Finance and consultancy careers

Areas of finance

• Accounting
• Banking and finance
• Financial planning
• Insurance
• Investments and pensions
• Tax

Prospects has an overview of the UK's financial sector, which includes information and case studies.

We recommend exploring the below resources to learn more about the finance sector:

• Accountancy, banking and finance job profiles
• How do I get into finance?
• What can you expect from a career in tax?
• Women in Banking & Finance
• Investment and banking prospects for graduates without a finance degree

Consultants offer advice and expertise to organisations to manage change and solve problems so they can operate more efficiently.

Consultants can work across a wide range of industries and specialisms and their work can focus on:

• Operations 
• Strategy 
• Management 
• Information technology (IT) 
• Finance 
• Marketing 
• Human Resources (HR) 
• Supply chain management 

TargetJobs has an excellent article, Consultant: job description, covering typical employers of consultants, qualifications and training required and key skills for consultants.

We recommend exploring the below resources, from Prospects, to learn more about consulting: 

• Consulting graduate schemes
• Business, consulting and management job profiles

There are three main routes for graduates to enter the HR profession:

Graduate scheme

Many large organisations offer HR graduate schemes. Apply for these in autumn term of your final year. These schemes are the most competitive route into the profession.

Postgraduate course

There are many postgraduate courses including Masters and Postgraduate Diplomas in HR.

Entry-level/graduate-level role

Most graduates enter the profession via this route. You could apply for entry level roles a few months before you are due to graduate (use the websites listed further down this page to identify vacancies).

Example entry-level roles include Personnel Assistant, HR Assistant and HR Officer. Starting at this level will help you gain relevant experience that will allow you to progress in your career. 

Find out about getting into HR and career options in the people profession.

Vasilisa Takoeva

Management Consultant at Deloitte

“What I enjoy most about working in consulting is that you learn every day. Sometimes, this is about deepening your professional knowledge, other days you gain insight into the industry and client’s operations; or you have a chance to practice and develop core people and management skills, like resolving conflicts, facilitating, and generally "getting things done".”

Many of our graduates from University of Birmingham have gone on to pursue careers in the finance, consultancy and HR. Hear from our graduates in the following areas:

• Consulting stories
• Finance stories
• HR and recruitment stories

Finance and consultancy events (including HR and recruitment)

If you have questions and want to find out more about pursuing a career in the finance and consultancy sector, have a chat with one of our Careers Advisers.  

Book an appointment through your Careers Connect account.

LinkedIn Learning has over 13,000 courses to enhance your CV and stand out from the crowd when thinking about a career finance, consultancy and HR.

University of Birmingham students get free access to LinkedIn Learning. 

HR experience is not essential to enter the profession but is often a distinct advantage. Large organisations across a broad range of sectors offer HR internships such as Nestle, Lloyds TSB, EDF Energy, J.P.Morgan, P&G and Goldman Sachs.

Some work placement opportunities are also advertised on our Careers Connect jobs board.

It is always worth applying speculatively to smaller organisations, sending your CV and cover letter to potential employers. 

The University of Birmingham offers work experience bursaries for any student in their first, second or penultimate year of study. For more details visit the internship funding pages. 

• View all vacancies in Careers Connect

When you have a clear sense of where you want to apply, the final step is making the most out of your application. Our Employability Advisers are here to help review your application documents. 

• Access application support on Careers Connect