- Do you have a head for numbers?
- Do you like talking about stocks, low/high yield bonds all day?
- Do you like to enjoy high-risk, high-reward situations?
Well, a career as a financial analyst may be the right choice for you. And if you prioritise your education and work on those financial skills, you can build a thriving career in this industry.
Learning how to become a striving financial analyst is the first step towards a thriving future. Now, there are several paths to choose from; however, if you aspire to enjoy more success, look at this straight forward pathway to becoming a financial analyst.
Requisites to Become a Financial Analyst
Education
To become a successful financial analyst, you need a minimum of a bachelor’s degree, preferably in a finance major, which can include accounting, statistics, or even economics. Furthermore, if you are looking to enjoy greater job opportunities, you might want to consider enrolling for a master’s degree in finance.
Why an Advanced Course in Financial Analysis?
Advanced education may seem like too much work; however, it’s pivotal to professionals looking to build a highly lucrative career.
Additionally, credible certification courses for finance is also a great option for upskilling. There are several certification courses for finance available online. These courses can help you gain hands-on knowledge and experience to prepare you for the challenges you’ll face in the workplace.
One such online course you can rely on is the executive development program in financial analytics from XLRI. Offered on the Talentedge platform, the executive development program in financial analytics from XLRI blends popular satistical tools with complex machine learning tools to help build successful financial models.
Rest assured, you’ll have access to a well-rounded education, and by the end of this course, you’ll be able to perform required financial analysis by leveraging powerful tools like R and Python.
Skills
To become a striving financial analyst, you need to build an advanced skillset; one that comprises technical and soft skills like:-
- Technical Skills
- Financial Modelling
To become a financial analyst, you must be able to represent financial issues in modelling form.
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Financial Analysis
Financial analysts must be able to perform an in-depth analysis by breaking down complex financial data into simpler components.
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Data Analysis
Much of this profession includes working with data, which means you’ll be required to read and interpret massive amounts of data and distil it into useful insights.
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Marketing Skills
Why does a financial analyst need marketing skills?
Well, as a part of your job, you’ll be required to convince senior management and stakeholders to follow your recommendations. To be equipped to perform this task effectively, you’ll need hands-on knowledge in marketing skills.
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ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) Systems
Financial analysts are required to leverage ERPs to manage and automate finance-related tasks, which is why this is an essential skill you must work towards obtaining.
- Soft Skills
- Strategic Thinking
A financial analyst’s job requires thinking through complex problems and deriving creative solutions to maximise organisational profit and improve market share. This requires strategic thinking.
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Decision-Making
As a financial analyst, you’ll not only be responsible for conducting in-depth financial analysis but also sharing your valuable opinion on whether an investment or project is worth getting into or not. And this requires decision-making skills.
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Business Insight
To become a successful financial analyst, you must be able to predict how various decisions will impact your organisation, customers, and profitability.
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Attention to Detail
Misinterpreting or neglecting a tiny little financial detail can cost your organisation millions. Because you’ll be hired to provide a financial recommendation, you’ll be expected to pay attention to even the minutest financial details.
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Experience
Outside your education and advanced skill set, you’ll also need some entry-level experience. As you move towards progression in the industry, you’ll enjoy several perks like increased compensation, job security, a chance to move up the corporate ladder, etc. However, to achieve said benefits, you must obtain a certain level of expertise.
Credible certification courses for finance can help you do just that. One such certification course you can rely on is the executive development program in financial analytics from XLRI. This course is offered by one of the top-ranking B-schools in the entire country and aims to provide professionals access to every theoretical and practical facet of the industry.
Pathway to Becoming a Financial Analyst
Apart from graduation or equivalent diploma degree, you need:-
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To Work on Your Skillset
Considering the volatile and highly ambiguous business environment, things in the financial domain change around the clock. This means the organisation are being exposed to several financial risks. To identify these risks, analyse them, and devise robust strategies, you need an up-to-date skillset.
Pursuing a credible online course in financial analysis can help. By exposing professionals to practical knowledge and hands-on experience in building advanced financial models, the executive development program in financial analytics from XLRI allows a 360-degree knowledge of the domain.
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To Gain Some Entry-level Experience
After gaining requisite knowledge and skillset, and before enrolling for your master, you can gain some industry experience. Try to land some entry-level internships or jobs like financial analyst associate or junior analyst at an MNC or startup. This can help you gain some real-world experience, giving you a competitive advantage when you pursue higher education.
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To Pursue Credible Certification Courses for Finance
Ranging from stock market predictions to customer profitability and credit risk modelling, credible certification courses for finance can help you gain practical knowledge of the domain. So pursuing such courses can not help you understand the importance of financial management in business but also expose you to lucrative job opportunities.
Financial Analytics is Not All Milk and Honey
If you think becoming a financial analyst is easy as pie, walk away. It’s a tough road, including long hours of preparation, studying, and examinations. You need to work on quantitative analysis and modelling, along with honing your soft skills. You need to prepare for devising robust strategies and gain as much knowledge as you can about global finance and banking.
Nevertheless, by following the above-mentioned path, you can open yourself to exciting opportunities and let all your hard work pay off.
More Information:
Lucrative Job Options In The Financial Sector
Embarking on a Successful Career in Finance
Who are Financial Analysts and what do they do?
Tips on how to Become a Successful Business Analyst in India
What are the Essential Skill-sets that Financial Analysts Must Possess?
