Information to Prepare Students for Their Future as Finance Professionals

Introduction

When it comes to studies related to investments, the field of Finance comes into play. Finance can also be simply called the science behind managing money. Finance is most commonly compounded of Public Finance, Personal Finance and Corporate Finance. Furthermore, Finance departments are omnipresent and an absolute necessity of an organisation with their coverage of dozens of activities such as bookkeeping, providing timely, essential and accurate financial information in forms of altering financial reports in order for firms to based off of in making strategic financial decisions.

Ever since the dawn of the information age, the face of the financial sector had been rewritten entirely. Technology for instance has been of essence in the banking industry (Paul Clarke 2015).

Technology can be both a bliss and huge competition to finance graduates depending on context.

A bliss in the sense that it facilitates financial analysts in their jobs and competition such that when productivity increases, the need for employees naturally reduces. For instance, investments in the likes of UBS has been ordered through regulations, to automate 95 percent of all of their forex trades (Paul Clarke 2015). Competition for finance graduates in attempting to grapple these job positions had never been higher. Students who are working towards a degree in Finance are urged to act and prepare themselves as of this moment for the ever competitive environment in the financial sector if that is where they aim to be employed in. However, even in the same sector, expectations of various job positions differ. An example would be for a graduate to secure a job as a financial analyst he/she must possess advanced technical and analytical skills in relation to finance and for someone who wishes to be a financial advisor, strong interpersonal skills would be highly preferred over merely having technical knowledge.

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With this concept, students must be truly specific on what to work on to better suit their ambitions.

Roles, responsibility and requirements

These are the very fundamentals each and every graduate must grasp in order to propel themselves in the right direction towards ever becoming a finance professional in the ever competitive finance industry. To acquire a grasp on specifically what these mean, definitions of them are as follows; a role simply refers to the job position or the title received upon assignment (“Definition Of ROLE*); responsibility simply means specific tasks or duties expected from one (“Definition Of RESPONSIBILITY”); requirement signifies the criteria or tasks needed to performed in order for something to be happened or obtained. Of course these elements would indicate nothing in the absence of context, with that they shall be further elaborated when applied to different jobs related to finance.

Financial Analyst

In a bigger picture, a financial analyst makes business, sector and industrial recommendations base on their research on both Macro and Microeconomic factors alongside firm fundamentals. They may also influence the decisions of a firm to buy or sell equities in accordance to their analysis and prediction on the action of the given equity. Students would need to keep in mind that being an analyst means having great awareness on current developments relevant to the sector he or she has specialisation in along with preparing financial models in order to predict the outlook of the economy in the future (Granville, 2006). Additionally, students who look into this position need to expect work tasks such as analysing past and present financial performances of a firm, preparing reports after analysing, evaluate and create profit plans, hunt for opportunities to invest, identify and indicate trends in financial performance and suggest ways to improve and so on Parkerlynch.com, 2016). Not to leave out the fact that students are required to have obtained a bachelor’s degree related to studies of finance.

Financial Advisor

In general, what a financial advisor does is that he/she advises clients with his professionalism on how to manage their money. This role is the involvement in researching the entire market and forming suggestions on the variety of available products and services. This of course is all suggested and done in accordance to best suit the clients’ needs, potentially closing out on a sale. However, there exists two types of financial advisers which is the IFA (independent financial advisor), who deals with research on the entire range of products and services and suggest them based on their clients’ need without a hint of biasness. The restricted financial advisor only gets a set ranged of products and services to work with to suit their clients’ needs. To ensure clients possess full knowledge at all times, it is required of the financial advisor to state whether they are IFAs or restricted agents(Prospects.ac.uk, 2016). Students must understand the responsibilities of that of a financial advisor if they wish to become one. Some of the duties of a financial advisor includes setting up appointments with clients, reviewing clients’ financial situation and aims thoroughly, making financial plans and strategies for clients, promoting products or services of their firm and many more. The academic requirements to become a financial advisor however depends on the firm but a degree in finance is obviously most preferable here. This job position more looks towards things such as personal qualities and experiences in the customer service or sales line(Prospects.ac.uk, 2016). Thus it is crucial for students to grasp the differences of this and that of a financial analyst in order to further prepare themselves for the kind of position they look forward to having.

Internships

Students can opt for internships in between semester breaks. Internships are current investments a student can make to help them succeed in the working world in the future. Internships help give them an insight of what it is like to work in the real world, it acts as a test drive of possible jobs and help students explore different career paths to help them shape what they truly want. In a more direct way to view its impact, internships build resume and resumes can only be build with work experience. Employers are more likely to employ those of that of previous work experiences (Shiflett, 2016).

Pillars to success (A.S.K.)

Three of these very elements make up for a compound that can promise success for anyone who is able to understand and fully develop them to. Students need to imprint these elements into the back of their minds when it comes to learning. This may seem known to all but to apply them takes deeper understanding and determination.

Attitude

The definition of attitude may seem broad until it has been broken down to be specifically made to understand. Attitude for students to prepare themselves would simply mean their way of viewing things and tendency to act upon it (Durand, 2014). Students ought to have a positive mental attitude in learning such as treating everything as an opportunity to learn and grow. Attitudes in this context would be qualities such as self- confidence, tolerance, independent, flexibility and professionalism. These are the very qualities a student must develop in order to better position themselves in landing jobs in as a finance professional.

Skills

Skills are defined as the fluency, proficiency and facility one develops through consistent practice or training. Skills may not be the easiest to acquire but it certainly is the easiest to cultivate. Through consistent and sufficient effort and time put into doing something students can acquire just about any skills in any sector. Skills that students are recommended develop going into the field of finance are such as IT software skills, analytical skills, financial reporting, interpersonal skills ,communication skills,marketing and sales skills, organizational skills. (Robert Half, 2014). These are skills that requires time to cultivate so during undergraduate years are the best time for a student to start.

Knowledge

Simplistically, knowledge is the information and facts acquired through education or otherwise experience. Knowledge is essential for one if he or she wishes to explore topics with profoundness. When translating knowledge to better associate it with working in the world of Finance, knowledge is also known as Financial Literacy in a financial point of view. For a student to be financially literate it means for them to possess knowledge in finance areas like insurance, tax planning, savings and so on. Other than that, it also entails profound knowledge in financial planning, consumer rights,time value of money and the exact mechanics of a credit card. These are knowledge that may or may not be included in university or college syllabus but definitely obtainable out there in the library or internet If they simply attempt.

Personal Development Plan

This is a process in which student may consider focus areas that they could possibly work on in a given period of time, all to achieve or acquire something to propel them in the future.

Conclusion

Ultimately, with all this information at hand, students should be able to grasp an idea of what and how to prepare for their potential future as a finance professional. “The starting point of all achievement is desire.” (Napoleon Hill). For any undergraduate whose desire is to become a finance professional, much needs to be develop and most part of it was discussed in the above.