career opportunities for undergraduates, in general, and for finance majors

lol, a lot of questions for one post.

I'm a business major, and just had an internship over the winter with Smith International It's an oil company, a market where I'd like to be involved in....and a good one to be in. (I was in Saudi Arabia)

Companies hire all sorts of people (majors).

Not necessarily finance, but Accounting is a good area to work in.

 

We had a similar thread awhile back, might want to do a search.

Anyway, I'm a finance major but do accounting, I would suggest to get your CPA or CFA depending on the route to take as well as your MBA. Always continue your education, (get the company to pay for it).

When I was in B school they told us the number one desired trait was communication skills. After working for awhile I tend to agree, also just learning patience and how to handle different personality types.

If you can't find something right away consider temp jobs to get a foot in the door.

 

Sorry don't mean to derail but your thread title made me think of this song and this movie scene.

Carry on.

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<font face="Verdana" size="1" color="#999999"><br/><a style="font: Verdana" href="http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=6835097">Jennifer Connelly riding a Electric Horse</a><br/><object width="425px" height="360px" ><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/><param name="wmode" value="transparent"/><param name="movie" value="http://mediaservices.myspace.com/services/media/embed.aspx/m=6835097,t=1,mt=video"/><embed src="http://mediaservices.myspace.com/services/media/embed.aspx/m=6835097,t=1,mt=video" width="425" height="360" allowFullScreen="true" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent"></embed></object><br/><a style="font: Verdana" href="http://www.myspace.com/heslep">DIEHARD DOL-FAN (AKA: John)</a> | <a style="font: Verdana" href="http://vids.myspace.com">MySpace Video</a></font>

 

Do internships and remember college graduates take a lesser hit when looking for jobs because the lower salaried entry level positions usually aren't the ones being gigd.

 

You should learn the workplace drama/politics during your first internship

Mine was pretty meh, even though it was the hq of a huge company.

 

If you live in Houston, most of the big companies will be in the energy industry. The energy industry is pretty stable and isn't as quick to fire as other industries.

I know of a few UT graduates that have done well in Energy in Houston. The key is getting pass the layers of interviews. Learning how to interview can be a whole class by itself.

 

Good questions.

I graduated with a Finance degree, immediately after graduating, I worked for Travelers in their underwriting department. Part of that had to do with the amount of respect I had for Ajit Jain, Berkshire Hathaway's chief underwriting officer. About two years into it, I started to lose interest.

Currently, I'm an analyst, commercial banking. It's challenging, you have long hours and completely different personalities. The other poster is correct, communication skills are by far the most important quality- we write reports constantly.

Depending on what your interests are, if you choose a career in finance, make sure you know accounting well.

Before Travelers , I interned at Citi-investments, JP Morgan-credit cards (twice), the Hyatt Resort (accounting department), and lastly a hedge fund-event driven. Each position allowed me to find out at an early age what I did and didn't like.

I apologize ahead of time if I don't respond, I rarely post. Best of luck.

 

I hear data entry at the JP Morgan - Rochester office is hot this year.

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