Careers in financial analysis don’t imply careers that only deal with money. This is just the beginning for a finance graduate. There are quite a lot of career options in this industry which requires new professionals. The multifaceted nature of the industry offers diverse options with multiple sub industries offering niche opportunities. The best way out is to do thorough research and find the finance career alternative that is best suited to your needs and qualifications.

Key Concepts

A financial analyst is the person who studies and analyzes financial data on behalf of their clients and guides them about how they should channel their investments. Their responsibility is to critically scrutinize the company details in which their client is keen on investing. The analyst studies the financial reports of the company and concludes about its performance and value. The key aspect to take up a career in financial accounting is to have specialized knowledge, logical interpretation of facts and good communication abilities so that the person is able to meet deadlines and multi-task effectively.

Corporate Finance

This is a career in financial accounting which involve working for a certain company to find as well as manage the capital that is required to run the enterprise. In the process, financial risks are minimized, while corporate value maximized. Sophisticated jobs in the field of corporate finance involve acquisition activity and mergers to determine the value of a division to ensure a spin-off. Positions that complement corporate finance include internal auditors and treasurers.

Commercial Banking

The positions span from local institutions to large bodies and come with a good array of financial services from checking the savings accounts to loans and IRAs (individual retirement accounts). As far as financial analysis in commercial banking is concerned, your job options span loan officers, bank tellers, branch managers and operation marketers. This is where you can advance from a job in a local branch to a job at the corporate headquarters. Through commercial banking, you can grow or branch out to other fields like international finance.

Investment Banking

This is a field that comes with some of the most intense and glamorous financial careers. The jobs involve a issuing of corporate security and making them available for investors to purchase. Investment bankers address wealthy investors as well as large corporations. As an investment banker, you need to interact with mergers and acquisition professionals for trading bonds and stocks in the securities market.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Julia_S_Ward

Michael Colliss, an unemployment advocate and consultant on unemployment issues and based in Massachusetts on the article database site Gather.com recently published an article on the findings of the U.S. Department of Labor:

Every Thursday, the U.S. Department of Labor releases a report on new jobless claims that have been filed. This report is considered by many who monitor the employment situation to be an extremely important way to determine what gains, if any, are being made in the employment situation on a weekly basis.

On Thursday, August 5, The Department of Labor released a report on individuals filing for unemployment benefits for the first time during the week of July 26 through August 2 that shows a total of 479,000 individuals across the nation filed for unemployment benefits for the first time. This was the highest one week total since April of this year and is a disappointment for those that are looking for any signs that the job market is improving.

Most economists were projecting a lower number of new claims and this report does tend to support the belief that the economy is simply not recovering at a rate anything close to the rate needed to provide jobs to the millions of Americans who lost their job through no fault of their own as a result of the Great Recession.  While people loose their job all the time, even when the economy is strong, most economists believe that until such time as new jobless claims fall to about 350,000 per week and stay at or below that level, the unemployment situation cannot look for any significant sustained improvement.

While the economy did see some growth in the last months of 2009 and the first three months of 2010, this report, which shows the highest number of new claims since April, is being interpreted by many economists as further evidence to support the growing belief that the recovery has come close to stalling. Americans who are employed are spending cautiously as they save more and pay down debt. Home sales and construction have slumped after a popular homebuyers’ tax credit expired on April 30. The impact of the federal government’s stimulus efforts is fading.

This increase of 479,000 new claims does not include those whose on-going claims were interrupted in June and July while the Congress debated extending unemployment insurance eligibility, which eventually passed into law on July 22.

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending August 2 were in Minnesota, Vermont, North Dakota, Wyoming and Colorado.

This disappointing report comes one day before the all-important monthly report on unemployment in America that is scheduled to be released on the morning of August 6.  Right now, the official national unemployment rate is 9.5%.  Most economists do not expect this number to be lower when the latest report is issued on August 6. In fact, quite a few are even expecting an increase in the unemployment rate.

In a related report issued on Thursday, August 5, the Department of Labor provided the latest number of people collecting unemployment insurance benefits nationwide.  As of the week ending August 1, the total number of people collecting unemployment who are in the initial claim period (20 to 26 weeks depending on state) is 4,544,790. The number of people that are collecting unemployment insurance benefits under the federal extensions (due to expire on November 30) is 3,965,000 for a total of 8,509,790 nationwide. This number of course does not include those who, for whatever reasons are unable to collect unemployment insurance benefits yet are unemployed. This means that unless Congress acts to, at the very least, extend eligibility for federal unemployment extensions beyond the current November 30 deadline, as many as four million individuals may well see their benefits cut off again, even though they have not used the full 99 weeks.

This report seems to reinforce the concerns of many that the economy may well be sliding into a second recession (the so-called “double dip” recession. “This report will make more economists and investors worried that the economy is going to slide back into negative growth, which would make it much more challenging to recover,” said the highly respected Robert Lutts, president of Cabot Money Management in Salem, Massachusetts in an interview on CNBC.

If the national unemployment report to be released tomorrow does not show a decline in unemployment, let alone an increase, there will probably be more political pressure on members of the U.S. Congress to take steps to spur job creation and at the very least, extend eligibility for federal unemployment insurance extensions beyond when they are currently expected to expire on November 30.

1. Show your special qualities

For every job you apply for you could be up against hundreds of other candidates so you need to make sure you stand out, both with your resume and cover letter. Businesses do not purely buy skills; they want results. Therefore, you have to illustrate how you can make their firm money or enhance it in some way. An important thing to note is that if your resume is too fancy or distracting it will not usually make it past HR and you then have no chance of the manager even seeing it. This is mainly due to the fact that it is seen as unprofessional and cheesy. When you think about it, it is not imperative to a company that you can create snazzy resumes that merely look nice, all they are interested in is that you can deliver on your job. Do not allow yourself to come across as amateurish.

2.  Pick a professional template

The reader of your resume will only spend about 30 seconds on it, so if it is messy and ambiguous, they will not have the patience to read more. There are many places on the internet where you can find free examples of templates to guide you.  Just remember that the conservative approach is usually the safest bet.

3. Target your industry when writing your resume

Many people neglect to recognize just how valuable it is to target your resume to your chosen field. Not doing this at all is suicide to your interview prospects, and doing it badly can result in many missed opportunities. This might appear to be time consuming and pointless, but the effort you apply on tailoring your resume at this step will do you justice in the long term. This can greatly boost your probability of securing an interview. The more targeted your resume is, the more likely you will end up being the perfect candidate for the job. If you have taken the time to address the key qualities desired from the advertisement, you will undoubtedly impress.

4. Have no spelling or grammatical mistakes

It is misleadingly simple to make mistakes in your resumes and unbelievably difficult to undo the damage once an employer has gotten hold of it. As well as checking your spelling and grammar, make sure your employment dates match up and that you’ve provided the right phone number and email address. To help you further, get a friend or relative to read over it and point out mistakes that you may not have noticed yourself. It is always good to have a second judgment here as you may not be reading your resume in an objective enough way to really make it work for you.

5. Keep your resume up-to-date

When you begin to write your resume it can be very difficult to recall all of the skills that you have garnered in your roles. To avoid leaving important pieces of information out, revisit your resume every month to add anything of importance, and cut any information that is no longer required. Another good idea would be to brainstorm qualities and skills that you have obtained from new roles and training. If you have recently left a job or done some training try to think about what these things have taught you and what you brought to the experience.  If you are able to approach your resume in a more open minded manner then it will surely remain up-to-date and relevant.

The company is divided into four divisions: Consumer, Corporate, investment management and international operations. The international operations division one of the best places to work in the company because it is constantly expanding; Bank of America currently has clients in over 150 countries.

The company prides itself on its ability to cloth the athlete in bitter cold or blistering heat. Under Armour’s mission has been to provide the world with technically advanced products engineered with superior fabric construction, exclusive moisture management, and proven innovation since its inception in 1996. The companies multiple awards show their employees passion for making the best has paid off. Some of the more recent awards include receiving the 11^th Annual Webby Award in the category of “other advertising: email marketing”, Silver ADDY Award for Consumer Promotion and campaign of the year in 2005.

The founder and current CEO, Kevin Plank, is a former University o Maryland football player whose goal was to create a better t-shirt for athletes; one that would take perspiration off your skin rather than absorb it.

Despite the slow recovery of the economy, there are good jobs emerging for people who have the right attitude and the right qualifications. Even if your degree isn’t in a job that sounds perfect for you, apply and highlight these 7 skills during the interview process.

Agility

As companies are starting to rebuild from firing whole departments of people during the recession, they are looking for people who can fill those vacant spots as well as people who could multi-task and have the ability to move to different positions. Some companies are also looking for more part-time and temporary positions; ones they can downsize without the drama and expense of a major layoff. This means that work will become less predictable and have more turnovers along with incorporating different disciplines into one position.

Those people who are able to adapt and become agile in the workplace in temporary positions turn out in the long run to be attractive potential full-time employees.

Skill Combos

Here’s where the multiple degrees might hurt you; when you’re totally focused on one section of one topic, you’re limited as to what kinds of jobs are available to you. Highlighting two or three set skills during your interview and on your resume will pull you on top of the interviewee pile. A 2009 study by consulting firm McKinsey found that the highest earners with the best overall prospects have a combination of valuable skills. Keep in mind, the more you can bring to the table, the more reasons a company has to hire you.

Tacit Skills

Companies have developed a value system that highlights intangible qualities that are hard to put on a resume. These include things like informed intuition, judgment under pressure, ease with clients, problem-solving abilities, etc. These “tacit” skills tend to come with experience, but they also develop when people are actively trying to seek additional responsibility, volunteer for tough assignments, and are willing to take risks. Showing these types of skills and qualities to a potential employer is easy; make sure your list of references can attest to your tacit skill set and have specific examples of how those skills were used.

Broad Vision

You might be missing out on the perfect internship or career simply because you aren’t looking for it! Most people are continuously looking in the field they have the most experience with, but with companies downsizing in many industries; you might be fighting a losing battle. Instead of focusing on the job or title you want, focus on your skills and explore whether you can apply them in a different field.

Analytics

Chances are that no matter what field you chose, there will be new data-gathering tools to help assess performance and identify opportunities available to employees. Being knowledgeable about your own performance gives you the opportunity to improve upon it!

Curiosity

Being curious about other fields of study or work can help open doors not readily available to you. If you have a background in print marketing but have an interest in learning more about online marketing, showing that curiosity and interest will show future employers that you are willing to research and learn new things on your own.

Self-reliance

Developing more technical skills instead of relying on others, making lots of backup plans, and building a big cushion in case something goes wrong are key skills to have for self-reliance. In a recovering economy corporate America is not as sound a concept as it was 10 years ago. Being open to change and knowing you have the ability to take whatever comes at you is an attractive asset to companies and employers.

This company profile contains the multiple companies that encompass the holding company of One to One Interactive. All of the smaller companies, combined with the holding company, help build informed and creative customer/constituent strategies on the belief that digital media and its ability to provide targeted, permission based, one-to-one dialogues represent the cornerstone of the marketing future. The companies that make up One to One Interactive are:

• OTOi (Boston) – This office offers strategic consulting, plus creative, marketing and technological services to Fortune 1000 companies worldwide. Delivering compelling strategy, inspired design and unparalleled strategic marketing leadership, OTOi helps brands build informed strategies that deliver measurable results.
• OTOnetworks (Baltimore) – This part of the company joins customers and brands through a series of highly structured and engaging network sites and digital media. Working with clients along with their network of internal sites allows OTOnetworks to excel in performance marketing and affiliate networks to give clients their specified audience, and give specific demographics the information they want in websites.
• OTOlabs (Boston/Reno/Salt Lake City) – OTOlabs provides marketers with an Integrated Content Delivery and Messaging Platform that reaches a broad set of digital touch points including email, desktop, widgets, social media and mobile applications.
• OTOinsights (London/Brazil/Singapore) – OTOinsights is redefining customer experience research by rooting it in socially informed/multi-channel personas, semantic customer interfaces, atomized content optimization, and leading edge neuromarketing research techniques.

In applying for jobs from online databases like Monster, an individual needs to remember that hundreds, sometimes thousands, of other individuals are also applying for the same position – some at the same exact time! There is no way one person could go through all those resumes. A lot of companies, especially larger ones like Aflac and Google, have a computer system filtering resumes by keywords.

Keywords are words that are significant to the employers. For example, if you are applying for a writing position at a sports magazine, the company might make a program that looks for words such as “editing”, “sports”, “writing”, or other terms relevant to the position in your resume writing. Once these resumes are sorted, the ones without keywords are thrown out, and the others get sent on to a human resources employee.

To make sure your resume writing impresses not only your employer, but your employer’s computer, use these resume writing tips on keywords.

Choose the Right Keyword

The use of a computer program, or applicant-tracking system, will search for specific keywords in your resume writing. Look at the application and try to incorporate words from it that describe the job you are applying for. Use those terms – when applicable – to the descriptions of your previous employment in your resume writing.

Use Variations of Keywords

Using different keyword variations will give you a better chance of being picked up by keyword sensitive programs. For example, if you are applying for an engineering position, put “engineer” as well as “engineering” in different positions in your resume writing.

Use Keywords Smartly

Make sure the addition of keywords does not make the reading of your resume seem sloppy or forced. Although adding keywords will get your resume passed the computer, if a human resource employee reads a sentence with keyword dense writing, they’re going to dismiss your resume without a second thought.

Make your Job Title Generic

Some people try to fluff their resume writing by creating titles for jobs that make them seem more unique or more important. This is extremely bad to do in resume writing. Employers know all the variations of the term “waitress” and will not be fooled by calling it anything else. On the other hand, if your specific company gave your position a very specialized title, but most companies would not recognize it, go with the broader title and put your specialized title in parenthesis.

For example, if most companies would consider your previous job a “business analyst” position but your official title was “process improvement specialist”, use the former as the main job title in your resume writing, and put the more specific title in parenthesis.

Use Text Only

Microsoft Word is notorious for copying and pasting incorrectly to website text boxes. This is because the use of certain characters is not recognized on the web from the Word coding in resume writing. When you are copying and pasting a resume into a website text box, make sure you click on the text-only version. Double check when you paste it in that your formatting is still correct.

Follow Directions

This is a no brainer, but one that people sometimes skip when applying for multiple positions on a job database. Make sure you follow the instructions of each job listing in the application process and in your resume writing. Some may ask for just resumes, others might ask for resumes, cover letters, and references.

A 401k plan sounds easy enough, but putting together the basis for your retirement plan when you are in your early 20s is a lot more daunting than it seems. The last thing one wants to do in the beginning of their career is take out even more money from their paychecks. Between rent, food, student loans and day-to-day expenses, taking just 5% out may seem like too much.

Although it seems hard, starting your 401k plan now will really help down the road. Here are some tips on how to set it up so you can still live comfortably now, and plan for a retirement where you can live comfortably as well.

Start Early

Even before you get your first paycheck, fill out the required forms to start your 401k. Although many companies might push you to save 10% initially, it is OK to put as little as 4% into your retirement plan. As you earn raises with your company, the amount you put away will increase, and you can continue to raise the percent you put into the plan.

Get a 401k Match

As previously mentioned, some companies will match the savings you put into your 401k plan. A company match of 50% up to 6% of pay for an employee earning $35,000 annually can boost that worker’s retirement savings by $1,050 each year. That adds up to a lot when you think about retiring after 40 years of work!

If your company does not offer to match, you still want to invest in a 401k plan; not only for the savings but for the tax break as well. You do not pay any taxes on the money you save until you reach retirement.

Roth 401k

In 2006 the Roth 401k plan was created. This plan allows you to place some or all of your contributions into a Roth savings plan and have it treated as after-tax dollars. This means that instead of getting the tax break of the traditional 401k plan, which makes you pay the income tax in retirement, the money will be taxed now. This in fact might be a better option for young professionals because they tend to be in a lower tax bracket than they will be during retirement.

Scrutinize Autopilot Settings

Make sure you know if your company automatically enrolls you in a 401k plan or not. This is more common in larger companies and can affect you poorly if the amount they take out is too big a percentage. Keep an eye on how much is taken out of your paychecks, what fees you are being charged, and when you are allowed to make changes.

Pick Diversified Investments

The economy is slowly on the rise, which is good for young investors. As a young professional, you have the opportunity, with your 401k, to enter the world of investments at low prices and benefit from rising equity values. Choosing a mix of stock funds, bonds and cash that fits your personal risk tolerance is highly recommended by economists. “If the provider offers low-cost index funds, indexes are a nice, low-cost way to build a diversified portfolio,” said Mark Berg, a certified financial planner and the president of Timothy Financial Counsel.

Another thing you want to make sure you don’t do is invest too heavily in your own company. Staying below 5% of your investments is recommended.

However, one must remember that tech career profiles are not the only kind out there. Creative careers have decreased in popularity due to the common belief that they have low pay. However, these career profiles, some not conventionally creative, offer employees 40k or more!

1. Marketing and Business
   • Description: Knowing where to put your work is vital in not only making money, but creating a name for yourself. Having knowledge in business or marketing is key for an artist’s livelihood. Whether your passion is in photography, music, visual arts or graphic design, having a bachelor’s degree in business administration or marketing can prepare you for marketing your work in the best possible way.
   • Pay: The pay for a marketing or business creative career depends on the type of degree and experience one has. A marketing manager with experience can make on average $108,580 a year! However, a recent grad would be making substantially less, but still somewhere around 40k.
2. Education
   • Description: This career profile is not usually thought of as a creative option for recent grads looking for a career. However, teaching art, computer science, chorus or music is a great creative career. If being around kids is not for you, being an educational specialist or arts organizer could be a better option. These positions work with students and are in the education field but do not have as close a working relationship with students as teachers do.
   • Pay: In a public school, the average pay for a teacher is anywhere between $47-51,000.
3. Web Design and Development
   • Description: This career description is one of those that combines the highly sought after technological careers with a creative aspect. Web design is a highly lucrative and highly competitive career choice. The age of technology continues to grow and more companies are looking to profit from their online presence. There are also many smaller venues like music groups, theater companies and art galleries looking for web designers to promote their product or company. These clients tend to give their designers full artistic creativity.
   • Pay: average of $51,000
4. Technology
   • Description: Every company has some sort of technology infrastructure, even creative venues. Theaters, museums, art schools, concert venues and camps need to maintain databases and security information. Tech specialists and database administrators may not seem very creative, but with a bachelor’s degree in computer science, technology information or database technology, these jobs could be for you.
   • Pay: average of $70,000
5. Paralegal Studies
   • Description: Intellectual property is a link between the legal and creative worlds. With music, pictures and other creative materials available at the click of a mouse, it is extremely easy to infringe upon an artist’s copyrighted work. Working with a paralegal puts you in the middle of the action and allows you to not only get to know law better, but help protect other artist’s works. An associate’s degree in paralegal studies or a paralegal certificate program is needed for this type of creative career.
   • Pay: $66,330 is the average annual salary for paralegals who work in the publishing industry, and those in arts, entertainment, and recreation earn $57,120.