Aus banks prefer all-rounders to maths geeks
You don't have to be a maths genius to work in a bank. In fact, firms spurn grads who spend their free time doing algorithmic equations.
Finance sector employers want well-rounded characters who have plenty of extra-curricular pastimes and community or sporting involvement. And they really love anything that indicates leadership or team-working abilities.
Dawn White - who is both the University of New South Wales' employer programmes co-ordinator and president of the National Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services - agrees that banks like to hire all-rounders.
None of the banks or big accountancy firms hire just from finance and commerce faculties, she says. "NAB and ANZ recruit graduates from all faculties. CBA particularly recruits from business, engineering, law and science, and the globals recruit in a range between those two," adds White.
CBA hires from other faculties too. "One of our 2008-09 interns holds a psychology major and has been working in our global asset management business," says a spokeswoman for the bank.
Sarah O'Brien, acting head of graduate strategy at ANZ, says her firm takes on lateral thinkers and problem solvers from all disciplines. "We consider their work experience, community involvement, leadership skills and their academic record. We also value a strong work ethic."
Maths degrees are not a surefire ticket into NAB either, which also wants well-rounded, flexible graduates who can learn and adjust.
It's the same at Westpac. "We are very broad in our interests and our graduates come from all fields. Our institutional bank, for instance, will consider a range of disciplines, including human resources," says Portia Bridges, Westpac's graduate recruitment manager.
Westpac is more particular when recruiting for finance/accounting positions, but with huge numbers of applicants, it can afford to be picky. For these number-crunching roles, it looks for the same technical qualifications as the accountancy firms do, but it also wants graduates who are "interested and motivated for financial services, more than full of technical knowledge".
The globals seem just as keen on grads with a bit of spark. A Goldman Sachs spokeswoman comments: "We've always looked at a wide pool ... because a number of stellar graduates come out of politics, medicine, arts. It's important we capture them all. As well as academic performance, we look closely at students' extracurricular activities. We are not necessarily looking for specific skills, but the capacity, interest and flexibility to acquire them."
White adds that the Big Four accountancy firms now also recruit from several university faculties, partly because accountancy enrolments have been falling for a few years.
