3 answers
Ena
Student
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
71
Questions
Asked
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Do you have recommendations to finance students about relative jobs position?
Now i am not sure which specific career path is best for me. #finance
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3 answers
TJ Radigan
Business Analyst at McKinsey & Company
5
Answers
New York, New York
Updated
TJ’s Answer
Echoing Ken above, find some finance professionals from your school on LinkedIn and just reach out for an informational interview to determine if their particular career path is something you may be interested in. This is extremely common in the finance field so if you reach out to enough people you will find that many people will be receptive to speaking with you.
Jyotishman Sharma
Strategy
4
Answers
Franklin, Massachusetts
Updated
Jyotishman’s Answer
A lot of good advice here. Some of the best ways to figure out a path is to collect as much information as possible. Avenues to do that are: 1. Read books written about the topic areas 2. Find alumni and people who have traversed the paths you are considering and talk to them (this is probably the most effective way to learn and grow) 3. Visit forums like Wall Street Oasis for finance information - they have a ton of info on several finance career paths (IB, PE, VC, Corp Finance, etc.) 4. Don't forget to explore your own personal network - often times you may know someone whose dad may be in the industry etc. Those relationships are a great way to have an informal chat and learn more
Also, as you learn, don't forget to maintain a list of your options along with company names for each path. That will help you do a more targeted search.
Also, as you learn, don't forget to maintain a list of your options along with company names for each path. That will help you do a more targeted search.
Sarah Kwan
Treasury Analyst
1
Answer
San Jose, California
Updated
Sarah’s Answer
Hi Ena!
There are several areas in corporate finance that you can go into! There's Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Tax, Treasury, Accounting, FP&A, Budgeting, Audit, Insurance. Some roles are more operational -- meaning that you make sure all the data in the information is correct and up-to-date and some roles are more analytical. Some are more client based and some are more internal. Some are extremely transactional, which is cool to see if you want to see the live flow of things in a company.
I also worked in a water company and you could do rates; where you look at the overall budget of the company and calculate the appropriate rates the company can charge their customers. Then, you would compile the various workbooks and calculations to the government so they can approve the rates. This involves hearings with the government, so that can be quite interesting. This entire process takes up the entire year so there's definitely a lot of moving parts in this kind of role. You would prepare graphs, send newsletters and notices to customers/ the government. You would find this kind of role in utility companies. You might also find a similar kind of role in companies that sell subscription based services.
There's also Investment Banking and Venture Capital. Venture Capital is pretty cool because you would look at different up and coming companies in the industry and learn how to analyze different opportunities and present your findings to the investment committee. I would say rules and forecasting are a lot more loose in this kind of role; since there are so many factors that are up in the air. If you're a visionary, this would be an exciting path for you to take. You would thrive in this role if you like to stay up-to-date on the news. Not just tech news, but news in all areas, since you're trying to figure out the direction each industry is trying to go and seeing if it makes sense if a company will succeed with their new idea. Government regulation impacts this a lot. You would have to look at the market for certain industries. The cool thing is that there's a lot of intersections between industries so it doesn't necessarily mean you'll only look at one industry. You have to look at the economy (also different world economies) and analyze similar companies to the company you're analyzing.
I would recommend going on the LinkedIn job boards and searching finance into the search bar and looking through the job descriptions! You'll find a lot of different types of positions that can be pretty niche. Sometimes it might be a good idea to pursue the niche positions since there are not as many people with those types of expertise. This typically offers more job security than general roles. You just have to be aware of other factors like technology that might eliminate the need for that niche role. So definitely do your research and consider that! Even if you enter a niche position, it's not impossible to transfer over to a more general role. The key is to make sure you're up-to-date on the latest skills and technology and you should be good. Ask your employer if you can take extra classes if you're not learning those up-to-date skills on the job and they might be able to give you money to cover the cost.
With that said, different industries might have different finance roles that may not be typical! Different industries have different matters you would work on so that's one thing you can think about. Some finance matters might be more prevalent in one industry than the other. So you can look up specific companies like Disney and look into their finance roles through their career website. Or Spotify or Comcast. Carta might be interesting. Also look at roles in banks. They offer a lot of different types of finance roles that you might not find in regular companies. A lot of their work is client based, so if you want to work closely with clients and practice customer service, this might be a good path for you. I would recommend First Republic Bank :). The people are so nice there. You can also try insurance companies, which requires you to accumulate a lot of knowledge while you're in the industry! Very client based too. You can also try retail companies like lululemon or food companies like Tim Hortons. I'm based in the US, so I'm mostly giving you examples of companies that have a lot of roles open in the US, but I hope you catch my drift. They might have positions in Montreal or in other parts of Canada too.
A finance degree can also allow you to apply to other numerical positions such as Allocation Analysts in Apparel companies. These positions are cool since you're the one who figures out what styles to send to what locations. You'll look at different clothing samples, so that would be cool if you would like a more tangible type of role. You could just search "data" in LinkedIn. You can also do Supply Chain roles. Your day would be a lot of coordination and staying on top of shipments and managing relationships with ports and transportation companies. This might be cool if you would like a more worldly kind of role.
Also, don't forget government jobs! Look at the job boards for your local government or federal government. What's special about working for the government is that you can see the activity happening in your community and be able to contribute more directly to the public or your community! You'll see the current initiatives and current organizations that your community is interacting with and also interact with them too.
I echo all of the other tips that Jyotishman and TJ gave too! The best thing is to reach out to alumni or network through events to learn more about the day in the life and their take on the roles. Keep in mind every company is different and every team is different, so everyone's experience will be different! A lot of the times, the team culture/ company culture makes the biggest difference in a person's work life. I would recommend really honing in on the team culture/ corporate culture when deciding between roles when you get to that job interviewing stage! But since you're just starting out, sometimes you just have to pick the opportunity that's in front of you to get the foot in the door and start gaining experience.
You got this! The world is your oyster. There are a lot of avenues and you never know what one opportunity might take you!
There are several areas in corporate finance that you can go into! There's Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Tax, Treasury, Accounting, FP&A, Budgeting, Audit, Insurance. Some roles are more operational -- meaning that you make sure all the data in the information is correct and up-to-date and some roles are more analytical. Some are more client based and some are more internal. Some are extremely transactional, which is cool to see if you want to see the live flow of things in a company.
I also worked in a water company and you could do rates; where you look at the overall budget of the company and calculate the appropriate rates the company can charge their customers. Then, you would compile the various workbooks and calculations to the government so they can approve the rates. This involves hearings with the government, so that can be quite interesting. This entire process takes up the entire year so there's definitely a lot of moving parts in this kind of role. You would prepare graphs, send newsletters and notices to customers/ the government. You would find this kind of role in utility companies. You might also find a similar kind of role in companies that sell subscription based services.
There's also Investment Banking and Venture Capital. Venture Capital is pretty cool because you would look at different up and coming companies in the industry and learn how to analyze different opportunities and present your findings to the investment committee. I would say rules and forecasting are a lot more loose in this kind of role; since there are so many factors that are up in the air. If you're a visionary, this would be an exciting path for you to take. You would thrive in this role if you like to stay up-to-date on the news. Not just tech news, but news in all areas, since you're trying to figure out the direction each industry is trying to go and seeing if it makes sense if a company will succeed with their new idea. Government regulation impacts this a lot. You would have to look at the market for certain industries. The cool thing is that there's a lot of intersections between industries so it doesn't necessarily mean you'll only look at one industry. You have to look at the economy (also different world economies) and analyze similar companies to the company you're analyzing.
I would recommend going on the LinkedIn job boards and searching finance into the search bar and looking through the job descriptions! You'll find a lot of different types of positions that can be pretty niche. Sometimes it might be a good idea to pursue the niche positions since there are not as many people with those types of expertise. This typically offers more job security than general roles. You just have to be aware of other factors like technology that might eliminate the need for that niche role. So definitely do your research and consider that! Even if you enter a niche position, it's not impossible to transfer over to a more general role. The key is to make sure you're up-to-date on the latest skills and technology and you should be good. Ask your employer if you can take extra classes if you're not learning those up-to-date skills on the job and they might be able to give you money to cover the cost.
With that said, different industries might have different finance roles that may not be typical! Different industries have different matters you would work on so that's one thing you can think about. Some finance matters might be more prevalent in one industry than the other. So you can look up specific companies like Disney and look into their finance roles through their career website. Or Spotify or Comcast. Carta might be interesting. Also look at roles in banks. They offer a lot of different types of finance roles that you might not find in regular companies. A lot of their work is client based, so if you want to work closely with clients and practice customer service, this might be a good path for you. I would recommend First Republic Bank :). The people are so nice there. You can also try insurance companies, which requires you to accumulate a lot of knowledge while you're in the industry! Very client based too. You can also try retail companies like lululemon or food companies like Tim Hortons. I'm based in the US, so I'm mostly giving you examples of companies that have a lot of roles open in the US, but I hope you catch my drift. They might have positions in Montreal or in other parts of Canada too.
A finance degree can also allow you to apply to other numerical positions such as Allocation Analysts in Apparel companies. These positions are cool since you're the one who figures out what styles to send to what locations. You'll look at different clothing samples, so that would be cool if you would like a more tangible type of role. You could just search "data" in LinkedIn. You can also do Supply Chain roles. Your day would be a lot of coordination and staying on top of shipments and managing relationships with ports and transportation companies. This might be cool if you would like a more worldly kind of role.
Also, don't forget government jobs! Look at the job boards for your local government or federal government. What's special about working for the government is that you can see the activity happening in your community and be able to contribute more directly to the public or your community! You'll see the current initiatives and current organizations that your community is interacting with and also interact with them too.
I echo all of the other tips that Jyotishman and TJ gave too! The best thing is to reach out to alumni or network through events to learn more about the day in the life and their take on the roles. Keep in mind every company is different and every team is different, so everyone's experience will be different! A lot of the times, the team culture/ company culture makes the biggest difference in a person's work life. I would recommend really honing in on the team culture/ corporate culture when deciding between roles when you get to that job interviewing stage! But since you're just starting out, sometimes you just have to pick the opportunity that's in front of you to get the foot in the door and start gaining experience.
You got this! The world is your oyster. There are a lot of avenues and you never know what one opportunity might take you!