This article at Career Search Guide is about a Career in Banking. Since the 1980s, career in banking becomes one of the most sought after career choice by high calibre accountants. Choosing a career in banking is now no longer limited to a selected few. Career in the banking and financing industry had come a long way.
Most people choose a career in banking for the following reasons:
Remuneration
Training and Development
Intellectual Challenge
Career Mobility
Global Industry
IT and Infrastructure Support
Salaries for a career in banking and finance sector and other high salary career had narrowed to quite an extent over the past few years. However, in terms of higher earning potential, a career in banking and finance is still an attractive industry given the generous benefits and bonus package. There are also instances where those who has a career in banking had a bonus of 100% of their base salary.
Many join the career in banking and finance sector because of the industry’s commitment to hiring and training staff to acquire and develop professional and business skills. Most major banks will offer training and development in the followings – product training, coaching and presentation skills; in-house technology training; skill set development with senior managers covering topics such as reporting in various area; and strong rotational policies which allow you to have an overview of how the banking industry works. Hence, you hardly get bored with a career in banking.
There are also some banks and financial institution who is willing to pay for staff’s upgrade by attending professional courses and classes which lead to further qualifications to further their career in banking.
For you to have a career in banking, you have to be prepared to work as part of a big team. This entails the development of a culture of sharing ideas and knowledge across international markets and other business units. A career in banking is very challenging as the bank’s commercial success depends on how well it can find practical solutions to very complex problems for its clients. Problem-solving for a career in banking often requires you to think out-of-the-box and to think laterally. You are also expected to have great analytical and numerical skills.
Expect steep learning curve especially during your first year career in banking. Be prepared for inter-department transfer and change of job function.
Unlike many other industries, a career in banking is also exciting due to its global business nature. It is not uncommon for banks to become international and have major operation in overseas country. There is also the need to share highly complex information across and between banks. Information Technology and support is an absolute necessity in today’s banking industry.
There are many areas that you can be involved in your career in banking. Some of these areas include:
Product Analysis
Financial Control
Equity and Fund Analysis
Risk Management
Projects
Operational Risk Review
Corporate Finance
Product Analysis in Banking Career: You are regarded as a key knowledge resource within a bank. You work with traders to analyse and provide daily performance figures for the trader. You need above average academic results and has to demonstrate excellent communication and interpersonal skills. Future career advancement include area in product analysis, risk management, fund management, equity analysis, financial control or trading.
Financial Control in Banking Career: As a financial controller in the bank, great sums of money are transacted daily and information is constantly sought for up-to-minute reporting. You are in a position that provides information that directly influences crucial decisions. All your reporting is also constantly monitored by regulating bodies. To seek a position in financial control in banking, you need to have practical understanding of accounting system and thorough understanding of spreadsheets. Future career advancement include the area of business analysis, product control, risk management, systems development and trade support.
Equity and Fund Analysis in Banking Career: This area of a career in banking is of high profile which involves detailed analysis of economics and business. You provide fund managers or equity trader with incisive recommendations. You need to have detailed knowledge of analysis tools such as key ratio, market trends, etc. The vacancy of equity and fund analysis in the banking career is extremely difficult to secure.
Risk Management in Banking Career: You work very closely with traders in monitoring trade limits and profit and loss data. You are involved in scenario analysis using spreadsheet. You have to be a highly mathematically inclined person, and it is not unusual for banks to seek MBA and PhD graduates for such a post.
Project Manager in Banking Career: Project roles can span across any area of the bank and cover any number of products. This role involves both strategic and tactical issues. Working with deadlines is a norm. To be eligible for this role, you have to demonstrate your management skill and the ability to multi-task, not to mention the ability to work under pressure. Future career advancement includes in the area of business re-engineering and strategy.
Operational Risk Review in Banking Career: This is another high profile role within the banking career, and your role is a broad role. This is an excellent entry point into a career in banking as you chart your own course in the banking career. You have to understand the inherent risk involved in each products which include market risk, reputation risk, regulatory risk and credit risk. A good university degree is expected and you need to have the ability to liase with people of all levels. Future career advancement include in the areas of products, risks, projects, central support and trade support.
Corporate Finance in Banking Career: This is the most prestigious areas of any bank or financial institutions. You are involved in mergers and acquisitions, management buyouts and major financial deal making. You work in a highly pressurised environment and you will find this an extremely business of the banking career. You are expected to hold a highly qualified university degree. Future career advancement include management, fund management or venture capital.
Next, we like to discuss in more specific, a career in commercial bank. Commercial banks are those banks that provide banking services to individuals, small businesses and large organisations. The followings are the position that you can find in commercial banking career:
Credit Analyst: This is a common entry level job into career in commercial banking. You evaluate business and consumer loan application. You also project a company’s future cash flow and analyse its financial health. You visit and interact with financial people and deal with lenders. You need to have knowledge in accounting and communication skills.
Loan Officer: Loan officer is a desirable career in the banking industry which involves making loans to business and consumers. You need good selling skills and the ability to understand a business.
Branch Manager: A branch manager of a bank is responsible for overseeing all activities in your branch. These include opening of accounts, loan, solving customer’s problems, etc. You need to have strong customer service skills and a good grasp of banking.
Trust Officer: As a trust officer in the banking career, you deliver trust services, financial products and advice bank customers.
Mortgage Banker: A mortgage banking career requires that you make mortgage loans to home-buyers and businesses. This involves frequent contact with people from the real estates, credits checks and new buyers.
Skills and Criteria for a Career in Banking
What makes a good candidate for a career in banking? People skills are essential. You will also need broad understanding of business. If you are a credit analyst or a lending officer, then accounting and writing skills are important too.
To make a career in banking, you are also expected to have strong work ethic. Lately, people with good marketing skills are also climbing the career ladder in banking. Corporate investment products are also in high demand, hence if you have the inclination and knowledge in investing, that is helpful for you to get a suitable career in banking. Be expected to put in long hours in your career banking.
The followings are a summary of the levels of requirements for your career in banking:
People Skills – High
Marketing Skills – High
Communication Skills – High
Analytical Skills – Moderate
Creativity – Moderate
Initiative – Moderate
Working Hours – 40 to 60 hours per week.
How much salary do you expect to earn from your career in banking? If you are looking for high salary careers, there are other options. Starting salaries in commercial banking for those with a bachelor’s degree range from $24,000 to $38,000 while those with MBA command a starting salary ranging from $30,000 to $50,000. With 10 years of experience, you can expect $60,000 salary for a career in banking. A Department Manager with 10 years of more of work experience can expect an annual salary of $100,000. If you are lucky enough to make it to the postion of Senior VP, then you can expect a salary exceeding $200,000.
If you think that the figures are not attractive, there are still those who make a salary in excess of $500,000 for a career in banking. There are the manager with a good portfolio.
What are the future and opportunities in the banking career? In 1992, banking career was reported as one of the top most satisfying career in the US. The banking industry is undergoing a period of consolidation, and therefore expect mergers and acquisitions to take place. With the advancement of technology, most people do their banking via ATM or online. Specialised banking are growing and middle management bankers are in great demand.
Typical employers for career in banking include: Merrill Lynch, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, DLJ, Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas, NM Rothschild, VISA, Bear Stearns, CIBC World Markets, Deutsche, Close Brothers, Citigroup, WestLB Panmure, Pru-Bache, Abbey, 3i, AMP, AXA, QBE, Lloyds TSB.
We wish you all the best in your Career Search in a career in banking.
Career in Banking – Opportunity, Challenge and the Future
Free Career Test
Choosing careers can be a painful process if you do not know where to start with your career search. Fortunately, you can have a better understanding with some free career test available. However, how effective is the free career test? Which of these career placement tests are more reliable? If you are interested in a free career test, you should read on.
What is a career placement test? A career placement test is a test that you do to determine what kind of career may be suitable for you based on your personality. In this career placement test, you answer a series of questions regarding how you make decisions, your approach to problem solving and so on. At the end of the test, you are able to obtain a report on what kind of career may be suitable for you.
Why should you take career placement test or some of these free career tests? Choosing the wrong career not only lose you thousands of dollars on educational fees but also can affect your life satisfaction. This in turn, will affect your family and friends. Considering that we spent one third of our lives on work, it is important to find a job that truly suits you.
One of the companies that offer free career test is Career Key. There are many others who offer free career test. However, most of those companies that offer free career test will give you a comprehensive report after the test. They will likely give you just a brief report. For a comprehensive report of your career placement test, you may be asked to pay some nominal charges.
All the questions in a career placement test are designed to get you to reveal many aspects about you. When doing a free career test, it is important that you be as honest as possible with the answers. There is no right or wrong answer.
If you are taking the free career test from Career Key, here is what to expect. There are altogether five screens in the free career test. The first screen consists of jobs that interest you. You are given a list of 43 jobs and you should check those jobs that interest you.
In the second screen of the free career test, you are asked about things that you like to do. There are six questions in this screen. In the next screen, you are asked to choose the best answers for six questions about your ability.
In the fourth screen of the free career test, you are asked six questions on how you see yourself. In the last screen, you are asked questions on what you value in life. Upon completing the entire free career test, you are provided with a summary of your major personality. This free career test provides information about whether you are a realistic person, artistic, social or conventional. Each of these characteristics are given a score ranging from 1 to 20. This helps you to determine which extreme you are leaning towards.
When you know better about yourself, you are able to click on those characteristic that you score highly. You will then be provided with a list of career choices that possibly suits you. It is entirely up to you how you make out of the results of this free career test.
The American Career Test provides a career placement test with three screens of questions. For each of the questions, you are given possible answers such as Rarely, Sometimes, Usually and Most Always. You can take the career test for free, but to get the report, they charge you according to the plan that you wish to purchase. There are 4 plans with different details for you to chose and purchase. Even though this is not a free career test, these test reports can help you get some insight about your personality.
Thinking Craft is another company that offers career placement test. Their career test questions focus more on personality choices. You are always given two pairs of personality traits in the career placement test. Example of the personality traits are individualistic / considerate or fearless / industrious. You have to make 18 choices altogether.
Thinking Craft’s test questions focus more on personality choices. You are asked to choose between two pairs of personality traits. In some cases, you will find yourself choosing a pair where you don’t like either choice, but you still must pick one over the other. An example of the 2 choices is: individualistic / considerate or fearless / industrious. The choices become difficult if you consider yourself individualistic and fearless, but not considerate or industrious. All in all you make 18 such choices.
When you have completed the free career test, you get a variety of data to analyse. The first of these datas is the Assement Graph, which provides you with a rating of different key characteristics. These characteristics are Interactor Style, Analyser Style, Synthesizer Style and Concluder Style. Detailed explanations are given as to what each of the characteristics mean.
This free career test also offers other extensive detail about your personality. There are also some suggestions on how you should react on them. These details include the Learning Style Assessment, Online Learning Guides, Classroom Strategies, Study Tips, You On the Job and How They See You On the Job.
There are a number of other free career test available. To give an example of what a report would look like from one these free career test, the followings is a sample report from a career placement test that we had conducted:
You would be very happy in a career that utilised your level-headedness, and allowed you to work mainly on your own. You want a career that allows you to be creative, without having to be involved with lots of people. Some careers that would be perfect for you are:
Artist
Historian
Career in Banking
Novelist
University Professor
Photographer
Career in Vetinarian
Paralegal
Graphic Designer
Online Content Developer
Webmaster
Producer
Managing Director
Nutritionist
Advertising
Career in Nursing
You like working and being alone. You like to avoid attention at all costs. You tend to keep to yourself, and not interact much with the people around you. You enjoy spending time with a few a close friends. You like to listen to others, but don't like sharing much about yourself. You are very quiet and private.
You are very practical, and only act after thinking things through. You don't like being forced to answer quickly. You have to evaluate the situation completely. You make decisions based on what you can verify with your senses.
You like to be deeply involved in one or two special projects. You like to be behind the scenes. You are very logical and fair. You feel you should be honest with others and protect their feelings.
You trust your gut instincts. You are easily inspired and trust that inspiration. You are very innovative. You analyse things by looking at the big picture. You are concerned about how what you do affects others. You worry about your actions and the future. You tend to use a lot of metaphors and are very descriptive and colourful in your choice of language.
You are very creative, and get bored easily if you don't get to express yourself. You like to learn new things. You don’t like the same old routine. You like to leave your options open.
Free career test are not just limited to career placement test. There are also other types of free carer test. One such career test is the career advancement test. This test reveals information about how well prepared you are in a career promotion.
This types of career test basically tells you what it takes for you to move ahead in your career. While there is no clear cut answers to what elements contribute to one’s career development and advancement, taking a career test helps one learn the different attitudes, characteristics and behaviour that helps one to move forward in their career.
To conclude a career placement test or free career test that you can easily find are not an imperfect science. It can help you learn more about yourself and it guides you towards a career that may be most suitable for you. However, it does not help you with career decisions. No career test could tell you what your career choice should be. They could only provide you with some ideas on what career to choose.
There is another type of free career test that you could take on your own. It is in the process of creating a career blueprint. To learn more about creating a career blueprint, please read it from the link from this Career Search Guide site.
High Salary Careers
Everyone who is doing their career search would have different criteria. However, one of the criteria that most candidates would look for is a high salary career. For some, getting a high salary career is important to support their family. To others, it is just a matter of moving on to the next level of career development.
That is why a high salary career is always a selling point. Many career search engines and agency in fact use this almost like a catchword. If you are looking for a high salary career even if only in your next job, you should start now. It is smart to invest your energy and training into a career with stability and good growth prospect.
If your are currently considering for college education or parents who are considering of sending your kids for college education, you may want to start planning on what type of college education will likely get you a high salary career.
According to some research carried out, the best paying high salary career requires strong interest in mathematics and science. Take for example chemical engineering. The average starting salary is around $60,000. High salary career in the engineering field also include electrical and mechanical engineering with starting salaries of $55,000. Computer science is another high salary career with an average starting salary of $53,000. Other high salary careers include those in the civil engineering, accounting, finance, management information systems, business administration and economics. All these career has an average starting salary from $40,000 to $48,000.
Most college students will just choose a major that will lead to a high salary career. However, having a high salary career does not always guarantee job satisfaction and these should be made known to college students. Instead, college students should choose a major that really interests them. Chances are that with career satisfaction, comes high salary.
There are some other tips which could help current college students to land in their high salary career upon graduation. Try to volunteer for some internship at a business that is related to the industry that you shall be working in upon graduation. At this stage, you should not be concerned with how much the internship is paying you. You should focus on getting a job function that will enrich your experiences and skills. Even volunteering for non-profit organisation is fine to get the work experience and position yourself ahead of your peers.
When you have the work-related experience, it is then easier for you to find yourself a high salary career upon graduation.
However, is there any statistic on what is the most popular high salary career? Indeed, there is. The Bureau of Labour Statistic list the fastest growing jobs through to year 2014. The high salary career always dominate the list as the most popular job. The followings are the best:
1. Computer systems software engineer
Computer systems software engineer tops the list as a high salary career. What do they do? They work to coordinate a company's computer needs and maintain its computer systems. These also include setting up a company's intranets. Most jobs require a bachelor's degree in computer science or computer information systems. The average starting pay of this high salary career is $81,140.
2. Computer applications software engineer
The second high salary career in the list is computer application software engineer. Computer applications software engineers use programming languages such as C++ and Java to design, construct and maintain general computer applications software. Most jobs require at least a bachelor's degree, but some more complex jobs require a graduate degree. The average starting pay of this high salary career is $76,310.
3. Biomedical engineer
The next high salary career is the biomedical engineer. Biomedical engineers combine biology, medicine and engineering to develop methods to solve medical and health-related problems. Most potential employer looks for graduate degree. So, you may need to invest more into your education before seeing any return. This high salary career has an average starting pay of $70,520.
4. Physician assistant
Physician assistants provide diagnostic, therapeutic and preventive healthcare services, and they are the fourth high salary career in the list. They assist doctors to examine, diagnose, treat and write prescriptions for patients, but they works under a doctor's supervision. A bachelor’s degree from physician is required. The starting pay of this high salary career is on the average, $69,250.
5. Environmental engineer
Why not do something for Mother Earth while your earn your high salary? The fifth high salary career in the list is environmental engineer. Environmental engineers work to combat environmental damage by researching and developing solutions to problems like pollution control, ozone depletion and wildlife protection. A bachelor’s degree in related studies is required. The average starting pay of this high salary career is $67,000.
6. Computer systems analyst
Another computer-related job? Yes, you are right. It seems that computer-related career is dominating the list as high salary career. Computer systems analysts help an organization get the most for their technology investment dollars. Education background varies. The starting pay for this high salary career is $67,000.
7. Database administrator
More computer-related job! Database administrators ensure system performance by setting up computer databases, testing and coordinating modifications to computer systems, identifying user requirements and adding new users to the system. Educational background varies but employers prefer those coming from technical background. The average starting salary is $62,000
8. Physical therapist
Similar to physician assistant, physical therapists help patients suffering from injuries or disease to restore function, improve mobility, relieve pain and prevent or limit permanent disabilities. Some licensure exams are required. This high salary career draws a starting salary of $62,000.
9. Network systems and data communication analyst
Network systems and data communication analysts are responsible for keeping electronic communications like Internet, voice mail and e-mail up and running. They spend much of their days testing and evaluating systems including local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs) and intranets. The average starting salary for this high salary career is $61,200
10. Hydrologist
Finally, the last on the high salary career list is the hydrologist. Hydrologists study water -- its quantity, distribution, circulation, and physical properties both above and underground. Their work is particularly useful to environmental preservation and flood control efforts. A bachelor’s degree in related field is a must, and their starting salary is $61,000.
If you are searching for high salary career, we also suggest that you submit your resume for free using this Free Resume Posting service. That concludes our article on High Salary Career. Do return to Career Search Guide for more career search tips.