How to Start a Career in Finance

Dear C.J.,

I read about your blog on Payscale.com and wondered if you could possibly help me start a career in finance. I earned my Bachelor of Business Administration degree in December of 2006. My major was Managerial Finance with an emphasis in Investment Analysis. I would prefer to do more analytical work than sales. I don't have any FINRA licensing or insurance licensing. Up until May of this year, I worked as a teller in a bank that did not promote cross selling of products. I have no sales experience but over 6 years of cash handling experience. What kind of entry level finance jobs should I apply for or what particular path should I take that would allow me to gain sponsorship for FINRA licensure and eventually move into an investment analyst or researcher position. I am attaching my resume so that you can look it over and possibly critique it. I realize that you may be extremely busy helping others so I greatly appreciate any time you can give to assist me. Thank you.

Pierre Talbot

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Pierre,

While I’m not an expert in finance, I am happy to give advice on smart ways to approach this entry level job hunt. You should check some investment forums or review some of the information in Payscale’s section on Financial Analysts - who hires them, what they are paid, common promotions, related positions, etc. - to learn more about entry level finance jobs and other relevant options. Generally speaking, investment analysis is pretty generic and is a process that can be done in many places, for many applications and at different levels.

Finance Career Options

Companies/Corporations: In a large company, the closest thing to investment analysis is divisional finance groups that look at a particular division’s profit and loss statement (P&L). The primary concern is financial reporting and analysis, such as P&L, balance sheet, budget analysis, etc. The analysis is related to looking at sales analysis, material and labor cost, overruns and under budget items and increasing profitability, such as inventory analysis, optimal sku mix, etc. If the company is in a growth mode or planning to spin off, you could be running valuations, analyzing the payback period for buying a new machine, or P&L projections for a new business.

In addition to finance careers, there is accounting and keeping the books. At a large company there is usually a corporate entity that looks at financial ratios - asset turnover ratios, liquidity ratios, etc. A smaller company would offer similar functions but these functions would be done in a consolidated fashion or farmed out, and each person would be less specialized.

The benefits of the large companies is that they often offer training, structure, specialization, more chances to move around (geographically, functionally), and benefits. For example, they may pay you to go back to school. The smaller companies may give you a better sense of how everything works together and more responsibility.

If you wanted to go to the stock analysis side, going this route may offer you a unique perspective on the corporate annual reports. There are many ways to cook the books and you may have a better sense on how companies play around with numbers when you do your stock analysis. If you wanted to go to the stock route longer-term, then I’d definitely do some networking to see if this is a viable skill set and how hard it would be to transition into another area.

Investment Firms/Brokerage: I’ve had friends and family who have worked in doing investment analysis at investment banks, brokerages, like Merrill Lynch, or banks. Basically, any group that sells bonds, stocks, mutual funds, and offers advice to clients on how to invest will have a research department that looks at a macro and micro level of what is happening within a sector. For example, you may be the high tech sector and doing analysis of overall trends, e.g. sales growth in the industry, or providing specific analysis on a particular company, such as Microsoft, and then offering a buy-sell recommendation. I’m not sure what the job opportunities are in this area given the current financial situation.

Other/VC’s/ Real Estate/Insurance/Private Equity: Any time there is an acquisition that is substantial ($10-100M, etc) with potential risks there is a group doing investment analysis. I don’t know a lot about the kind of analysis or much about these areas. Check out PayScale’s skills and salary information for investment banking analysts and related positions.

The best next step is for you to keep on doing what you are doing. Do more research with experts, or friends of friends, and family that are in the finance field. During your interviews explain your interests, skills, passions, and what you like doing and see where there is a good match. If this isn’t what you were looking for, send me another question.

I’d love to hear some more advice from folks who now work in the finance field. Please post your comments.

Sincerely,

C.J.Liu

C.J. Liu is a Seattle-based career coach with over 15 years experience in helping people achieve happiness at work. She takes a holistic view of her clients needs and seeks to ensure they feel good physically, mentally and spiritually in their work. Check out her site, to learn more about C.J. Liu.

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