Career Change to Finance

[KenJ]

Hi all,

Just after some advice please - In summary, I'm looking at a possible career change into Finance, specifically thinking of a Financial Advisor or Accountant. My background is as follows:

34 year old with a degree in Automotive Engineering. My working career to date has been spent in two large automotive manufacturers starting off as a design engineer, then moving into technical service and currently working within Project Management. Although I don't dislike my current role, I simply feel my skills and interests would better align to a career in finance. I enjoy working with numbers, spreadsheets are a source of joy rather than hate (sad I know!), and I take an interest in financial news and policy (again, sad I know).

I believe my degree, which was heavily mathematically biased, means I would have the basic skills for a transition into the financial world.

Basically, what do you all think? Any advice on where to start or any information would be gratefully received.

[bludger]

Qualifying in finance as an accountant takes time as I'm sure you realize. At 34 you will be around 37 by the time you qualify and you will be competing with 25 year olds for entry level jobs. I was qualified as a chartered accountant with a degree at 26 to give you some perspective, a much more normal age.

Finance has already been automated to a considerable extent and this will continue so there are going to be less jobs in future.

With your background business school makes much more sense. A concentration on the strategic issues and soft skills is likely to pay much higher dividends in career terms and your maths skills will be a definite asset and help you to leverage your other strengths.

[CzechItOut]

How about applying your project management experience in a role more related to finance, such as within a financial services company?

Are there any major banks or similar near you?

[s2kjock]

Being an accountant is not all about maths and being "good with numbers" - it is much more about analysis, interpretation and communication.

[Countdown]

KenJ said:

Hi all,

Just after some advice please - In summary, I'm looking at a possible career change into Finance, specifically thinking of a Financial Advisor or Accountant. My background is as follows:

34 year old with a degree in Automotive Engineering. My working career to date has been spent in two large automotive manufacturers starting off as a design engineer, then moving into technical service and currently working within Project Management. Although I don't dislike my current role, I simply feel my skills and interests would better align to a career in finance. I enjoy working with numbers, spreadsheets are a source of joy rather than hate (sad I know!), and I take an interest in financial news and policy (again, sad I know).

I believe my degree, which was heavily mathematically biased, means I would have the basic skills for a transition into the financial world.

Basically, what do you all think? Any advice on where to start or any information would be gratefully received.

I’d suggest having a look at the CIMA website.

https://www.cimaglobal.com

[Zetec-S]

As mentioned above, check out CIMA as it sounds like the best route for you. Your current skills and experience will translate well into industry as you already have exposure to that work environment and project management. If you work for a large organisation could there be scope for a move internally into a finance role?

It'll take 3-4 years to qualify depending on whether you are granted any exemptions from the certificate level, although depending on your accounting knowledge it might be worth doing the certificate level anyway as it will teach you the fundamentals.

You'll almost certainly have to take a drop in pay to get a relevant position and practical experience, but age won't be a factor unless you want to work for one of the "big four" (hint: you probably don't). Passing the attitude test and getting stuck in with whatever needs to be done will open enough doors for you to get started.

[Vaud]

If you are good with maths, I'd look at getting into some of the more complex areas of business analytics.

[M511]

KenJ said:

Hi all,

Just after some advice please - In summary, I'm looking at a possible career change into Finance, specifically thinking of a Financial Advisor or Accountant. My background is as follows:

34 year old with a degree in Automotive Engineering. My working career to date has been spent in two large automotive manufacturers starting off as a design engineer, then moving into technical service and currently working within Project Management. Although I don't dislike my current role, I simply feel my skills and interests would better align to a career in finance. I enjoy working with numbers, spreadsheets are a source of joy rather than hate (sad I know!), and I take an interest in financial news and policy (again, sad I know).

I believe my degree, which was heavily mathematically biased, means I would have the basic skills for a transition into the financial world.

Basically, what do you all think? Any advice on where to start or any information would be gratefully received.

Hi Ken, I got my masters in engineering at 26 and soon after realised engineering had a glass ceiling that's hard to break. I got into finance eventually (29) with no official financial qualifications, I did 2 finance courses (30) on edx and coursera. Now I project manage in financial and insurance services. If you have the drive and 6 months then you can do those online courses and start applying. If you can get through those courses then getting a certified course done with CISI etc would be the next step (in the process of looking at one course now! im 31).

something else to consider, you can arm yourself to the eyeballs with qualifications and still not get through the door. I looked at some courses that demanded 300 hours of study, you could learn a language in that time and I think this may be more useful than learning a new subject.

[kev1974]

bludger said:

Qualifying in finance as an accountant takes time as I'm sure you realize. At 34 you will be around 37 by the time you qualify and you will be competing with 25 year olds for entry level jobs. I was qualified as a chartered accountant with a degree at 26 to give you some perspective, a much more normal age.

Finance has already been automated to a considerable extent and this will continue so there are going to be less jobs in future.

With your background business school makes much more sense. A concentration on the strategic issues and soft skills is likely to pay much higher dividends in career terms and your maths skills will be a definite asset and help you to leverage your other strengths.

My partner is a Group Financial Controller in a FTSE250 company in the city and has been interviewing for months for people to join at the lower end of the team. They just can't get people to do the entry level stuff, either they come to the interview and are complete idiots, or they join and do a couple of weeks and then just jack it in, deciding that basic audit or report prep is beneath them. The couple of people they've had through to interview and who have come over well, have both been snapped up by even bigger companies.

So I would not worry about competing with 25 year olds for the entry level jobs, based on what she says, they don't want them! They all expect to go straight to financial controller!

[Vaud]

kev1974 said:

My partner is a Group Financial Controller in a FTSE250 company in the city and has been interviewing for months for people to join at the lower end of the team. They just can't get people to do the entry level stuff, either they come to the interview and are complete idiots, or they join and do a couple of weeks and then just jack it in, deciding that basic audit or report prep is beneath them. The couple of people they've had through to interview and who have come over well, have both been snapped up by even bigger companies.

So I would not worry about competing with 25 year olds for the entry level jobs, based on what she says, they don't want them! They all expect to go straight to financial controller!

More enlightened companies do look for some practical life experience as well, fortunately.

[bludger]

kev1974 said:

My partner is a Group Financial Controller in a FTSE250 company in the city and has been interviewing for months for people to join at the lower end of the team. They just can't get people to do the entry level stuff, either they come to the interview and are complete idiots, or they join and do a couple of weeks and then just jack it in, deciding that basic audit or report prep is beneath them. The couple of people they've had through to interview and who have come over well, have both been snapped up by even bigger companies.

So I would not worry about competing with 25 year olds for the entry level jobs, based on what she says, they don't want them! They all expect to go straight to financial controller!

Would your partner look for someone in their mid 30s for such a post? - frankly I doubt it; the vast majority of jobs are for NQ or nearly NQ and this means people in their mid/late 20s, not mid/ late 30s.

The OP will be a few years older and automation will be that much further down the line. When I started in a professional office it was ten years before electronic calculators; by the time I retired I couldn't see how you could get work without a knowledge of IT and Excel.

I think the OP would be making a major mistake going down this route.

[Countdown]

kev1974 said:

My partner is a Group Financial Controller in a FTSE250 company in the city and has been interviewing for months for people to join at the lower end of the team. They just can't get people to do the entry level stuff, either they come to the interview and are complete idiots, or they join and do a couple of weeks and then just jack it in, deciding that basic audit or report prep is beneath them. The couple of people they've had through to interview and who have come over well, have both been snapped up by even bigger companies.

So I would not worry about competing with 25 year olds for the entry level jobs, based on what she says, they don't want them! They all expect to go straight to financial controller!

What rates are they offering for non-qualified staff?

We have the same problem, primarily because the market for Finance staff is pretty strong at the moment and salaries are on the up. We are having to offer £25k min for graduates with 1 year's experience and, as soon as they're PQ they want £30-£35k and NQ £40k upwards. That's with maybe 3 years experience. These are Manchester rates so if your OH is in London you can probably add on 20%...