What kind of jobs are open to recent graduates in finance? What are some of the biggest employers in this field? We're answering these questions with our list of 10 of the top employers for finance.

It is that time of year again!

Economics topics are an inherent part of our lives. Employment, global competition in world markets, agreements for free trade zones, social and monetary policies affect our lives constantly. The social science of economics attempts to analyze and understand many of those problems. To study economics have the potential to bring you a deep understanding of the world apart from opening a wide range of opportunities in the job market.

As of 2011, significantly more women than men completed secondary education in an astounding 32 of the 34 OECD member countries, according to a study by OECD researchers. On average, women accounted for 58% of graduates overall, though the range between countries is quite great. Moreover, the numbers vary tremendously across disciplines, with the areas of health & welfare and arts & humanities still heavily female, while math & science remain overwhelmingly male.

Last year, we posted an article titled “Internships in Economics – Lessons from an Economist,” which offered useful advice about the importance of internships and how to find what you’re looking for. Now, as spring is flying by and summer is just around the corner, we know that many of you are in the process of finding a summer internship. In this post, we’ll highlight a few specific internships and delve into the many great places to intern for anyone interested in economics and finance.

Since its foundation by Portuguese colonists, Brazil, the largest country in Latin America, has experienced an important immigrant flow. Over time, the Brazilian government has influenced this flow by implementing policies that support the needs of the economy. If during the first half of the 20th century governmental policies targeted low-skilled immigrants for work in the agricultural sector, in the last quarter of the century the government aimed to attract highly skilled immigrants to the country. The new trend was marked by the adoption of a new immigration law in 1981, which introduced new processes for visas and work permits and created a number of obstacles for low skilled migration.

We spoke to top hiring managers Kalpana Kochhar, Director of Human Resources Department at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Jordi Roca Solanelles, Head Manager of the University of Barcelona’s School of Economics (UB) and Professor Dr Florian Englmaier, Professor for Organisational Economics as the Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich (LMU), to discover what challenges economics post-graduates should expect from prospective careers in some of the biggest institutions around.

Finance has become a very attractive field for many people in the last decades as it “smells” of money and promises a successful career after obtaining a degree, even though the financial crisis has slowed down this popularity trend. While many fresh Bachelor and Master graduates massively apply for positions in investment banks and consultancies, some decide to pursue a PhD, which is the way to life-long involvement in the academic world.

If you're working on your economics degree, you might be wondering about what career options are open to you before. You can do all sorts of work with the skills which you'll pick up from your degree, but one of the most highly desired jobs among ambitious students is a role in an international organisation. This job could be in an inter-governmental organisation (IGO) such as the United Nations or European Union, or in a non-governmental organisation (NGO) such as the charities Amnesty International or Oxfam. If you want to try a career in an international organisation, how do land your first job in the field? This is what we'll be looking at today, so read on for our tips on finding the job you want.

When I was about to receive my Bachelor diploma, I was confused. I knew where I wanted to work, but I didn’t know how to get there with a Degree in Law. I also knew that I needed to steer my professional training towards economics, but I didn’t know how. The problem was that I just didn’t have enough credits in any economics-related disciplines to meet the requirements of the majority of study programs available. After having weighed all the options, I made up my mind to apply for an MA in Public Policy and to try to focus on economics-related disciplines.

While many recent Bachelor’s graduates are debating the choice between entering the job market and embarking on a PhD (take a look at this post if you find yourself in this position), it’s important to remember that there are a number of top-notch Master’s programs in economics out there as well. We recently offered you a list of Erasmus Master’s programs, but in the current post we’ll shift focus to the United States, where stand-alone Master’s programs in economics are gaining both prominence and popularity.

Vladimir Hlasny is an associate professor of Economics at Ewha Womans University in Seoul. We chose him as the winner of our Conference Grant Contest 2016 and awarded him with a €500 grant. The prize helped him to attend the Joint NIDI-RUG Workshop on Socioeconomics Differences and Health Later in Life organized by the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Groningen. Over 670 participants took part in the contest by submitting short answers related to their own academic career growth. You can see Vladimir's winning answer here.

Conferences have been a pillar of academic thought in the western world for almost a century. Organizations including the American Economic Association (AEA) (organized in 1885, incorporated in 1923), the Royal Economic Society (RES) (incorporated in 1902, although their journal The Economic Journal dates back to 1891), the Western Economic Association International (WEAI) (1922) and the International Atlantic Economic Society (IAES) (1973) have lead the way with their annual meetings that draw anywhere from a couple hundred to over 10,000 annual visitors; and these are only the tip of the iceberg.

Today, on July 1st, Canadian-born Mark Carney is to assume governorship of the Bank of England.  In a show of professional meritocracy, the BOE is the first central bank to hire a foreign economist as its director. Carney is the first non-Briton to be appointed to direct the BOE since Bank’s establishment in 1694.

Following the entry on this blog last month about countries with the most top 100 economics departments according to REPEC data, I thought it a worthwhile pursuit to look a little more into these rankings, and to seek out some alternatives to that offered by REPEC.

As an academic, you may feel somewhat insulated from the profit-driven business world. Certainly, academia has traditionally been regarded as an enclave separated from corporate concerns over profits; one which is supported by governments and individuals and focuses on teaching and research rather than on making money. However, with the huge growth of the education industry over the last few decades, institutions have necessarily become more corporate.

As a business or management student, you'll know the importance of acquiring specialist skills, and of building your network. Summer schools can help with both of these goals, giving you chances to learn about new topics and to get to know other students, researchers, and professors in your field.

Check out our top summer schools 2021

According to a recent OECD report on studying abroad, in 2012 more than 4.5 million students were enrolled in tertiary education outside their country of citizenship1. Pursuing higher-level education in a foreign country represents a superb opportunity for students not only to expand their knowledge in their discipline of interest but also to gain insight into other cultures, societies and languages. An international graduate has higher prospects in the labor market than a domestic student; moreover, as Michelle Obama mentioned in March 2014, companies have begun to realize the benefit that a study abroad experience can give to their employees: they are able to speak different languages, they have a sensitivity for people and they are more compassionate2.