PIMFA
Progressing your career in finance
Take your career to any level and direction you can imagine
Financial services is a very broad term with a huge variety of individual roles contained within it.
From client-facing at the front end to back-office and strategic planning, your personal skill-set will fit in somewhere, so it really is just about finding out what works for you.
Right from the beginning, if you are prepared to work hard, to learn, and value a team ethic then there is enormous potential for growth. The opportunities within our firms to think outside the box, take the initiative and come up with – and develop – ideas are tremendous.
"It's not just the work you do, your brand and your exposure in the company go a long way."
– Kean Wong, Director, Pricing & Capital Management
After a period as a successful financial adviser, you could choose to:
work on behalf of clients with larger sums to invest
specialise in one type of financial advice
such as pensions and retirement planning or savings and investments plans – you might become the acknowledged expert in your office and colleagues would refer to you when they needed specialist advice for a client.
move upwards within your company
and become responsible for the work of several other advisers, for the recruitment and training of new staff, or for marketing and promoting the company – this might involve developing links with accountants, estate agents and solicitors in order to encourage them to refer clients to you.
Some advisers move into compliance work
which involves ensuring that all advisers follow company rules and regulations issued by regulatory bodies.
In Summary
There may also be opportunities to become a director or partner in your firm, but self-employment is another option – it’s quite common for financial sales consultants with successful employment experience to launch their own businesses as independent financial advisers (IFAs).
Continuous learning is available on the job and, for some roles, it is essential to ensure you are keeping up to date and able to give your clients the best help possible.
Whatever path you choose, one thing remains constant and that is the deep satisfaction you will feel in the knowledge that you have used your expertise to really understand clients and allow them to use their own money in the best way in order to meet their objectives.
