Competition for best entry-level finance jobs intensifies

There was a time when a recommendation from a well-placed relative could get you an interview at one of London’s or New York’s financial institutions for an internship. Say the right things and you could begin a career in insurance or broking.

Today, even the best-connected wannabe brokers and bankers cannot rely on that luxury. However, help is available. For those seeking inspiration, FinTok (TikTok on finance and investing) and YouTube videos can help you to gain some fluency in the “language”.

For job seekers who already feel armed with some knowledge, LinkedIn, the social media site that is aimed at professional people, can help put new entrants directly in touch with high-paying investment banks, trading groups and fund management firms.

But finding the right connections on LinkedIn can be difficult and most candidates will need more than some free videos to gain an edge against rivals.

The good news is that there are some specialist recruiters and tools to help you get a foot on the finance job ladder.

More stories from this FT Schools report

Working in insurance guarantees a wide range of careers
Cash in or branch out: how to get started as a banker
Top tips for finance sector hopefuls
Asset management hirers seek personality and skills
Degrees remain essential for best-paid financial roles

In the US, sites such as Handshake connect job seekers with recruiters in sectors including finance, offering information about paid internships and graduate placements on Wall Street and other global financial centres. Internships can lead to full-time jobs.

Randy Tarnowski, research director at Handshake, notes that competition for finance positions has intensified. Each US investment banking internship drew 382 applications last year, he says, more than three times what a non-financial internship receives, according to Handshake.

In the UK, Bright Network, founded by James Uffindell, offers useful tools such as an online jobs and internship site for graduate roles.

Just as important, it offers access to networking events such as career fairs and its own Bright Network Festival. “Everything we do is free for candidates and members and [is] paid for by our 300-plus employer partners,” says Uffindell.

In general, few professional recruiters seek out younger applicants because recruiters earn fees based on their clients’ starting salaries and entry-level positions tend to pay less. One exception is Dartmouth Partners, based in London with offices in New York and Charlotte in the US as well as a presence in Hong Kong. According to Will Munn, his early careers team receives 65,000 CVs annually in London alone.

When he joined in 2018, Dartmouth focused on positions in sales and trading at larger investment banks. Since then he has noted a shift towards placements in fund management. For the intern and graduate programmes that Dartmouth runs for its City and Wall Street clients, applications have climbed around 35 per cent annually for the past two years, Munn says.

The main challenge was timing. You must apply within a couple of days of the internship being released

The main challenge was timing. You must apply within a couple of days of the internship being released

While Dartmouth has no problems attracting talent, employers themselves are having to do more. “Companies are having to work harder to differentiate themselves,” says Munn, adding that some candidates are keen to know about the employer’s culture, so they can get a sense of what it is like to work there and the likelihood that an internship will result in a full-time job offer.

Dartmouth’s process to secure a formal internship or place on a graduate programme can take six weeks, starting with perhaps 200 candidates having a telephone interview, 100 reaching a live video stage and then about 30 candidates sent to the client for the final interview stages, including practical tests of technical skills.

One young graduate from the London School of Economics says Dartmouth helped her connect to recruiters, but that she and her cohort also depend on Trackr for the latest list of finance internship and graduate programmes. Organised as one large interactive spreadsheet, information from employers such as banks, “quant” traders — which rely on mathematical or quantitative data to develop automated trading strategies — hedge funds, asset managers and boutique financial advisories changes daily, sometimes hourly. The site provides a link to applications enabling candidates to move quickly.

Speed is of the essence, the graduate says. Trackr updates so regularly that she and all her friends constantly check the site. “The main challenge was timing. You must apply within a couple of days of the internship being released.”

Competition for London roles can be intense, partly because European students on the continent also want these jobs and sometimes have more experience and maturity. “There are more Europeans [often older] applying,” she points out. And they are very keen. One woman she met had flown in from Portugal just for an internship event.

Companies receive huge volumes of applicants partly due to the success of sites such as Trackr that digitalise the search process, says Sam Leong, its founder and chief executive.

The majority of finance openings appear in the September to November period, with a smaller wave in January. Leong says 94 per cent of the 918 finance programmes on Trackr review applicants on a first-come, first-served basis.

Some companies fill their pipeline within hours, Leong says, adding that he had heard that Schroders, the asset manager, closes applications after receiving 1,000, “which Trackr alone sends within 24 hours”.

However, Hannah Tupper, Schroders’ head of emerging talent rejects the suggestion that Schroders has set limits. “We take a dynamic approach based on demand for individual programmes . . . rather than operating a strict application cap,” she says. But she adds that the company has seen a significant increase in applications in recent years and agrees that applications may start arriving within minutes of a role being advertised.

Free access to the FT for schools

Secondary schools and high schools around the world have free access to the FT

Uffindell, of Bright Network, offers these key tips for those just beginning their searches. Start and apply early. Polish your presentation skills and relish the experience. Also, be prepared — some interviewers will test technical skills. You may be presented with an example with data and asked to model a leveraged buyout.

Go to job fairs and networking events, including at university, to meet people both in the industry and among recruiters. Do not forget to seek out the well-placed family friends with financial industry experience, often happy to offer advice.

Finally, do not be afraid to stand out. As one senior City analyst says: “Are they interested in things and do they ask questions? I care less about if they know stuff than if they are genuinely smart.”