Entry Level Finance Jobs and COVID

Job hunting is challenging enough as it is. But imagine new graduates looking for entry level finance jobs in this current crazy environment. It’s not as if we entered 2020 during a boom era for finance sector revenue either. The 2008 financial crisis put paid to that.

The fallout from that troubled period led to swathes of new regulations, ultra-low interest rates, and disruption through technology. This all existed before the pandemic. The coronavirus has just made things a lot harder for the industry and those looking to join at entry level.

COVID-19 has delivered weaker consumer spending and the risk of a massive jump in non-performing loans. And with a backdrop of spiking public borrowing, this is not a great environment for banks to make money. And when they aren’t making money there’s always pressure on hiring plans. Financial institutions need to be able to survive a crisis, first and foremost.

It’s worth noting that financial institutions and their employees aren’t the bogeymen this time around. They aren’t being blamed for the economic fallout that we’re currently going through. In many ways, they are being viewed as key support for the economy – providers of cheap capital to those in need, whether that’s a corporation or the man on the street. They came into this crisis with healthier balance sheets, more liquidity, and better levels of capital than they did last time around.

But that doesn’t mean there isn’t trouble ahead for those looking for jobs in the sector. The huge impact on future cost structures, income generation opportunities, and returns on equity, will likely influence the performance of financial institutions and their hiring decisions over the long term.

What does that mean for entry level finance jobs?

Those looking to get into the industry have to adapt to an environment that’s going to undergo seismic change over the next decade. It’s still too early to fathom how things are going to look in years to come in certain finance job areas. High street branches are disappearing, customers are seeking more digital user experiences, and we still can’t judge just how damaging the global recession will be on the sector.

What we do know is that technology is going to play a bigger role than it ever did before. You will see the birth of whole career paths that don’t currently exist. At the same time, many of the skills you’ve learned at university, and had assumed would keep you in good stead, will likely obsolete at a faster rate. That’s one of the consequences of COVID.

And this is at a time when finance graduates are being churned out around the world at unprecedented rates. For those looking for entry level finance jobs, it’s become so much more competitive.

It wasn’t always like that. Young people from all kinds of backgrounds and disciplines were able to get decent roles early in their career. It certainly worked well for me. Maybe I’m selling myself short, but I can’t imagine now being able to get an entry level finance job with my History degree.

How can you help yourself?

You should obviously do all the sensible stuff.

Craft a good quality resume/CV, get yourself found on LinkedIn, network, network, network. Know your strengths and weaknesses.  Be prepared for online interviews. Make sure you have a decent grasp of the more popular technology skills sought after (e.g. VBA, Python). At the same time, you have to realize that plenty of your competition will be doing exactly the same thing. And you can’t just rely on what has worked in the past.

So you’ve also got to accept that you must remain adaptable. Be ready to career pivot if your preordained path is no longer available to you. You may have always wanted to be an Equity Analyst, was inspired to become a Relationship Manager, or had spent years gearing up to be a Compliance Officer. But things change. COVID-19 has seen to that. The industry owes you nothing, least of all those of you looking for entry level finance jobs.

So how can you get ahead?

Think differently.

“Predicting rain doesn’t count, building an ark does.” This wisdom from Warren Buffett goes beyond the world of investments. You can try to guess what the future will look like. And hope you’re correct. And that’s fine in many contexts. Alternatively, you can think of how best you can survive in an ever-changing world. It’s about learning to be flexible and knowing how to pivot. Adapting to change. Even for entry level finance jobs.

This could involve disciplined planning around different scenarios (e.g. “what will happen to this career path, and the skills I’ve got to offer, if ‘X’ happens?”), building action plans for each scenario, and taking action. This approach requires plenty of observation.

One of your first steps should be to try to get to know what the market is looking for. That’s where sites like Jooble come in. This is a vertical job search engine that aggregates and displays job ads from thousands of job boards, corporate, recruiter pages and newspapers. If you checking out such sites you will get a clearer sense across the finance job market and different geographies as to what is on offer in the entry level jobs space.

Importantly, by checking out these types of sites often enough you will also get a sense of how things are changing. And how fast the coronavirus is accelerating change as well. Don’t just guess the requirements (“predicting”). It’s about acting intelligently on what you see in front of you (“building”). This should ensure that you are more likely to remain relevant.

This approach will be particularly useful if you still have some time before you start your job search. For example, you may still be a few years away from graduating from university. You may be considering your internship options. Whisper it quietly, but you may even decide that the new world of banking isn’t what you want to.

Being strategic will give you time to build the most relevant knowledge ahead of the game of job search, to know what you’re shooting for, and to build the necessary skills as well. You may already have started applying for entry level finance jobs. This thinking may give you something different. You need an edge. And in this messed up world, we all need one of them.