Finance graduate jobs & schemes 2025

Finance is a broad field with several career paths, including:

• Investment Banking: Mergers & acquisitions (M&A), capital markets, and financial advisory.
• Asset & Wealth Management: Managing investments for clients, funds, or institutions.
• Corporate Finance & Treasury: Managing a company’s financial health and funding strategies.
• Risk & Compliance: Identifying and managing financial risks within firms.
• Financial Consulting: Advising businesses on financial performance and restructuring.
• FinTech & Trading: Applying technology to finance, algorithmic trading, and crypto markets.

When applying for a finance graduate job or scheme, you’re not expected to have professional qualifications (although it’s great if you do!). Most employers will actually support you in obtaining one as a part of your graduate scheme. Some of the typical qualifications you could get are:

• CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) – Common in investment banking and asset management.
• CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants) – Ideal for corporate finance roles.
• FRM (Financial Risk Manager) – Focuses on risk management.
• CISI (Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment) – Good for wealth management and trading.

Graduate jobs in finance typically pay well, but it depends on the role, where you're based and the employer. For example, according to Glassdoor , the average UK salary in 2024 for graduate jobs in finance was £31,935 a year, and £34,857 a year in London.

Take the findings with a pinch of salt as they do vary. To give you an idea, according to 2023 research by the Institute of Student Employers the average UK graduate salary across all sectors is just over £35,000. Meanwhile, findings from the Department for Education Official Statistics suggest it’s £38,500.

Not necessarily! Many firms accept applicants from maths, economics, engineering, and even non-financial backgrounds . However, you’ll need to demonstrate:

• Strong numerical skills
• Understanding of financial markets
• Commercial awareness

If you don’t have a finance degree, this doesn’t mean you won’t be able to land yourself a finance job.

For instance, STEM graduates are great candidates for finance roles because they tend to have advanced numerical and data analysis skills. These are just two of the transferrable skills STEM graduates learn which will prove valuable in a finance role. For example, crunching numbers, and analysing and documenting financial information are two key elements for accountants and hedge fund managers.

Entering the finance industry through an alternative route to a finance degree is actually very common and encouraged.

Finance graduate schemes are highly competitive and usually attract hundreds of applications per role. This is because they can be extremely rewarding and help you to move up the career ladder faster than any other route.

For this reason, we recommend applying as early as possible to avoid missing out.

• Gain relevant internships – Many finance firms hire from their intern pools.
• Develop technical skills – Excel and Python are excellent choices, as you’ll find both very helpful in your finance career.
• Show commercial awareness – Follow market trends and be ready to discuss real-world finance cases during interviews.
• Network strategically – Attend finance events and make the most of LinkedIn