After growing up with independent parents who were affected by the financial crisis, 24-year-old Jack Johnson understands the importance of a stable job. “I realized early on how difficult it is to travel in London,” he says. “If I want to live the way my parents lived when they were my age, the list of careers I can choose to go into is getting smaller and smaller.”
After completing a graduate program at a Big Four consulting firm, Johnson joined Coppett Hill Growth Advisory as a member in 2023. The average salary for financial workers in the UK ranges from £41,115 to £78,769, according to Reed.co.uk, careers. website.
Although Johnson recognizes that he is honored to find what he is doing at his age and to work with a team that he loves, he also thinks that there is a gap in opinion about what the job entails. He says: “My friends think that I spend 12 hours a day addicted to Excel. “Actually, what we do is much more people-oriented than that and very different.”
When it comes to stability, the City has come out on top – historically at the cost of terrible hours and high levels of stress.
Stories abound of trainees pulling all-nighters, junior analysts sleeping under their desks and a feedback culture where leaving the boss’s presence is a capital sin.
However, in recent years there has been some curbing of these extreme practices. Many firms are now implementing policies that promote work-life balance, such as unlimited working hours for employees, mandatory rest periods and wellness programs aimed at reducing fatigue. .
“When I first got into finance I had the expectation that I would do this for a few years, then step back and do something else that allowed me to be,” says Johnson. and work-life balance,” says Johnson. However, after working in the industry he found that this view is somewhat outdated. “My boss works a lot, he works hard, but he will always leave the office at five o’clock to go to bed with his children.”
There are other things that interest him in his work. When he moves from the Midlands to London, Phillips hopes to live in a luxury flat and spend his evenings and weekends eating out in fine restaurants, enjoying what the city has to offer. starting at £70,000. Even in the basic financial part, you have enough money to live that kind of life.
Young people in other professions are also paying attention, especially those distracted by careers in technology and media. Domi Perek, 29 years old, is one of them.
He founded his first company at the age of 18 and at the age of 25 was included in Forbes Magazine’s infamous 30 under 30 list. He says: “I can say that I made it in business.” However, when this epidemic came, the company suffered a huge financial loss.
After spending some time not wanting to think and fix the situation, he turns to finance, launching his own VC fund to invest in art and fashion startups. For Perek, the clear financial structure compared to the chaos of his early career appeals. “It gave me a sense of stability, which I didn’t have working in the media industry.”
For Perek, the salary is not his main motivation. He says: “I don’t just want to make money, I really want to help people.” The idea that financial people are only interested in money is outdated.
CFA Institute’s Watkins explains that there are four main motivations when it comes to young people’s career decisions: income and success, security and stability, and then basic interest and positive influence. He says: “Finances have always been associated with the first one but the other three are also there.
From American Psycho to the financial meltdown of 2007-08, the outlook for financial services is not always positive. Watkins says: “I think people were ashamed to say what they did for a while. But finance is gradually improving its image and, along with concerns about pay and progress, young people are happy to enter stable, high-paying industries – at risk of being compared to Patrick Bateman.
Phillips’ experiences in finance so far are unlike the movies he grew up watching. But the same cannot be said for everyone. Phillips says: “I know a guy who actually did an investment internship over the summer and it was just like the other movies described it. But the guy really likes it and is going back to his graduate work. in September.
#Gen #turning #finance #jobs #money
