Different consulting companies have different areas of expertise. For example, the Big Four are more inclined towards financial consulting, while McKinsey is more inclined towards strategic consulting, and Accenture is more inclined towards IT consulting. Therefore, when applying for consulting positions, students can also choose consulting companies based on their majors and areas of expertise.

　　References of various consulting companies:

　　• Foreign companies: MBB, Big Four, IBM, Accenture, etc.

　　• State-owned enterprises: Jiuqian Consulting, BDA Consulting, Ruisi Ruituo, etc.

　　Insurance

　　Students who go into the insurance industry are more likely to work as management trainees in the head office, and are more involved in more macro-level work such as internal training and insurance policies.

　　▍Internet and FMCG

　　The Internet and fast-moving consumer goods industries are also popular employment fields, but there are relatively few people majoring in finance who choose these industries. More likely, they are chosen by students majoring in computer science and marketing.

　　Finance students, based on their previous internship experience, can also choose to participate in operations, products, and data analysis positions.

　　The above are the industry fields that finance graduates can enter, ranked in order from high to low according to the degree of matching. You can find that the industry that the financial field can radiate to is still very broad.

　　But the most important point is that you are advised to consider your future development direction in advance before applying. Once you have a goal, you can not only better reflect your determination to choose a major in your application documents, but also choose the course you want to study when you enroll, laying a solid foundation for your future development!