Today I want to talk about 12 great things about working in banking so for
those of you who are considering to start a career in banking or switch to
banking from another career then this information might be really useful to
you and deciding whether or not a career in banking is for you and in addition to
talking about the great things I am also going to talk a bit about the flip side
because depending on your personality what might be great for some people
might be less great for other people and I'm going to base a lot of these things
on my personal experience of working in banking get into this first number one
is compensation the salary and the benefits that you get and this is what
attracts most people to get into banking in the first place because they think
that the pay there is above average I wouldn't say that the salary in banking
is the highest because it really depends on what area you're working in and at
what level you are and also how competitive you are so if for example
you are working in investment banking or in sales selling wealth management
products like mutual funds bonds etc then you can really earn a lot in
commissions and if you're working in management once you're working in middle
management and above then it's relatively easy to earn a six-figure
income and that mostly would come from your bonuses and not just from your base
salary but if you're starting off as a teller and as long as you're still in a
junior position then your salary would not be much higher compared to what you
could have earned in another industry by the way in case you're new to this
channel I make videos on career change multiple careers motivation and I want
to share my experiences with you and also help you to shape the kind of
career that you really want and that you feel is suitable for your life and now
about the flip side the high pay goes hand-in-hand with really really hard
work and long hours when I was working in banking and project management and
strategic business management there were no fixed hours while many other people
who were working as tellers or our customer service would perhaps go home
at 6 p.m. or 6:30 p.m. sometimes I was at the office with my other team members
until 9:00 10:00 11:00 and sometimes even 12 p.m. when we had
to work on a presentation that we had to present the next day and if you work in
sales and you earn a lot of commissions at the same time that would also mean
that you have a lot of high net worth customers in your portfolio and you need
to maintain a relationship with them and what that oftentimes means for
salespeople is that they are also actively working on the weekends and not
just on the weekday because if you have a really high net worth client and on a
Saturday night they have some problem with their credit
card or so and choose to contact you you can't just decline them of course you
can but then you would risk losing the business and this is certainly not
something that is only specific to banking but you will also find this and
consulting telecommunications and a lot of other industries but this is
something that I observed is typical of the banking and finance industry number
two is the opportunity for learning and this is something that I personally
really enjoyed while working in banking there's a lot of training that is
mandatory for you to take related to financial products the financial
industry and oftentimes if you're already at a mid or a senior level in
the bank then the bank would also send you for training overseas for example to
their headquarters usually the company would have their e-learning system where
you yourself can also pick out additional training if you're interested
to learn about something and these trainings are not only related to
financial products but could also be related to customer service leadership
and so on and the flipside is of course if you are not interested in financial
products and in banking then having to take all these trainings will be really
dreadful for you number three is that it never gets boring there's just so much
to do and so many new things happening on a daily and weekly basis that I
rarely get bored there are frequent product launches that you have to get up
to speed on there are townhall meetings that you have to attend if you are at a
mid-level management and above and there are also tons of CSR or corporate social
responsibility activities such as painting houses that you can participate
or that you have to participate in on behalf of your team and now to the
flipside well some people might really enjoy this path pace and fast changing
environment some other people perhaps prefer a more quiet and serene working
and and this is something that you will
unlikely find in the world of banking if you work in the branch obviously you
will be serving customers all of the time and when you are not you will be in
the back office taking care of a lot of admin stuff and if you work in
management then in banks mostly the office is arranged in an open layout
which means that anywhere from 50 up to hundred or more seats cubicles are all
on one floor without any separation in any walls so people are going back and
forth interacting and there's a lot of noise and a lot of going on all of the
time but again if this is the kind of environment you love then this might be
for you number four is multiple career paths what I found in banking is that
it's relatively easy to move between one area of the bank to the other for
example you start off in retail banking but later on you switch over to
corporate banking or if you started off working in customer services but over
the time you developed strong interests for each R there is a high chance that
you will be able to make that move and switch into HR and I think that one of
the reasons is is because the management structures and banking and in much of
the corporate world is so complex and there are so many internal systems that
you need to understand and processes that is why the bank oftentimes prefers
to hire someone from within even if that is someone from a different area as long
as the person qualifies for that position of course number five is
traveling of course not every single person in the bank will eventually
travel somewhere but what I can say is that there is a lot of opportunity when
working in banking to get around instead of just staying and working in that one
single place you would usually travel either to another city or to an overseas
office if you are at least already at a mid-level management position that would
usually happen for business meetings for projects and also for trainings and
usually there is a higher chance that you will travel if the bank is a
multinational bank and now to the flipside traveling for work is not as
fun as you think you might think that it's like a free vacation because the
company pays for your flight ticket for your hotel your food and you even get a
daily allowance which is kind of a pocket money that you can
spend however you want but from my personal experience traveling for
business is really not that enjoyable you have a tight deadline you have to
think about the project and business so even though you're sent on a business
trip to the UK or to Singapore for example you rarely have time to do
sightseeing most of your time would be spent in the hotel in the car or taxi on
the way to your next meeting and in the meeting with your other colleagues
number six is working overseas if you work at a multinational bank or as a
matter of fact any large multinational corporation then you might have a good
chance of working overseas if you are the right person with the right skills
and if you fight for it obviously it's not that easy and if
you're interested to know more how you can increase your chances of getting
transferred overseas internally within the company that you are working at then
you might want to check out my other video here by the way if you're enjoying
this video so far then you might want to give it a thumbs up and also if you
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YouTube will inform you of my new videos number seven is the mobility or the high
fluidity within the banking and finance industry and what this means is that it
is really easy to move in between companies I happen to stay and work at
one in the same Bank for my entire 5 years but during that time I saw plenty
of colleagues who were moving back and forth between banks for example started
off at HSBC worked there for one year and then moved over were recruited by
Citibank worked there for two years and then moved to DBS and so on this is just
an example and it's not necessarily something good or bad but what I want to
say is that within banking the financial industry it's really easy to move back
and forth between banks if you are up for it and the reason why people are
doing this and the turnover is so high in banking is because people are looking
for a higher salary and they are looking for that promotion that they couldn't
get at their former bank and this is usually what happens a lot people jump
from one bank to the other chasing after that higher salary higher benefits
promotions but sometimes it's also due to the company culture some people
simply don't enjoy the culture and that's why they decide to move to
another company number eight is working with numbers whether you are working as
a teller in the branch or in the management office you will be working
with numbers all of the time so you have to be comfortable with thousands to
millions to billions for an exchange and so on and also if you're in management
you'll have to work with data all of the time you have to analyze data you have
to be able to interpret it and understand what it means and personally
for me I found that part to be a lot of fun the flipside of course is if you
hate numbers if you don't like working with numbers at all and numbers confuse
you then I don't think that banking is the right place for you number nine is
more of a psychological aspect and that is the prestige or sense of status that
you get from working in the world of banking and as you can imagine there is
a certain lifestyle attached to the world of banking fancy cars 5-star
dinners fancy handbags for the girls this might sound a bit stereotypical to
you but I can say from my personal experience that this is indeed the case
in the world of banking and finance people tend to talk a lot perhaps
disproportionately compared to other industries about fine dining luxury
traveling buying this or that condo and this or that country expensive cars
branded items and so on I would say if you like this world if you like this
setting this environment then banking and the financial world is for you and
again I'm not saying here if it's something good or bad because it's
different for every person depending on your personality and your interests it's
just something that's either suitable to you or not
and here I won't deny the importance of status and prestige I believe that to a
certain degree every person deep down inside cares about a certain degree of
prestige and status it is just the method that is different for some people
high status means owning a luxury condo and the newest BMW well for other people
high status means being able to retire early and do whatever you want number
ten is working on large projects sometimes this can be really fun
oftentimes in large banks and large corporations in general there is a
company-wide project that tends to affect everyone and
everyone will have their part in it for example the launch of a new internet
banking platform and while working together with other people on that
project on the implementation you feel like you're part of something bigger and
sometimes that can be very exciting the flipside is that in large corporations
usually you don't have that much autonomy the company structure is
normally quite complex and quite complicated and in every step that you
take every decision that you make there are so many other people involved there
are so many interdependencies and of course some people thrive in this kind
of environment and that might be you but there are people who are more on the
introverted side who prefer to also have a little bit more autonomy for whom this
kind of working environment might not be that suitable number 11 is working with
a lot of smart intelligent and interesting people I made so many
friends so many great connections that lasts even until now the flipside is in
banking in large corporations in general on a daily basis you might be working
with 20 30 and 50 people and some people really like this environment they find
it very exciting interacting with a lot of people but again for other people who
are more introverted this kind of work setting can be quite exhausting and
draining number 12 almost on a daily basis or at least several times a week
there will be some kind of party going on on the floor someone is celebrating
their birthday or their farewell or welcoming somebody new on board so many
times in the afternoon there will be something new going on and also if you
are working at least in a mid-level management position then you will likely
take part in a lot of dinners I can't remember anymore at how many five-star
buffets I ate at the flipside is you'll not necessarily be able to enjoy all of
these celebrations because after all you are in a work setting right you are
still thinking of your image how you come across you make small talk with
people so even though you're at a meeting at a fancy five-star hotel and
eating this sumptuous buffet dinner will not be necessarily able to fully enjoy
it in the same way as if you're hanging out with your family or your own friends
I hope that my video was able to give you some new insights about the
of banking and about all the great things about working in the industry but
also about the flip side I hope that if you are considering a career in banking
or switching into banking that this will help you to make an informed decision
banking or finance can be a great career to go into for some people just make
sure that you get into banking for the right reasons I just listed 12 awesome
things about working in banking but well for some people these things are really
great for some other people this might represent a downside of the industry so
think carefully do you think that the banking industry is the right kind of
industry for you or not I hope this video was useful to you please share it
with your friends and people who you think might benefit from this video as
always I thank you so much for watching and I hope to catch you again soon