Finance Analyst AMA

I'm doing maths economics and philosophy&ethics, will that put me at a disadvantage for getting into a good uni for an economics, finance or ppe degree

I'm currently working at an investment bank in London in the finance division in product control. Graduated from Bristol uni (studied accounting and finance). Feel free to ask any questions, feel like giving back a bit to a very useful forum. I remember the times when I used to go on here for careers advice lol.

As a finance analyst, do you analyse finance?

Hey fellow Bristol student!
What's the starting salary like, how much do you hope to be earning in 3/5/10 years?
How important is it to land an internship while at uni and any tips of securing one?

Am I more likely to get a job like yours doing A&F or economics?

Starting salary is in the thirties. In three years I'll hopefully be in the fourties, in five years, fifties, in 10 years' eighties.

Yeah but if a job fits your skills and interests, surely you'd find it fulfilling?

Thanks, and regarding the internship part?

Fair enough if you want to move into hedge fund management and this is stepping stone you use to get to that, but what was described in that link, is just prepping the bull for men who make important decisions.

I don't want to go into hedge fund management. Once you reach the senior levels in product control, you do get s lot more responsibility. It's also possible to switch roles within finance. I'm going to do a rotation in risk management soon, honestly I think that could be even more interesting.

It's almost mandatory I'd say. Most full time hires are hired straight from the internship. And in order to get an internship, I'd recommend really doing your research in the role. Go to networking events, insight days, anything you can get hold of and ask personal questions about the bank, the day to day work and really get the info that's hard to find online. You want to make sure you're an expert on what the job entails and what the bank's culture, values, divisions are.

Also, I'd recommend practising numerical tests and verbal tests. There's websites online where you can buy tests, I don't want to advertise but the popular ones are assessmentday and job test prep. If you can split the cost with a mate and use the same account do that, or just buy it yourself.

And do mock interviews if you can. Do them with a uni careers advisor if you have access to one, look at common competency questions online and plan answers to them. Just make sure you prepare, essentially.

It's disappointing how little importance is placed on these by our lecturers studying maths. Whereas my friend on an economics course, all they're told to do for the first few weeks of uni is to apply to as many internships as they can.
How do all the subjects like Econ, Accountancy n finance, Maths, Engineering etc compare to one another when applying for a finance analyst type job?
Also if I don't manage to land a decent internship for this summer (being a second year student) would you advise doing a masters course essentially for the purpose of landing myself a good internship for summer of year 3 and therefore as you said getting hired straight from the internship?

Do you think Accounting is a dry job?
How would you compare it against your own current job role, in terms of "excitement", salary and job satisfaction?

What I do is sort of 'accounting'. Personally it depends on your interests. I find the work involved in product control more interesting since you're working with complex financial products and you collaborate with other divisions of the bank, specifically trading.

hi buddy,

what would you say are the highlights/drawbacks of your role?

if you had the chance to choose any other role in finance (complete autonomy) what would you decide?

do you plan to pursue your career within the banking industry?

I'd say I like working with numbers and will never get bored of it. Tbh, I considered pursuing a career in accounting because I thought I wouldn't have to interact new people everyday and I don't really mind repetitive work. Would you say I am approaching this the wrong way?

I'm currently working at an investment bank in London in the finance division in product control. Graduated from Bristol uni (studied accounting and finance). Feel free to ask any questions, feel like giving back a bit to a very useful forum. I remember the times when I used to go on here for careers advice lol.