Career Opportunities

In business corporations, finance graduates are concerned primarily with financial management. Entry-level positions are often in the treasurer's department where new employees may:

• assist in managing cash and short-term investments,
• prepare budgets,
• handle relations with banks, or
• evaluate new investment proposals.

Some graduates may enter the credit department where they:

• analyze credit applications,
• make decisions on credit extension, and
• assist in collecting past-due accounts receivable.

Graduates joining commercial banks usually begin as management trainees. They are trained in various departments for a period of six to twelve months until they begin a position in:

• loans,
• branch supervision,
• operations,
• internal audit,
• trusts, and
• investments.

Graduates of the finance program are also hired by various governmental agencies as bank examiners, a position that entails considerable travel.

Those finance graduates who are interested in security analysis and investment portfolio management should first acquire some experience, preferably in a financial institution or sales before they consider positions in the investment research division of a brokerage firm. Occasionally college graduates are hired by brokerage houses for account executive positions, but persons with some business experience usually are preferred.

Risk management is another field of finance. There is a wide range of career opportunities in this field from sales to portfolio management. Entry level positions are in the areas of:

• management training,
• claims adjustment,
• underwriting,
• credit management, and
• sales. 

Careers extend into:

• employee benefits,
• managing exposure to financial risk,
• reinsurance, and
• physical risk management.

A finance graduate with accounting and computer knowledge will find that initial job opportunities and later career choices are almost unlimited. Surveys indicate that many of the top corporate officers (Presidents and CEOs) are graduates in finance or accounting.