Personal Career Strategy, Pros and Cons of the Occupation - Research Paper Example

Individual paper: Personal career strategy of the of the Occupation In this turbulent business phase, finance is probably the only field that offers a stable job. The field of finance is vast and comprises of numerous job opportunities (Argyris, 2000). For example, the field of finance provide opportunities to explore the areas such as commercial banking, financial planning, corporate finance, investment banking, private equity, money management and securities market to name a few. In addition, finance is also linked with accounts and as a result of that one can also explore the areas such as accounting and underwriting (Aswathappa, 2010). Hence, it is evident that finance offers numerous opportunities for the aspiring candidates seeking a career in finance. In my case, the area which I want to explore is financial analysis and subsequently I would like to become a financial analyst in the near future. The current age can be dubbed as the age of analytics and therefore I believe seeking a career as financial analyst is a wise decision. Moreover, I have also consulted with industry experts and according to their point of view a career in the field of financial analysis can be very much lucrative. In addition, as per the experts, a career in finance offers tremendous growth and development opportunities. From the financial perspective, the remuneration package increases as one goes up the organizational hierarchy. However, the average remuneration package offered at the entry level is also competitive with the other professions. 2) Pros and Cons of the Occupation Likewise any other profession, financial analysis also does have certain pros and cons from the perspective of an aspiring candidate. The financial service industry is experience robust growth since the last few decades. The shifting trend towards globalization has been a key driver of this industry. Despite the global credit crunch that took place years back, denting the growth of the financial service industry, the demand for the financial professionals continued to remain stable. Analysts have even predicted that once the situations get under full control with the economic cycle bottoms out, the industry is sure to experience sharp growth. Some of the factors that really foster me to pursue a career in finance are potential high income, regular business hours, and good working atmosphere and is also a job which offers great learning opportunities and makes one aware of the new avenues of the financial market. The financial service industry offers numerous positions for and a financial analyst even earns in six-figure. Hence, this is a job that offers great financial benefits. The desk work is another factor that drives me to consider financial analysis as a career option. Apart from that the financial analysis is really an interesting activity and a professional work with new data every. As a result of that there are no chances of monotony. Furthermore, the application of the job is another key driving factor. For example, the results of the financial analysis are directly applicable to the business world and thus the job has greater importance in the professional field. Nevertheless, there are certain factors that discourage me to take up the job of a financial analyst or rather make me think about the decision of becoming a financial analyst is high level of stress associated with the job. Since, the job is considered as vital, it is obvious it will be associated with high stress and job pressure. Moreover, a financial analyst works with bulk data and a slight mistake would lead to incorrect results and can impact the involved parties drastically. The industry is often dubbed as a cyclical industry and as a result of that when the economy is in a booming phase and the market is steadily rising, the job opportunities are numerous in numbers but in the similar way, recession or severe economic contraction can lead to job-cuts. Hence the biggest depressing fact of the industry is that often mass layoffs takes place and that minimizes the job security. Therefore, from an overall point of view it can be stated that the profession offers various growth opportunities and is a great field that provides opportunity to earn huge money. However, the instability acts as insecurity for the professionals. 3) Industry Fit Analysis It is true that a person cannot have equal efficiency in every field. For example, it is not necessary that a soccer player will be able to play every sport as he/she is a sportsman, but what is more important is he/she must have enough skills and competency in own field. The same holds true when discussing about jobs or professional desk jobs. A person with finance as the specialization is expected to be capable of carrying out financial tasks and if he/she has the ability to even perform sales activities; it is an additional quality and is not a desired quality. Certain skill sets and qualities of an individual make him/her an efficient worker and in the similar way certain deficiencies can negatively impact his/her professional career. Therefore from the discussion carried out above, it is obvious that the strengths and weaknesses of an individual acts as a decider for an individual’s career success. In this section of the study, I will be analyzing my strengths and weaknesses related with the job and to what extent I fit in the position of a financial analyst. One of my greatest strengths is the high amount of preciseness. Conscientiousness can be great asset for a person seeking a career in the financial services. This is principally because of the fact that a finance high level of preciseness. According to Brooke (2007), in order to become a good and efficient financial analyst, the individual needs to have level of carefulness. The author argues that since the job is related with bulk data, precision is expected from the candidate. In addition, the author also states that the findings from an analysis are being directly applied to the business world and a minor mistake can actually affect the progress of the company. Hence, I would say that high conscientiousness is an asset for me and will help throughout the career. I had been also praised by my family members and instructors because whenever I have done some complicated jobs. For example, during my internship program, I was assigned to the task of data filtration and I succeeded filtering the data to the exact need. This shows that preciseness is one of the qualities that can help me become a good financial analyst in the near future. Apart from that knowledge on finance is another asset for me. A financial analyst needs to have great knowledge of the subject as the requirements keeps changing from time to time. A person with in-depth knowledge of finance will hardly get affected by these changes. Since I passed the matriculation level, I had started to gain interest on finance. At a point of time, the interest reached to an extent where it literally became an addition. Even I had started ignoring the other subjects and stressed heavily on finance. One of the key reasons for my strong interest on finance is its vast scope (University of California, 2010). In addition, the calculation portion also used to fascinate me. I have participated in various finance competitions and won prizes from there. In addition, I was also praised by my tutors for displaying greater proficiency in the subject. The ability to analyze a given scenario is strength of mine. According to Capra (2002) one of the fundamental requirement of an analyst is the ability to analyze a situation and make interpretation from the findings. Echoing the same author such as Goleman (1996) also enumerated that analytical skills are the basic requirements for being a successful analyst. Since, the childhood days, I have a knack of getting deep into the matters and I always try to find the root cause of a problem. This quality has allowed me to make various decisions with huge confidence and most importantly most of the decision I had made till are successful (Shapiro, 2002). This is only because of my analytical mind. Before taking any step or making a decision, I analyze the pros and cons of that choice that I am going to make and this allows me to make decision with full confidence. Even, my superiors seek consent from me whenever they are in a dilemma. This clearly proves that I have good analytical skill. Couple with this, some of my contemporaries believes that my intelligence level is also noteworthy. I have always a found that whenever I am in a trouble, some strategies come to my mind and that saves me from getting embarrassed or to get out of the situation. This can easily be adjudged as a sign of intelligence. Although the aforementioned factors acts as strength for me, but I believe there are certain traits in me that can negatively impact my career and can even ruin my dream of becoming a successful financial analyst (May, 2010). One of the most depressing facts is that psychometric results have shown that my Neuroticism level is average. I have experienced that the level of anxiety is high in me as I easily get tensed in tricky situations. In addition, I also suffer from mood swings and as a result of that at times I lose my calmness. I believe that loosing calmness and getting anxious can be extremely bad impact on my career and even in personal life. Graham (1998) believes that anxiousness and moodiness are the two critical factors that should be controlled by an individual and if he/she fails to control it can lead to complex situation. Apart from that, I also have a trait that can be adjudged as both favorable as well as a non-favorable. This is the level of Agreeableness. The psychometric sturdy have shown that the level of Agreeableness in me is very high. At times, the high level of Agreeableness acts positively for me because this trait allows me to make friends and coordinate well with the colleagues. Apart from that this is also helpful when I am working in a client site. For example, during my internship program I had to travel a lot for collecting data from the respondents. The respondents were not at all known to me and they were very much reluctant in disclosing information. However, the high level of Agreeableness, which also increased my friendliness, really helped me. On the other hand, this trait also acted negatively for me. I have always faced difficulties in saying ‘no’ to others (Mohanty, 2005). For example, if someone is asking me for task are seeking help, I have hardly said ‘no’, even if I know that I will not be able to fulfill their expectation (Johnson, 2008). As a result of this, I had lost some good friends owing to the fact that I had failed to keep their promise and fulfill their expectations. This also has a negative impact on my professional career. For example, if I accept a project which is beyond my capacity, it will really affect my professional career. As a result of that I need to analyze things carefully. The results of the psychometric test are given below: - The first test shows how I value these factors: Professional: average Financial: average Family: high Social: high Community: high Spiritual: average Physical: high Intellectual: average The second test shows how I perform with the following factors 4) Final Career Decision I believe that the weaknesses I have, can be easily corrected with proper courses of action. Therefore from an overall viewpoint, financial analyst as a career option suits the best for me. I believe that with sound knowledge over the subject, calmness, preciseness, intelligence and good analytical skills, I can be a good financial analyst in the near future. I would also like to mention that shifting to other career options will not be a feasible option as I don’t have enough competencies and skills to succeed in the market place. May (2010) believes that one need have the required skills to get success for getting success in a particular domain. Moreover, I also have to start from the scratch if I want to shift my professional career. Hence, I will stick with my decision of becoming a financial analyst in the near future. Nevertheless, I believe that even if I stick with the decision of becoming a financial analyst in the near future, I need to develop certain qualities in and for that I need to take special training. It has been observed that presently companies prefer to hire candidates having specialized training in financial analysis or are certified financial analyst. As a result of that I have decided to enroll in a certification course. Particulars Duration Enroll in financial analyst certification course 8 months Acquire additional financial skills 2 months Acquire relevant industry experience (internship program) 3 months Appear for the interviews 2 months There is always a chance that the career option that I have chosen, may not work and this can ruin my entire professional career. As a result of that it is necessary that one must have an alternate plan. Regarding this context, I have thought that if I fail to make a career in the field of financial analysis, I would seek a career in banking operations. Apart from financial data analysis, the only field where I have enough interest is banking operations. One of the major influencing factors for me to choose banking operation is the interactivity of the job. An individual working in banking operations needs to continuously interact with the customers. Hence, I believe this can be a good career alternative considering my strengths and weaknesses. References Argyris, C. (2000). Breaking the Code of Change. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. Aswathappa, K. (2010). International Business (4th ed.). New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Brooke, S. (2007). Leadership and Job satisfaction. Journal of Academic Leadership, 4 (1), 102-109. Capra, F. (2002). Life and Leadership in Organizations: The Hidden Connections, Random House. Connecticut: Cengage Learning. Goleman, D. (1996). Emotional intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ. London: Bloomsbury. Graham, P. (1998). Saying "no" to compromise; "yes" to integration. Journal of Business Ethics, 17, pp. 1007- 1013. Johnson, A. (2008). The Influence of Need for Achievement, Need for Affiliation, Leadership Support, and Organizational Culture on Organizational Citizenship Behaviour. Michigan: ProQuest. May, H. (2010). Aristotles Ethics: Moral Development and Human Nature. New York: Continuum. Mohanty, S. K. (2005). Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship. New Delhi: PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd. Shapiro, S. M. (2002). 24/7 innovation: A blueprint for surviving and thriving in an age of change. New York: McGraw Hill. University of California. (2010). Career Planning: Career Development Action Plan. Retrieved from http://hrweb.berkeley.edu/learning/career-development/career-management/planning/action-plan. Read More