Is it time to go corporate with your career?

With the boom days over in banking, is it time to widen your career net and consider corporate sector opportunities?

An increasing number of financial professionals are starting to think about life outside their industry, says Warwick Peel, a consultant at Morgan Consulting. "Most banking candidates have a core focus on stability and security in their next career move and they feel the corporate sector is a safe ground," he adds.

So which professionals are best placed to make the transition to the "real world"?

Qualified accountants are in demand, especially those with commercial instincts and stakeholder management capability. "Every sector will always want these types of people because there is a shortage of accountants. While it will be slimmer pickings than in the past, the quality accountants will always have several options," says Peel.

M&A bankers can consider corporate development roles and there are a number of options open to them within group finance, project-driven or balance-sheet control, and broader risk management roles.

"Those in corporate portfolio management, asset management, asset restructuring, credit risk and technology will continue to be in demand in other financial institutions, the corporates and the consulting firms," adds Peel.

Within investment banking, the sector you specialise in plays a major part in determining your ability to succeed in commerce. While property professionals might struggle to find new homes, infrastructure experts should still be sought after as the Government ramps up spending on desalination and other big projects. Infrastructure bankers can apply for in-house positions within contracting firms, many of whom they will know as clients.

Think before you jump...

Some words of caution from Peel: "I have been advising banking candidates to tread carefully and undertake their due diligence on each industry sector because other sectors will start to get hit by the bus of economic turbulence. Mining is already making some loud noises - pulling multi-billion dollar projects from offshore - and clearly retail will be hit."

Former high-flying financiers will have to accept generally lower levels of pay in the corporate sector. And many young bankers should also ditch their brashness, says Peel. "Although some of them are humble and go about their business quietly, the younger, generation-Y egocentric analysts will have to alter their attitude to realign themselves to the corporate culture because line managers and HR will not stand for it in the leading corporates."