Finance is a popular field with graduates as it offers a steady career with the potential for high-salaries and rapid career progression.
While a role in finance often requires specific qualifications and a particular skill set, the industry is extremely competitive, meaning many finance professionals often start working in the industry as graduates.
Below we’re exploring the common experience many finance graduates face, what you can expect to do in a typical graduate role and how much you can earn in a graduate finance job.
How much can you earn in a graduate finance job?
According to online data, the average graduate job pays around £24,500 across the UK. For finance professionals, the salary is generally much higher.
A graduate that becomes a Chartered Accountant, for example, may earn anywhere up to £40,000, while a banking professional can earn between £55,000 and £70,000 if they’re operating in the investment space or for a large, global firm.
How can you get a graduate finance job?
One of the easiest ways of getting a graduate finance job is by entering a graduate scheme. While the nature of the scheme depends on the business you’re working with, they’ll generally be a multi-year process that has you working in various teams across various locations.
Within most schemes, you’ll be operating in a hybrid fashion, splitting your time between working from the office and working from home. To maximise your understanding, you’ll generally work across different departments to fully expand your learning.
Some schemes may differ and offer intensive training around a specific discipline. Industry analysts and data scientists, for example, will usually focus on this aspect of the role throughout the scheme.
Regardless of where you work, you’ll generally find that the scheme combines work and study, meaning you’ll earn your qualifications as you build experience.
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What graduate finance schemes are available?
A typical finance graduate scheme lasts between one and three years based on the industry and the experience or specialisms required in the field. The structure may change from business to business, depending on the size of the operation and how their graduate scheme fits into the wider hierarchy.
For example, one graduate scheme may focus on an individual team within a smaller business while another may have you working across a number of different teams as part of a larger financial organisation.
Commonly you’ll find graduate schemes and graduate roles in one of the following financial sectors:
Accountancy: As part of these schemes, you can expect to go through an accredited qualification process while also earning work experience within the industry. This usually requires a period of study with an accounting body and then final exams, resulting in the graduate being a qualified accountant.
Finance: Whilst finance is sometimes used as an umbrella term, it can also refer to more general business finance such as data analysis or data science. Finance teams generally focus on financial strategy and more long-term planning as well as day-to-day operations.
Banking: If you’re a graduate looking to move into investment or wealth management, you’ll generally look at graduate finance jobs in banking. This is a popular path for people that want to work in assets or investment, offering higher salaries and fast-paced roles.
Insurance: Insurance graduate schemes are perfect for professionals that want to enter roles as underwriters or in claims and risk management.
Before you start a graduate scheme or identify graduate finance jobs you want to apply for, consider these fields and what might work for you.
Why choose a graduate finance job?
There are currently one million people employed in the financial sector within the UK – especially as the finance industry remains a key driver for the UK economy.
This makes the sector extremely lucrative for professionals, especially those that work their way up a larger organisation. The only downside is these roles are generally very competitive, requiring specific qualifications and skills.
For graduates, this presents the opportunity to earn significantly more than graduates in other sectors while also building job security and huge potential career progression.