job prospects? for future ucd grad

michaelp97

Hi, currently studying food and agribusiness management in ucd. Just enquirying as to whether I'm limited to jobs in the agriculture sector as I have an interest in banking,finance and business world. would I be able to get jobs in these fields or am I limited to agriculture?
Thanks.

ironclaw

No, you can do whatever you please.

Your degree gets you an interview. Nothing more. Its basically used as filter by employers, the extent of this filtering is depending on what sector you are entering. Are you applying for a high stakes trading firm? You'd probably want a first in a Math or Engineering degree. On the other end of the scale, you can be a teller in the bank with a Leaving Certificate provided you meet the minimums.

What you would really be better doing is defining what you really want to do. Talk to people in the industry that interests you and get a feel for it. Some jobs look great, but they are terrible once you 'jump in' and you find they don't suit you at all. Your list there is very, very broad. If you like finance, do you like stocks? Or is it the accounting? What about technical analysis of Forex? Huge amount of roads, so you'd want to map them out.

To answer your question in the broadest sense, you'd want to shine the skills that will get you into the job or sector you really want. You have a management element to your course, which is very broad however these often encompass basic accounting and HR practises, both avenues you could professionally develop with a night course or diploma. Likewise, you could enter marketing with not a huge amount of effort. I can't underestimate the value of an internship or part time work in the sector you would like to work in, employers look for this along with cross skills.

To give you some aspiration of what is possible, Kerry Group was effectively founded by a group of farmers and most Engineers enter management, not nuts and bolts. The degree is the start, not the end, and you can always re-skill and pivot to where you want to go. I'd wager 75% of people finish their working life in a job that has little to no bearing on the degree.

michaelp97

Thank you,
I feel as though my maths would not be any where good for high stakes trading if I'm honest. I have dappled in cfd's and find them interesting and also some accounting. I like the whole idea of investing so that interests me a lot and banking to be honest.

ironclaw

michaelp97 wrote: »

Thank you,
I feel as though my maths would not be any where good for high stakes trading if I'm honest. I have dappled in cfd's and find them interesting and also some accounting. I like the whole idea of investing so that interests me a lot and banking to be honest.

My background is Engineering and I was always drawn to Forex, but I don't work in the market or even the sector. I'm sure when people see Eng, they think 'great at math' but honestly that isn't the case for me for numerics. A lot of trading is conducted by algorithms these days and whilst strong math skills help, its not numerics, its understanding. For example, I don't think I've ever got a balance sheet to balance or correctly determine if an asset is current or fixed, but I've successfully written predictive algo's for Forex.

A lot of very successful traders are either huge gamblers, and it paid off, or read every book under the sun and understand the heart of technical analysis. Neither of those skills are learned in college and they are skills you can learn online, for free. Same for any corner of investing. If you wish to work professionally, a lot of skills can be learned in plentiful courses and accreditation can be got if required e.g. CPA. Accreditation however is quite expensive and the exams challenging, so I'd talk to some candidates before embarking on that road as for the CPA, its a lengthy one.

So I'd suggest you read a few articles and watch a few YouTube videos. Then branch out via LinkedIn or even a cold call / email to an office in Dublin, I'd always be happy to give 10 mins of my time to someone asking about my career area.

pedroeibar1

No you are not limited by your degree subject and yes, if you are keen and outgoing, there is a great future for you in general business or some areas of finance. Sadly Irish banks are totally dysfunctional at the moment, so I’d not be looking at them.

There is very little to disagree with in Ironclaw’s posts – except his views on Forex where we differ hugely. A degree (if it’s a 2.1) gets your letter of application onto the ‘possibles’ pile. A really good letter/CV then helps you onto the interview pile. Most of the better jobs are never advertised, they are filled by someone who is known /knows someone. Might not seem fair, but it’s how it works. Build a contacts base / get known / write articles for the college mag. I know one young guy who got called to interview purely because the recruiter had read (and disagreed) with an article he had written in a college mag. He got the job.

Too many people think that trading/dealing/analysis/M&A is ‘sexy’ when in fact much of it is mind-numbingly boring with very long hours. Hell for me would be working on balance sheet analysis as a loan officer. Were I to be stuck in the middle office (or worse, back office) of a dealing room or in a bank’s international dept. verifying the terms of letters of credit from 9 to 5 I’d quit and sweep roads in preference.

The more interesting/higher paid jobs in finance (forex/equity analysis/forex dealing) are very math oriented – you would be dealing in 'points' or one-thousandths of a %. BES or the Math/Business/Economics grads are identified very early on. The best of them get summer internships and on graduation the best of those are hired on a temporary contract basis by the top banks in London. Survive the first six months and you then get hired but (in top international banks) you are expected to pass your CFA exams in a max of 2 years (not the usual 3+). Flunk and usually you are out. The math in the CFA is not easy (it makes higher math in the LCert look like 2 times tables) and when expected to be studying you are worked minimum 12 hours a day so study is impossible for all but the seriously dedicated.

Being able to understand a set of accounts is a prerequisite for any managerial role, but do not get too hung up about getting an accountancy qualification. Accountants are ‘black or white’ whereas general management operates usually in shades of gray. That said I’ve a friend who specialized in audit, purely to make industry contacts with a view to a move. He made the move and several years later led an MBO and now is the CFO of quite a big and successful group.

When you look at the breadth even in the Irish agri- sector the roles for a grad with cop, ambition and a bit of business experience are many and varied. Don’t box yourself in!
Best of luck with the exams.