Why work for a global finance firm?

Global finance firms are amongst the biggest companies in the world, with the top companies making billions per year in revenue. Global finance firms include insurance, banking and investment services firms. There’s also the professional services industry, where the Big Four (PwC, EY, KPMG and Deloitte) are the most important players; among themselves, they audit most of the FTSE 250—they’re truly immense companies.

What is so appealing about global firms?

The biggest draw for many is the graduate schemes these firms offer, which include a range of training opportunities, fantastic facilities and some of the most competitive starting salaries in the financial world. Within most of these schemes, you have the opportunity to either specialise in a particular element of the financial world or work with a wide range of people from across a whole host of industries.

Global firms work on a large volume of transactions, from the world’s largest finance deals to smaller ones between companies, and offer the biggest range of career paths for employees to follow. There are also usually more perks associated with the bigger financial firms, such as company cars, free food and in-house benefits too, so if you’re looking for multiple small-term gains as well then perhaps this could be the industry for you.

What are the opportunities for progression within global firms?

The opportunities to progress through the ranks at a global firm are generally more competitive, but hard work and dedication can provide some of the most rewarding results and promotions within the industry—bigger firms mean bigger positions of responsibility and therefore bigger salaries, although it can take a while to climb up the ladder!

So if you’re looking to establish yourself in a global corporation, are willing to put the hours in to make yourself stand out and are able to learn quickly for the exams that mark these schemes, the results can be extremely rewarding; if this sounds like your kind of scene, graduate schemes in global finance firms are the way in to a competitive and fast-moving part of the industry!