FIELD OF WORK:

BUSINESS

“A business is an organization or enterprising entity engaged in commercial, industrial or professional activities. A company transacts business activities through the production of a good, offering of a service or retailing of already manufactured products. A business can be a for-profit entity or a nonprofit organization that operates to fulfill a charitable mission.”

Trends:

The business field will always have jobs in it, whether it be big or small, and finance has had a 5% increase in jobs since last year.

A job that I would like to do in the business field of work is Investment Banker (Noc code 1114)

What is an investment banker?

“An investment banker is an individual who works in a financial institution that is in the business primarily of raising capital for companies, governments and other entities, or who works in a large bank's division that is involved with these activities, often called an investment bank.”

What are the duties to being an investment banker?

Analyze companies with financial problems

• -Oversees the financial problems of a company while evaluating the problem(s) and solution(s).

         Recommend ways for company to raise funds

• -Comes up with new and innovative possibilities for the company to raise its funds

 Helps companies raise money by finding new investors and structuring deals

• -Effectively communicates deals with current investors and is on the lookout for new investors to partner with

          Negotiate other deals, such as corporate mergers, sales and acquisitions

• -Deal with the negotiations of combining with other companies: pitching your case to other companies, sales and deal with seller and buyer representation (also called target and industrial relations )

Specific Knowledge:

• -Overall understanding and appreciation of financial markets (Basic Financial Knowledge)

• -You don’t have to be a genius, but you have to be good with numbers ( Arithmetic etc )

SKILLS:

“Investment banking takes a certain personality and a specific skill set--much of which can be taught and learned in universities, but some of which are intangible and/or inherent. In addition to these learned and natural skills, investment banking takes someone who strives for, commits to and a hungers to learn and perform at the top echelon in a challenging environment.”

PERSONAL:

• -Dependable and Dedicated: Someone that can be given work and will consistently be relied on to complete it as well as be fully devoted to the aim of the task because in investment banking work needs to be completed on time for company deadlines.
• -Motivated: The inner reason for any act; as, hunger might be the motive for working. An investment banker needs to want to do the work and reach success really bad in order to succeed and climb higher.
• -Analytical: Employing analytic methods; separating things into their parts of elements. Investment bankers need to be able to read deeper into problems and projects.

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• -Articulate: Able to express oneself clearly, does not mumble. Being an investment banker, you have to talk to clients and potential clients everyday, and mumbling can affect the influence of their decision you want them to make.

• -Efficient: Competent, capable, able to get results. Clients like investment bankers who are good at what they do, which means more clients will seek you out.

• -Industrious: Hardworking, diligent. An investment banker is someone that takes their work seriously.

Essential:

• Reading - The ability to understand reading materials in the form of sentences or paragraphs. We use this skill to scan for information, skim overall meaning, evaluate what we read and integrate information from multiple sources.
• Oral communication - The ability to use speech to give and exchange thoughts and information. We use this skill to greet people, take messages, reassure, persuade, seek information and resolve conflicts.
• Working with others - The ability to work with other workers to carry out tasks. We use this skill when we work as a member of a team or jointly with a partner, and when we engage in supervisory or leadership activities.

• Continuous learning - The ability to participate in an ongoing process of acquiring skills and knowledge. We use this skill when we learn as part of regular work or from co-workers and when we access training in the workplace or off-site.
• Thinking - The ability to engage in the process of evaluating ideas or information to reach a rational decision. We use this skill when we solve problems, make decisions, think critically and plan and organize job tasks.
• Time-management - The ability to use your time effectively. We use this to plan our time accordingly which will benefit us by completing things on schedule, which is crucial in the work of investment banking.

Technical:

• .Numeracy: are basic mathematical skills that include a range of abilities to understand and analyse numerical information and to make the right conclusions and decisions. An investment banker is someone that needs to know basic math like arithmetics but they don’t need to know complex math problems.  
• Following Specifications: Has to follow the guidelines exactly to make sure no errors are made
• Attention to detail: A must. You should be able to critically look over your work and spot the smallest inconsistencies and formatting mistakes. Margins on the right a bit smaller than on the left? Different font size in slide 34 and 58? Unreasonable trend in the graph? Valuation numbers not in line with the industry?

• Good attitude and strong personality: A bunch of traits fall into this category. Investment banks are looking for applicants who can really handle the job. Working long hours? “No problem, I enjoy staying late”. Skipping on weekends and holidays? “Not an issue, hate Christmas anyways”. Handling five projects at once? “I love to multitask”.The job of an investment banker is incredibly stressful. It requires dedication, energy, ability to work under pressure and a lot of hard work.

Persuasive: As well as working with the capital of companies, investment bankers make deals to other companies about the possibility of merging. To be able to convince the other companies they have to have a persuasive skill

• Communication: Has to be an efficient communicator in able to close deals and discuss matters with clients.

Transferable:

-Meets deadlines: Really important because if not, work can be put behind schedule which is not good.

-Desire to learn: Can achieve your best work and learn new skills

-Solve Problems: If any problems are detected, find a fast and efficient way to get rid of them.

-Ability to plan: Plan your work to make full use of your time.

-Accept Responsibility: If anything goes wron, to own responsibility and learn from your mistake(s).

-Work Independently: Completework efficiently alone