A brighter picture is emerging in the global financial job market, according to Viet Ha Tran, senior associate director of admissions for IE Business School’s Master in Finance programs.

This is evidenced by the fact that Goldman Sachs is increasing salaries for junior bankers in the US by about 20%, amid an “increasingly frenetic war to attract and retain” talent.

As such, applications to IE’s finance courses have doubled over the past six months.

But the global financial crisis has changed the career destinations of many masters in finance graduates. For IE, the most popular areas include asset management and private equity.

Meanwhile, Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) exams have continued to gain in popularity among business school students.

Before joining the Spanish business school, Viet was a senior officer at Japan’s Mizuho Corporate Bank, based in Hanoi in Vietnam. Before that, she worked as a Singapore based freelance market research analyst covering Japanese and Vietnamese financial markets.

Which areas of finance are most popular among students and how has this changed since 2008?

Topics such as asset management, portfolio management, corporate finance, financial modelling, valuation, and derivatives have always been our focus and have been greatly popular among students.

However in recent years, due to the changes around the financial sector, many students have become extremely interested in areas such as private equity, equity strategy, debt restructuring, turnaround strategies, and leveraged finance.

Also, compared with 2008 when we first started our Masters in Finance, in the past two years we’ve seen an important growth in the number of students who are interested in the CFA exams. 

What skills are now most sought after from your students by employers?

The following skills are very much evaluated by employers in the finance sector: academic achievement; specific subjects such as valuation, corporate finance, and financial statement analysis; knowledge of the finance industry; advanced financial modelling skills; the ability to balance work or studies with extracurricular activities such as competitive sports.

Other skills sought include communication skills, leadership skills, and ability to think analytically and solve complex problems.

Has the business school experienced growth in applications to its program?

In the past six months, the total number of prospective students has doubled, which has been the outcome of the brighter picture in the global financial job market.

For example, Goldman Sachs is increasing salaries for junior bankers in the US by about 20% amid an increasingly frenetic war to attract and retain young graduates.

Also, according to a recent study by GMAC, the job market remains very favourable for business school graduates.

How competitive are the CFA exams with your program?

IE Business School was the first Spanish business school to be recognized as a program partner with CFA Institute.

This not only further increases IE Business School’s prestige within the financial world, but also adds value to the career opportunities of admitted students.

The CFA exams and IE finance programs are very complementary — the students who have already passed CFA exams before joining IE tend to perform very well during the program, and vice versa students who have done IE's master in finance tend to pass CFA exams.

Some 20% of current IE finance students have passed different levels of the CFA exams before joining IE. IE’s finance programs cover pretty much the same curriculum as the CFA.

However, CFA exams are quite theoretical… IE’s programs will look at the same topics from a very practical approach, and apply these concepts into the real situation of the capital markets.