2 July 2023
Career Focus: Work as a Stockbroker or Trader in Banking
They are the poster guys and gals of the banking sector.
Stockbrokers spend their days buying and selling company stocks and shares on the stock exchange to make a profit for their clients – or avoid making any losses.
Stock traders can do this for individual clients too so they can increase their personal wealth, or for businesses in order to help them make the most of their assets and turn a profit.
Stockbrokers can provide a range of services for clients depending on their needs, including making investment decisions on their behalf, advising them about what investment options would be best or simply trading when asked to, without offering consultation.
Are you right for stock trading?
There are many reasons why working as a stock trader could be the right path for you.
These include the likelihood that you’ll find yourself working in a frenetic and fast-paced environment, whereby stock market prices change in an instant and so will your decisions.
If you enjoy thinking on your feet and a career with a rush, then trading might be the one for you.
Operating as a stockbroker in the trading sphere will help you develop many of the key skills needed to be successful in a finance or business career.
These include making snap decisions, deciding when to take risks or play it safe and reaching judgements based on data and market share prices.
Alongside this, there’s the chance of earning big money, as stockbrokers can famously earn mega bucks.
When you start out as a trader you might be earning a starting salary of between £24,000 and £35,000, but if you have completed an internship, have professional qualifications and with bonuses, this could rocket to anything from £80,000 to £150k annually.
Stockbrokers need the following skills…
The nature of the stock trading world means that to succeed, you should be able to cope with pressurised situations and juggle multiple projects, while being decisive and able to analyse information quickly, process it and act on it.
“The competition in this sector means you also need to be focused and motivated to make it”
As you’re likely to be working with valuable clients, it’s vital that you can forge strong relationships; after all, you’re going to be buying shares and managing investments for them, so it helps if they can trust you!
The competition in this sector means you also need to be focused and motivated to make it, especially as the working days are long (because they’re based on financial markets) and extremely busy – no two days will be the same.
Stockbroker work experience opportunities
Whether you’re studying for a finance-based degree or something else, you’ll still benefit from becoming involved in a work experience scheme like a placement or internship with a bank.
Diving into work experience for a major company like Morgan Stanley or UBS as a stock loan analyst will let you gain firsthand exposure to financial environments.
While on placements, banking internships or insight schemes for first years, you’ll become part of projects designed to help your colleagues, getting a taste for tasks like analysing daily metrics to measure your team’s performance and interacting with clients in a relationship management role.
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