Securing a graduate role in Financial Services

Bank lender shaking hands with customer. Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

Financial services’ as a career choice can be difficult to define. One organisation’s financial services position constitutes another’s banking and investment role, meaning the variety of graduate jobs available defies easy clarification. The higher levels of remuneration at most financial organisations means that jobs are more sought after by graduates, but in the current climate of redundancies at many of the leading investment banks, securing a graduate role is becoming increasingly difficult. In this blog post, we discuss 3 key pointers for graduates looking to secure a role within financial services. Continue Reading

Good Job Report News: Private Sector Added 158,000 Jobs in October

Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics

Private sector employment increased by 158,000 jobs from September to October, according to the October ADP National Employment Report, which is produced by Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (ADP) in collaboration with Moody’s Analytics. The report, which is derived from ADP’s actual payroll data, measures the change in total nonfarm private employment each month on a seasonally-adjusted basis. Continue Reading

Job Cuts in January 2012 Up 39% Versus January 2011

Last month, the nation’s employers announced plans to cut 53,486 jobs from their payrolls. That was the largest monthly layoff total since 115,730 job cuts were announced last September, according to job cut report released Thursday by global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.

The January total was 28 percent higher than the 41,785 job cuts announced in December. It was 39 percent higher than January 2011, when employers announced just 38,519 planned cuts. Continue Reading

Highest Paying Industry for Class of 2011 Was Financial Instruments

A new study has the securities, commodities, funds, trusts, and other instruments financial services industry coming in at the top for the highest average starting salaries for Class of 2011 graduates at the bachelor’s degree level.

The top five industries were:

1. Securities, commodities, funds, trusts, and other financial investments = $58,571 (42,000 hires);
2. Electric power companies = $56,780 (2,000 hires);
3. Non-depository credit / related activities =$53,825 (8,000 hires);
4. Computer systems design = $53,547 (50,000 hires); and
5. Business support services = $50,280 (1,000 hires).

Source: National Association of Colleges and Employers