Financial firms say you can apply with any degree.
That’s how you have Harvard graduates with concentrations in History working in Finance.
There are people on my floor who studied subjects like Classics and English Literature. You don’t need a business background for most financial jobs.
There is an intangible value in just being educated beyond the direct skills needed for a technical job.
You do for his. He had to test into his job. Knowing the job was critical. Twenty-two others who didn’t do as well didn’t get the job (one job).
Sure he possibly could have learned the info elsewhere, but college made it easy - and with a fun atmosphere.
Can I ask his job title?
You don’t have to make it too specific but if you feel comfortable, I’m curious.
I.e. Investment Banking, Asset Management, Sell-side equity research
Overseeing all accounts for a multi-million (billion?) dollar company. This includes pay, upkeep, purchases, and pretty much anything else. He makes sure it’s all good for the accountants later - and works out for what the company wants to do in the future. If he finds things that can be done better (and he has - saved the company quite a bit) - he tells his higher ups (which is pretty much top level of the company).
I don’t know the specific title TBH.
ETA: I looked it up. The company is worth more than 3 billion according to google, so not small, but not huge either.
In some other countries, a medical degree does not require a bachelor’s degree beforehand.
In the US, it used to be that law degrees did not require bachelor’s degrees beforehand.
Does anyone really think we have better doctors, lawyers or physical therapists than Europe?
The two most popular tertiary degrees in America today are engineering and business. What is the problem?
The finance industry did not make up as large a portion of the economy back then compared to now, so the total economic rewards for being in the finance industry were not as high, leading to less competition to get in.
Also, the job market decades ago had much more non-job-related discrimination (including, but not just what is illegal discrimination now).
Not saying that it is necessarily better or worse, but just adding to the examples of increasing credential requirements for various jobs.
I think this is just a commentary on how we’re moving the goalposts for everyone. College kids at top schools are gunning for internships that a generation ago almost no one had or wanted. Many who ended up being highly successful didn’t have college jobs that related to our field of study, we took time to be lifeguards, work in a golf cart barn, scan tickets at a ski slope, etc.
Now a lot of these kids think they should have an internship related to their degree after freshman year (even though they are likely still in prerequisite not major classes), and if they don’t have one after sophomore year they feel like they are behind the eight ball. No internship after junior year and you are out of the running. Of course, there’s also the trend to believe you will own a perfectly decorated “starter house” by your late 20s even though many of us started out married life living in an apartment - thanks to “influencers”. It is a crazy time for our kids.
@VirginiaBelle - both of my kids had internships in college which directly led to them having full time jobs after graduation. Many companies no longer invest in training new grads, so they offer internships to give the students experience (at a lower pay rate). I don’t necessarily agree with the way it is now, but that is the reality.
FWIW my “fun” job between my last 2 years of college was working full time in a factory (the only job I could find in my small town area and I needed the money). Working at a golf course or ski slope wasn’t even on my radar 
@DarkMatter565, you are making a lot of generalizations about the finance industry. Are you talking about present employment conditions or employment in London where you are.
My son is a CFA and has worked in buyside finance for many years. He was in IB right after college. He graduated from a top undergrad school known for its finance concentration. What you said does not correlate on his general experience. You definitely need a college degree or equivalent (you can explain what that equivalent means) to sit for the CFA part 2 exam. Plus to get the CFA designation, you must have at least 4,000 hours of experience, completed in a minimum of 36 months. Qualified hours must be directly related to the investment decision-making process or producing a work product that informs or adds value to that process. I know quite a few people may cheat on their experience, meaning their role did not involve investment decision process…but employer knows that… there are lots of unemployed or underemployed CFAs. When my son interviews analysts, they are asked to create mock portfolios and risk management portfolios, presentations on companies etc, you can’t really cheat your way in that easily.
Social media definitely doesn’t help. But one thing to keep in mind is that social media does NOT tell the whole story. People don’t post about their credit card debt or about the fact that they are really living beyond their means. Or they might have other issues they’re dealing with in their life…
I know plenty of people who worked jobs unrelated to their major in college and ended up doing very well in their careers. I also know people who did major related internships starting the summer after their freshman year and they didn’t even end up working in that field. And I wouldn’t say they’re any more successful then the people who worked in non-major jobs in college…
Another issue is that we seem to put college and the college experience on a pedestal. College is great, but it’s not the be all and the end all. I don’t like when people say college is the “best 4 years of your life.” What if it isn’t? Does the rest of your life not count? I think that’s a lot of pressure to put on college students. Also, it doesn’t help that college is getting more and more expensive.
True. There are many roles in financial jobs, back office, mid office jobs don’t require much financial background. A janitor who works for Goldman can truthfully say he works in an IB.
Yes, you need a degree or 4000 hours worth of work experience to become a CFA.
Nobody is denying that.
I’m saying that you shouldn’t need a degree to become one. As I said, there is a charterholder in my team who never went to university - he worked his way up from our operational teams outside of London.
And as I’ve said, we have people who went to Oxford or Cambridge who did classics or geography.
Yes, I’m talking about front office jobs. When I talk about floor, I literally mean floor. The Investment floor is kept separate from other teams/departments to create information barriers within the company.
Every member of IM has to sit through hours of material on insider dealing and access to information requirements .
Plus, the way my company is, we have an incredibly weird structure in that there is a US company and a British company that deals with everyone else so we have information barriers between the two companies as well. Same owner and same name but she’s only the CEO of the American firm with the same name, not the CEO of the British firm with the same name.
Taders are the ones who don’t need specific finance/business education. When you say you have an MD, you are prob in sell-side.
For the last time, I don’t have an MD.
Who are you on about?
Nor am I a trader. They generally execute orders at any buyside firm.
I’m at a buy-side firm in research.
I really don’t want to give away more than that because I’ve already revealed where I work from my above comment so I should stop.
Research is usually sell-side. Sorry I do not buy that.
Research is both buy-side and sell-side.
You can work as an equity research analyst at an asset management firm which is a buy-side research function.
Equity research on the sell-side sells their research to clients like us. Equity research analysts on the buy-side don’t sell their research but instead Portfolio Managers use the research.
Have you worked in the financial industry at all?!