Graduate Finance Jobs - 8 Options in the Financial Sector

If you are thinking of applying for a graduate finance job it's often difficult to understand which area of the financial sector would suit you best. We've found eight popular areas that might appeal to you when applying for jobs.

Audit – auditors are the referees of the financial world, they are responsible for making sure everyone follow the law as well as helping companies run their business more efficiently. They can either work for the company itself or an external firm. They carry out reports and assessments where about how the business can improve.

Banking – it's a big sector but investments banking as well as frontline customer roles are always popular for numerically minded graduates. As big companies, banks offer well structured but competitive graduate recruitment schemes. They often provide a great foundation in the industry and often offer a good level of pay compared many graduate jobs.

Accounting – it often requires further training but accountancy is very lucrative career choice. There are a number of different accountancy qualifications which would allow for specialisation in different areas. It's worth seeking out companies that offer training schemes that would allow you to work towards the professional qualification while getting paid.

Book Keeping – Book keepers carry out much of the day to day financial duties for companies. Often working for small to medium sized businesses they are tasked with keeping tabs on both the payments made and received by the company and keeping extensive financial records.

Insurance – another large sector with a variety of interesting and rewarding jobs. Underwriters help understand the likeliness of the insured event taking place, there are also roles for claims staff who manage the process when insurance claims are made by insurance policy holders.

Taxation – most people find tax a complicated area, for the people that understand how VAT and other taxes work your expertise is hugely valuable. Helping companies and individual manage their responsibility for taxation can be hugely rewarding with great opportunities for professional development.

Payroll – everybody finds it important to get paid at the end of the month and it's the payroll department of the business that makes sure it happens. As well as the normal pay cheque at every month they are responsible for making sure any relevant bonuses or deductions and keeping the appropriate records and paperwork.

Private Equity – if you find the idea of helping small high risk companies become successful private equity might be the ideal job for you after university. They are tasked with finding companies that they believe offer a great investment potential for the venture capital firm and then organise the deal between the two companies.