Accountancy, banking and finance

The finance sector revolves around money. Careers in this sector are well suited for those who have excellent attention to detail, numeracy skills and an interest in managing money for a range of customers.

Given the recent decline in bank branches, this sector is changing rapidly. This has created demand for many new roles, including in cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and data analytics.

Typical jobs in this sector include:

  • accountant
  • investment manager
  • banker
  • financial adviser
  • data analyst
  • database manager.

Key skills that are useful in this sector include:

  • decisiveness
  • mathematical understanding
  • being able to work comfortably with large amounts of data
  • interpersonal and communication skills, especially when working with clients
  • analysis, not only of numbers, but how to solve clients’ problems.

For job profiles and detailed information on getting a career in the finance sector, see the Prospects website:

Accountancy, banking and finance profile

Contents

How to get a job

To prepare for a career in finance, you should research the sector carefully. You should also talk with people who are in the sector already.

Work experience is also an essential requirement for gaining employment in this sector. You can gain this through internships, insight days, and speculative applications.

Make a connection

It is particularly important to connect with people with experience of the sector. St Andrews’ graduates have gone on to work for a range of companies, including Deloitte, EY and Blackrock. To connect with them, consider joining:

See more ideas for making a connection.

Internships

Paid summer internships are common amongst medium and large employers in this sector. These internships are usually aimed at students in their second-to-final year of their degree (known as their penultimate year).

These internships are usually highly competitive, with 200 applicants sometimes competing for one opportunity. It is important to prepare for the application process carefully: see the below information on applying for a job in finance for more information.

Forage virtual internships are a way you can gain internship experience within this sector. Some companies will fast-track an in-person internship application if you have already completed a Forage internship with them.

Find internships (Careers Centre)

Insight days

Larger firms often offer insight days and short work experience opportunities for first and second-year students. As well as gaining some work experience, these opportunities could provide you with useful contacts and possibly a formal placement.

You can often find these types of opportunities at:

Speculative applications

You can contact an employer who is not advertising a vacancy about gaining work experience – this is known as making a speculative application. See the following resources for lists of small and medium-sized firms you could make a speculative application to:

Attend events

The Careers Centre often puts on events where you can talk to employers visiting St Andrews. Visit the events page for more information.

Further study

A postgraduate qualification is not normally required for a career in finance. However, a Masters degree may demonstrate you have a genuine and extensive interest in the subject. There are many courses that might be right for you:

You could also consider taking a professional qualification from a chartered institute. You can find recommended qualifications for specific jobs in finance on the Prospects website.

See more information on further study.

Finding a job

Check out our job listings for vacancies or see the resources below for jobs in the finance sector.

Find jobs (Careers Centre)

Jobs in the UK

Graduate training schemes

Graduate training schemes are common in the finance sector. A graduate scheme is paid entry-level job that also acts as a training programme. These can often lead to completing a professional qualification. See Prospects’ information on finance graduate schemes.

Jobs outside the UK

Applying for a job

The selection process for accountancy graduate training schemes varies between employers, but is typically in three or four parts:

Typically, large accountancy employers use competency-based selection processes, but some may use strengths-based assessments. You should research the company you are interested in to understand the skills, competencies and values they are looking for. Also check the company’s website, as many provide details on their recruitment and selection processes.

If you would like personalised help on any aspect of applying for a job, you can book an appointment with a careers adviser.  

Applying for a job