Realistic Prospects In Finance

0.01% chance, unless you think a job at retail bank means a finance job.

'financial advisor' you see at your local bank is just a sales person.

also, that person may have a university degree; i haven't met a single person where i've worked either in co-op or full time job right now who had their degree on their wall - even ones from very prestigious universities in the world.

mathiewannabe wrote: ↑0.01% chance, unless you think a job at retail bank means a finance job.
'financial advisor' you see at your local bank is just a sales person.
also, that person may have a university degree; i haven't met a single person where i've worked either in co-op or full time job right now who had their degree on their wall - even ones from very prestigious universities in the world.

K, well at least I know what to expect. I'm going to apply anyways because I have to take the chance and for EI purposes.

gelato69 wrote: ↑K, well at least I know what to expect. I'm going to apply anyways because I have to take the chance and for EI purposes.

only possible way is probably to go for higher education like mba and do co-op/internship in finance and try to bridge in. other than that, it's pretty much 0% chance at real finance jobs.

If you are asking this and graduating you are too late.

Coop would have been the best time to get into back office for Finance. Front end is mostly sales with minimal wage salaries or CSRs standing in a fortified cage.

FAs has base mid 30s with low 40s with bonus unless you are reallllllly good at pitching, but then you would have been better off selling bimmers in the first place.

If you're applying with your current qualifications then chances are slim to none. You could instead go back to school and get your MBA, full-time or part-time.

In the meantime you could also apply for a teller's job at a bank like TD. I know a couple of friends who started as tellers and after a year or two got a position at head office that was more finance related.

The only big money in sales in finance is hedge fund manager or sales desk with a capital markets firm or if you have a large portfolio of high net worth clients as a financial advisor. Not saying you cant make decent coin at a branch level but like others have said its not a real finance job. But if you want to work in a bank branch nothing wrong with that, especially if you become a branch manager, its a fairly cushy job that makes you around $70k with bonuses and you rarely work overtime...

Sanyo wrote: ↑The only big money in sales in finance is hedge fund manager or sales desk with a capital markets firm or if you have a large portfolio of high net worth clients as a financial advisor. Not saying you cant make decent coin at a branch level but like others have said its not a real finance job. But if you want to work in a bank branch nothing wrong with that, especially if you become a branch manager, its a fairly cushy job that makes you around $70k with bonuses and you rarely work overtime...

I know managers and abms that put in more hours but they can't put it down as OT. They are "expected" to stay longer to get things done which in the end matters because of their end of year bonus

It is a cyclical industry (our b-school admitted this) and the 'real' finance jobs like being a part of an elite investment team are very close-knit. Then things like i-banking where the big money is is hyper-competitive. It is one of those fields where you really got to have connections and look like someone they want to work with. Doesn't matter in those cases whether you have the best resume on paper and the brightest mind.

We used to joke that the BCOMM was the bank teller degree as that was what happened to a lot of those students who didn't find the right connections, as they would fish out bills just so they could wait for internal openings and apply from within. Another option is to end up on the sales side of things (e.g. insurance, funds), but a lot of those gigs are commission-tied, and there might be better things you could be selling.

Another issue with 'people' jobs in general is they like to hire good looking people versus less attractive, for obvious reasons. You will always have the good looker who will never have issues finding a job for some reason.

Then, the financial sector is more alive in the US, not as much in Canada.

man, a lot of people seem to want finance but it's quickly becoming a fool's errand in Canada. tough gig to crack.

angrybanker wrote: ↑man, a lot of people seem to want finance but it's quickly becoming a fool's errand in Canada. tough gig to crack.

But that's all there is to Canada's economy. The only jobs are in oil, finance, and to a lesser extent retail.

Good luck. Unfortunately, Canada has very little significant industry outside of Mining and Oil/Gas. Hoping for that coveted well paying finance job is almost non-existent without solid connections. Any of those certifications won't help you. Whats your science degree in? Any chance you can couple that into a job?

gelato69 wrote: ↑But that's all there is to Canada's economy. The only jobs are in oil, finance, and to a lesser extent retail.

Well, consulting is booming for instance...the top consulting firms are hiring a lot. I just see a lot of people coming on these boards who want some kind of investment-banking or similar job, but very rarely does someone come on and ask what it takes to become a management consultant....

angrybanker wrote: ↑Well, consulting is booming for instance...the top consulting firms are hiring a lot. I just see a lot of people coming on these boards who want some kind of investment-banking or similar job, but very rarely does someone come on and ask what it takes to become a management consultant....

What does consulting entail? Isn't that just basically telling a business what they are doing wrong or what they need to do in order to grow?
Doesn't that require specialty in the area that you are consulting in (e.g. consulting a retail business one should have a retail background)?

I'm not a consultant, but it's a pretty broad field. There's management consulting, which is essentially advising on corporate strategy. That's broken down into different industries and functions. For instance, Boston Consulting's Financial Services group, which can deal with things like integration advisory for M&A etc. There's operations consulting, which is optimization of operational processes. throughputs, efficiences, supply chain, etc. Consulting is a more clear-cut path in terms of getting in; if you go to a good MBA school and do well, you have a great chance of getting in consulting. Whereas the valedictorian from my year didn't even get a single i-banking interview.....

Hydropwnics wrote: ↑Good luck. Unfortunately, Canada has very little significant industry outside of Mining and Oil/Gas. Hoping for that coveted well paying finance job is almost non-existent without solid connections. Any of those certifications won't help you. Whats your science degree in? Any chance you can couple that into a job?

Lol Did you know that the oil and gas sector contributes only 10% to the Canadian economy?

gelato69 wrote: ↑But that's all there is to Canada's economy. The only jobs are in oil, finance, and to a lesser extent retail.

There is mining, but you don't hear of it too much. There's jobs in that field but not many people want them.

Canada is primarily a resource-based economy

Really depends on what you mean by a "finance job". I know someone who had a Comp E degree and got into HSBC's trainee program straight out of University - which put her into an account manager role in retail banking. That might be a valid option for you.

FirstGear wrote: ↑There is mining, but you don't hear of it too much. There's jobs in that field but not many people want them.

Canada is primarily a resource-based economy

Not to mention the TSX Venture is mostly mining.

Hillaryclinton wrote: ↑Lol Did you know that the oil and gas sector contributes only 10% to the Canadian economy?

Mining and Oil/Gas props up so many other sectors in this country though. Besides Car manufacturing, which is severely decreasing in prominence. resource extraction is the saving grace of this country's finances and economy.