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 finance entry level jobs, question

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TSdonkeyg
post Jul 11 2018, 08:31 PM, updated 6y ago

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Hello guys, recently i've obtained my degree in finance with second lower class from university. i have done alot of researches about finance fresher jobs and the only interested position for me is financial analyst, however due to my low grade i dont think i can be a financial analyst. and im not really interested on sales job because many of my frens tht doing sales job recommend me not to step in that field unless i am a very special person with large network... now im thinking to join any company to work as account assistant/executive.

1.so my question is can a finance degree fresher be an account assistant/executive?
2.second question is what is your first job after graduated in finance?

im totally lost right now and i need some advise from sifu please.

This post has been edited by donkeyg: Jul 11 2018, 08:57 PM
eddydo
post Jul 11 2018, 09:18 PM

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QUOTE(donkeyg @ Jul 11 2018, 08:31 PM)
Hello guys, recently i've obtained my degree in finance with second lower class from university. i have done alot of researches about finance fresher jobs and the only interested position for me is financial analyst, however due to my low grade i dont think i can be a financial analyst. and im not really interested on sales job because many of my frens tht doing sales job recommend me not to step in that field unless i am a very special person with large network... now im thinking to join any company to work as account assistant/executive.

1.so my question is can a finance degree fresher be an account assistant/executive?
2.second question is what is your first job after graduated in finance?

im totally lost right now and i need some advise from sifu please.
*
can you describe what you think a financial analyst do on a day to day basis? just to be sure if I'm referring to the same things as you.

Question 1, why not? but you'll probably lose out a little on pay compared to an ACCA grad.


TSdonkeyg
post Jul 11 2018, 09:41 PM

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QUOTE(eddydo @ Jul 11 2018, 09:18 PM)
can you describe what you think a financial analyst do on a day to day basis? just to be sure if I'm referring to the same things as you.

Question 1, why not? but you'll probably lose out a little on pay compared to an ACCA grad.
*
as far as i know what financial analysts do is forecasting market , analyze financial data, watching market graph everyday, identfying market trends , develop maket tools and etc..

Question 1, why not? but you'll probably lose out a little on pay compared to an ACCA grad.

https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/2944890/all

according to #post10 and #post18 in the thread, i assume that finance graduates are not allow to work accounting job (sry correct me if im wrong)
eddydo
post Jul 11 2018, 10:22 PM

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QUOTE(donkeyg @ Jul 11 2018, 09:41 PM)
as far as i know what financial analysts do is forecasting market , analyze financial data, watching market graph everyday, identfying market trends  , develop maket tools and etc..

Question 1, why not? but you'll probably lose out a little on pay compared to an ACCA grad.

https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/2944890/all

according to #post10 and #post18 in the thread, i assume that finance graduates are not allow to work accounting job (sry correct me if im wrong)
*
I'm a pure finance grad (not A&F), and for those roles even if you have a good mark it'll still be hard to enter. sweat.gif

I'm unaware of that.

Regarding your second question I'm currently holding a financial advisory offer, but still hoping to break into IB.
I know a guy that got second lower but still manage to enter a investment firm, but lse econs grad with cfa level 1 at that time.

Wait abit there are alot of sifu here that might be able to comment.
TSdonkeyg
post Jul 11 2018, 10:29 PM

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QUOTE(eddydo @ Jul 11 2018, 10:22 PM)
I'm a pure finance grad (not A&F), and for those roles even if you have a good mark it'll still be hard to enter.  sweat.gif

I'm unaware of that.

Regarding your second question I'm currently holding a financial advisory offer, but still hoping to break into IB.
I know a guy that got second lower but still manage to enter a investment firm, but lse econs grad with cfa level 1 at that time.

Wait abit there are alot of sifu here that might be able to comment.
*
appreciate youre taking the time to answer my question.by the way may i know being a financial adviser is similar to sales job?(which mean you need to find customers by urself in order to hit target set by your company) or they automatically come to find u for advise?

This post has been edited by donkeyg: Jul 11 2018, 10:33 PM
eddydo
post Jul 11 2018, 10:39 PM

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QUOTE(donkeyg @ Jul 11 2018, 10:29 PM)
appreciate youre taking the time to answer my question.by the way may i know being a financial adviser is similar to sales job?(which mean you need to find customers by urself in order to hit target set by your company) or they automatically come to find u for advise?
*
erm no not even close lolol.

it's under mergers and acquisition, think corporate finance or some may call it corporate advisory.

so valuations, financial modelling, financial due diligence etc.

This post has been edited by eddydo: Jul 11 2018, 10:40 PM
BukLau
post Jul 12 2018, 09:49 AM

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QUOTE(donkeyg @ Jul 11 2018, 08:31 PM)
Hello guys, recently i've obtained my degree in finance with second lower class from university. i have done alot of researches about finance fresher jobs and the only interested position for me is financial analyst, however due to my low grade i dont think i can be a financial analyst. and im not really interested on sales job because many of my frens tht doing sales job recommend me not to step in that field unless i am a very special person with large network... now im thinking to join any company to work as account assistant/executive.

1.so my question is can a finance degree fresher be an account assistant/executive?
2.second question is what is your first job after graduated in finance?

im totally lost right now and i need some advise from sifu please.
*
It seems like you don't exactly know what you want.

To clarify, the position "financial analyst" is widely used to refer as account executive in Malaysia, so do pay attention to the job description when you're applying one.

Have you consider working in a treasury role? It's very underrated & a road less taken path to the top finance management. Do some research about it smile.gif
TSdonkeyg
post Jul 12 2018, 11:01 AM

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QUOTE(BukLau @ Jul 12 2018, 09:49 AM)
It seems like you don't exactly know what you want.

To clarify, the position "financial analyst" is widely used to refer as account executive in Malaysia, so do pay attention to the job description when you're applying one.

Have you consider working in a treasury role? It's very underrated & a road less taken path to the top finance management. Do some research about it  smile.gif
*
didnt know about that


thanks i will check more about this position role
Topace111
post Jul 12 2018, 11:41 AM

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QUOTE(donkeyg @ Jul 11 2018, 08:31 PM)
Hello guys, recently i've obtained my degree in finance with second lower class from university. i have done alot of researches about finance fresher jobs and the only interested position for me is financial analyst, however due to my low grade i dont think i can be a financial analyst. and im not really interested on sales job because many of my frens tht doing sales job recommend me not to step in that field unless i am a very special person with large network... now im thinking to join any company to work as account assistant/executive.

1.so my question is can a finance degree fresher be an account assistant/executive?
2.second question is what is your first job after graduated in finance?

im totally lost right now and i need some advise from sifu please.
*
You are not lost, you over think and no action.

Apply for the jobs you want first.

If you are not able to find your dream company, find medium companies then proceed to smaller companies if no news.

If you are not able to find your dream job, start with similar roles or smaller roles.

Your main worry should only about 2 things. Interview preparations and job offer considerations. Focus your worry on those things you can control. No point being fixated about things that are yet come to past or beyond your control.

TSdonkeyg
post Jul 12 2018, 02:00 PM

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QUOTE(Topace111 @ Jul 12 2018, 11:41 AM)
You are not lost, you over think and no action.

Apply for the jobs you want first.

If you are not able to find your dream company, find medium companies then proceed to smaller companies if no news.

If you are not able to find your dream job, start with similar roles or smaller roles.

Your main worry should only about 2 things. Interview preparations and job offer considerations. Focus your worry on those things you can control. No point being fixated about things that are yet come to past or beyond your control.
*
thanks for the advises sifu thumbsup.gif
yix17
post Jul 18 2018, 01:01 AM

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You are not alone in this struggle. It seems like most of the finance grad especially those with pure finance degree will end up drowning in this dilemma upon graduation. Imagine you have invested so much of time & effort in building up a foundation for the field of your interest but all ur dreams & passion can be just easily shattered by the cruelty of real life at one glimpse.

Seemingly, the job demand for this field is scarce and have high entrance barrier. Most of the job openings with such titles: finance assistant/executive/officer... have nothing much to do with the core of finance but focus more on accounting functions. Since most of the fresh entry level jobs require at least one year of experience, you need to be prepared for the fierce competition with other fresh grads and those experienced who are far above par than you. You may survive the pre-screening if you have relevant experience during your internship and previous working. But as what is expected, the scarcity in this job field hardly allows finance grads to land into the relevant job, not to mention for students to secure an internship position which is highly related to this field.

This same goes for those who explore into the accounting field. Fresh grads with finance and accounting are still considerable for accounting entry level job. However, those with pure finance degree will be deemed as lower-tier candidates as they are lacking of the solid accounting background or professional qualifications eg. Acca, MIA. Its hardly for finance grads to go further in this field without professional certs and it takes longer time for them in getting those certs without any exemption due to their non-accounting degree.

Truly agree that its hard for fresh grad to enter into this field even with good academic results. At the end of the day I think that regardless of how fancy is your resume, how good is your interview, the network does matter.


(Ps: Sorry, just found out that i have blabbered too much. Not here to shower you with negative thoughts, but just to share some of my perspectives on this matter. By the way, wish you all the best in your future endeavour.)
Topace111
post Jul 18 2018, 04:39 PM

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QUOTE(yix17 @ Jul 18 2018, 01:01 AM)
You are not alone in this struggle. It seems like most of the finance grad especially those with pure finance degree will end up drowning in this dilemma upon graduation. Imagine you have invested so much of time & effort in building up a foundation for the field of your interest but all ur dreams & passion can be just easily shattered by the cruelty of real life at one glimpse.

Seemingly, the job demand for this field is scarce and have high entrance barrier. Most of the job openings with such titles: finance assistant/executive/officer... have nothing much to do with the core of finance but focus more on accounting functions. Since most of the fresh entry level jobs require at least one year of experience, you need to be prepared for the fierce competition with other fresh grads and those experienced who are far above par than you. You may survive the pre-screening if you have relevant experience during your internship and previous working. But as what is expected, the scarcity in this job field hardly allows finance grads to land into the relevant job, not to mention for students to secure an internship position which is highly related to this field.

This same goes for those who explore into the accounting field. Fresh grads with finance and accounting are still considerable for accounting entry level job. However, those with pure finance degree will be deemed as lower-tier candidates as they are lacking of the solid accounting background or professional qualifications eg. Acca, MIA. Its hardly for finance grads to go further in this field without professional certs and it takes longer time for them in getting those certs without any exemption due to their non-accounting degree.

Truly agree that its hard for fresh grad to enter into this field even with good academic results. At the end of the day I think that regardless of how fancy is your resume, how good is your interview, the network does matter.
(Ps: Sorry, just found out that i have blabbered too much. Not here to shower you with negative thoughts, but just to share some of my perspectives on this matter. By the way, wish you all the best in your future endeavour.)
*
Let me share my thought from the other side.

During your study days, you will learn a diverse area in finance. A bit of everything like doing NPV, IRR, cash flow, black-scholes, WACC, ..

You see those things are actually very complicated in practice as compared to theory. As student, most of those things are provided to you and most assumptions are already fixed. In reality, its not. Due to the complexity of such work, you may see a team of people just to come out with the valuation. Different people will do different thing. For example in financial modeling, one may build and design the model, one to input and another one to test multiple scenarios. So, its indeed a steep learning curve for any new grads.

Hence, they prefer people with more in-depth knowledge such as mathematicians, statisticians or actuaries and quants. Even engineers are preferred as they know problem solving skills. The general perception is that it’s easier to teach finance to these people than the other way around.

You are right about network but where you graduate from also matters. For example, Ivy leagues have little issue jumping into finance field even when they have limited background. This is due to the nature of work where they value the ability to learn quickly. The easiest way is to see where they graduate from.

Darrenhans
post Jul 18 2018, 06:31 PM

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u need this.

https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/careers/map/

iammasivers
post Jul 18 2018, 09:14 PM

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QUOTE(donkeyg @ Jul 11 2018, 08:31 PM)
Hello guys, recently i've obtained my degree in finance with second lower class from university. i have done alot of researches about finance fresher jobs and the only interested position for me is financial analyst, however due to my low grade i dont think i can be a financial analyst. and im not really interested on sales job because many of my frens tht doing sales job recommend me not to step in that field unless i am a very special person with large network... now im thinking to join any company to work as account assistant/executive.

1.so my question is can a finance degree fresher be an account assistant/executive?
2.second question is what is your first job after graduated in finance?

im totally lost right now and i need some advise from sifu please.
*
financial analyst can mean a lot of things. But financial analysts normally do forecasting/budgeting for the firm instead of analyzing stocks and investments. Interned in CIMB before as a financial analyst so I know what's up. Lots of advanced Excel, macros, very little use of finance/accounting knowledge. Normally minimum CGPA of 3.0 is required for freshie. To answer your question:

1. Yes you can be account/finance executive with your finance degree.
2. My first job is audit/tax associate, studied accounting & finance.
DrZan
post Jul 20 2018, 10:26 AM

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QUOTE(donkeyg @ Jul 11 2018, 08:31 PM)
Hello guys, recently i've obtained my degree in finance with second lower class from university. i have done alot of researches about finance fresher jobs and the only interested position for me is financial analyst, however due to my low grade i dont think i can be a financial analyst. and im not really interested on sales job because many of my frens tht doing sales job recommend me not to step in that field unless i am a very special person with large network... now im thinking to join any company to work as account assistant/executive.

1.so my question is can a finance degree fresher be an account assistant/executive?
2.second question is what is your first job after graduated in finance?

im totally lost right now and i need some advise from sifu please.
*
Brother, first thing is, you should stop discriminating yourself because of your CGPA, its not an issue.

Truth is, most companies don't really care about CGPA, unless the competition for that position is extremely high. All they wanna see is 'Oh, this guy Degree in Finance'.

When it comes to impressing the HR & managers, a great resume & interview has much much much more impact on your success on getting the job.

I suggest to review your resume, think hard, spend time on it, design a good COMPACT layout, get some ideas from online templates.

If no part-time experience, 1 page will do. If got experience + curricular activities + achievements/awards + projects, make it about 2 pages - Short, brief, and precise is the key, all in point form if possible.

Lastly, dont include your CGPA in your education history - its not a crime. If they really wanna know? Let them phone you first.

Good luck!
eddydo
post Jul 20 2018, 04:35 PM

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QUOTE(DrZan @ Jul 20 2018, 10:26 AM)
Brother, first thing is, you should stop discriminating yourself because of your CGPA, its not an issue.

Truth is, most companies don't really care about CGPA, unless the competition for that position is extremely high. All they wanna see is 'Oh, this guy Degree in Finance'.

When it comes to impressing the HR & managers, a great resume & interview has much much much more impact on your success on getting the job.

I suggest to review your resume, think hard, spend time on it, design a good COMPACT layout, get some ideas from online templates.

If no part-time experience, 1 page will do. If got experience + curricular activities + achievements/awards + projects, make it about 2 pages - Short, brief, and precise is the key, all in point form if possible.

Lastly, dont include your CGPA in your education history - its not a crime. If they really wanna know? Let them phone you first.

Good luck!
*
you're not from the finance field are you? icon_idea.gif
Coffiegirl
post Jul 21 2018, 11:05 AM

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QUOTE(Manada @ Jul 18 2018, 05:40 PM)
Bro,

Financial Analyst can mean a lot of things. You have back office analysts like accounting and credit, middle office like research and risk management, then you have the front office, perhaps the most attractive in finance that does M&A, Investment Banking, Advisory, etc etc. I believe you're referring to front office work?

If you look hard enough, you do have lots of options.

Industry, job scope:
1) Insurance, equity.
2) BIG 4 (Pwc, EY, etc.) Financial advisory or what PwC like to call it "Deals"
3) Banks (MayBank, CIMB, etc.), Investment Banking (hard) and Consumer and corporate finance (easy)
4) Private Equity (PE) firms, although experience in IB before joining PE is highly recommended.
5) Offshore banks (JP Morgan, RBC, Deutsche, BNP, etc etc), most of these firms only have operations office in KL. Even if IB is present, only a small selected few. And yes, your chances are out of the ballpark if you wanna join as a fresh grad in the IB dpt of these banks.
6) Non-banks (GE, Shell, etc etc.) About any other MNCs with a finance dpt.
7) Government Linked Companies (EPF, Khazanah).

I dont believe you applied to all the industries I said above ^

The world's your oyster.
*
Hi Manada,

Sry a bit off topic here. Im currently doing audit in big 4. Im in financial services. Im thinking of switching to financial advisory - probably debt side advisory. Do you think it is better for me to switch only after I reach senior or with 1 year exp will do?

Thanks in advance! Heh

Coffiegirl
post Jul 23 2018, 04:52 PM

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QUOTE(Manada @ Jul 21 2018, 12:26 PM)
Doesnt matter, generally I would recommend switching as early as possible so you get more experience. Since you're in the Big 4 ecosystem, I dont believe flexibility within or between firms is an isssue if you wanna switch from 1 line to the other.
*
Within is a bit hard because they want to retain us in audit as this forever need ppl. Probably between. Haha
eddydo
post Jul 23 2018, 05:15 PM

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QUOTE(Coffiegirl @ Jul 23 2018, 04:52 PM)
Within is a bit hard because they want to retain us in audit as this forever need ppl. Probably between. Haha
*
hijack thread abit sorry ts.

Which firm are you with? and are you familiar with the financial advisory side of your firm?
Sglang123
post Dec 13 2018, 10:00 PM

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QUOTE(yix17 @ Jul 18 2018, 01:01 AM)
You are not alone in this struggle. It seems like most of the finance grad especially those with pure finance degree will end up drowning in this dilemma upon graduation. Imagine you have invested so much of time & effort in building up a foundation for the field of your interest but all ur dreams & passion can be just easily shattered by the cruelty of real life at one glimpse.

Seemingly, the job demand for this field is scarce and have high entrance barrier. Most of the job openings with such titles: finance assistant/executive/officer... have nothing much to do with the core of finance but focus more on accounting functions. Since most of the fresh entry level jobs require at least one year of experience, you need to be prepared for the fierce competition with other fresh grads and those experienced who are far above par than you. You may survive the pre-screening if you have relevant experience during your internship and previous working. But as what is expected, the scarcity in this job field hardly allows finance grads to land into the relevant job, not to mention for students to secure an internship position which is highly related to this field.

This same goes for those who explore into the accounting field. Fresh grads with finance and accounting are still considerable for accounting entry level job. However, those with pure finance degree will be deemed as lower-tier candidates as they are lacking of the solid accounting background or professional qualifications eg. Acca, MIA. Its hardly for finance grads to go further in this field without professional certs and it takes longer time for them in getting those certs without any exemption due to their non-accounting degree.

Truly agree that its hard for fresh grad to enter into this field even with good academic results. At the end of the day I think that regardless of how fancy is your resume, how good is your interview, the network does matter.
(Ps: Sorry, just found out that i have blabbered too much. Not here to shower you with negative thoughts, but just to share some of my perspectives on this matter. By the way, wish you all the best in your future endeavour.)
*
so true

i am also graduated in finance. when i type "finance" keyword in jobstreet, indeed there are a lot title called "finance assistant", "finance executive" bt all of them required accounting education background.

i am also lost right now, the best bet for me is to enter sales banking line to become a slave dreaming to hit the target in order to earn big money

 

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