How to get a financial analyst job

As a financial analyst you will have the chance to earn a small fortune. The salary for this sort of position can be very high indeed, and as you would expect there is a lot of competition for positions. Follow our plan to help you get through and give yourself as good chance of getting a financial analyst job.

1. Get the right qualifications. Realistically to work for most of the decent companies you will need a degree in a suitable field such as economics, statistics, accounting, business administration or finance to understand what it takes and to learn the skills needed to become a financial analyst.

2. Get your licences and certificates in order. There are a lot of companies who will now support you through some of your licenses, so it may not be necessary to take them all prior to applying for jobs, but it certainly won’t hurt. At the very least you will need to register with FINRA. The best advice we can give is to take all of the licenses off your own back to be as fully qualified as possible for the jobs at stake. You will have to do an exam through either Pearson VUE or Prometric. You will then need to become certified through the Certificate Financial Planner Board of Standards. This is the gold standard, but if you can get this before starting out you will give yourself a very good chance of success.

3. Create a great resume. Qualifications, certificates, licenses and experience should all be clearly visible to your potential employer. Something very clear with all of the facts is going to have great impact when applying for a financial analyst position because you can make it abundantly clear that you are more qualified than your peers.

4. Find companies in your local area. You may well be prepared to move out of your current location in order to find a position but we would always recommend searching in your neighbourhood because it is more likely that you will come across someone who you know which will always help.

5. Speak to your university lecturers. They may know people within the industry and if they can give you a good reference than this may be worth its weight in gold.

Good luck breaking into this very competitive field. Remember that the more qualified you are for a position of this nature, the better the chance you stand.