I'm graduating from college within a year and starting to look for jobs on the market. Since my major now is finance and international business, I figure that a financial analyst would be my first choice of employment. Now I'm wondering if there are any financial analysts out there that can tell me what their daily routines are and what they do during work. Or if any of you know where I could find such information, it would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

 

You may want to consider Corporate Treasury, too. Try searching the web for a local chapter of the Treasury Managment Association, which is now known as Association for Financial Professionals.

Good luck.

 

are you thinking a financial analyst for a brokerage or for a corporation?

I'm a corporate financial analyst. What you do can vary a lot depending on the job you are in. Some jobs you just do monthly reports, which is easy but gets boring. Thank god for the internet. In my job I monitor our product lines' costs and try to keep them under control (I find problems where we hemmorage cash) and try to project them as well. generally, the bigger the company, the more specialized the role. I'd pick a good medium company. for you first job, you may want to try a prestigious big company to shine up your resume.

A daily routine consists mostly with grabbing data from a database (oracle, peoplesoft, even access) and presenting and interpreting your findings either in a report or in a meeting. If you do meetings, learn to become comfortable in public speaking (you won't advance if you can't do that).

It isn't horribly hard work. If you're really good at Excel, you'll find that the workload isn't too bad. It seems most people in my office struggle, but a lot of them are in their 50s and don't know the PCs that well. You'll find that's the norm. As long as you are in a position where you can shine, financial analysts have excellent advancement opportunities. The pay is good as well (after a couple years anyway...out of school, maybe $35K or so...if you are in a high cost area it will be more likely).

Overall, the work is OK. It can be a little boring during the slow times, but if you value a social life, this may be for you. the job security is pretty good, as well. the best thing you can do is pay for yourself.

 

I agree with Steven above. It all depends on the nature of the business and the corporate structure.

My position is called Sr. Operations Analyst, however my function is more of a financial analyst. I do alot of reporting and analyzing of actual incomes and expenses over a property-by-property or nationwide basis. I control the annual budget process for 50 locations nationwide as well as forecast future revenue and expenses for one month out all the way to 20 years out.

It all depends on the company. I do not have a finance degree (BS Hotel/Restaurant), I am a mix between actual operations and the finacial aspect of a business.

You should look for something involving analytical jobs, financial institution,banking or even lender financial (mortgages) banking. Always remember that you will need to learn (from experience) what aspects of a financial job you will enjoy, then tailor your goals to the next step jobs you get.

 

The above posts have hit pretty much all of the important points. It is ok work, the pay is steady, the hours are long and stretch into the weekend from time to time but I like the predictability. I am a planner and I need have the stability in order to stay sane.

 

Thank you guys for your replies and insight!

I'm thinking more along the lines of a financial analyst for a financial service firm. How does that differ from a corporate financial analyst? Also, do you think you could give me the break down, hour by hour, of what you do on a typical day? Besides reporting, "analyzing" using excel models, and surfing the internet , what else do you do during the day? Is work independent or do you work in teams? ... How about when you first started?

Sorry for all the questions but I'm really interested.

 

it's sounding like you want to be a stock analyst.

that is a very competitive field. you either have to be at the top of your class in a good school or a connected ivy leaguer to get into those jobs. And, no, I'm not kidding. The hours in these jobs are long; they work you to death because they know that next year's crop of grads is more than happy to come in. But if that's what you want, assuming you survive 2 years, the pay is awesome. getting in is the hard part.

 

Try this site:

Vault.com

There are lots of "Day in the life of. . . " articles.

 

[QUOTE=steven975,Aug 4 2004, 02:16 AM] it's sounding like you want to be a stock analyst.

that is a very competitive field.

 

that's also a competitive area. a corporate analyst job can lead to an area like that, but certainly not right out of school.

the best kind of preparation for a job like that is "big picture" knowledge. Generally, econ majors best prepare you for a job like that as econ degrees are essentially like finance, plus emphasis in game theory, industrial organization, and the skills to help guage demand (for feasability).

What you want is attainable, but not easy to get into. If you want to do it for a big firm, you'll have to start there and show your competence first.