When many people think of jobs in finance, they picture a silken red carpet that leads to offices made of gold and untold perks. It appears to be a place where hard work and meritocracy elevate people to the top of the ladder. Unfortunately, simply working hard and being smart is not enough to get a job in today’s financial services industry.

According to annual reports issued by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, hiring for 2014 graduates is expected to increase overall by 7.8 percent from last year. Too bad this number would have been in the double digits if it weren’t for the negative growth in the financial services industry. The Wall Street Journal reported on Nov. 20 that hiring in this industry would “decrease 40 percent across all degree programs.”

This should be a cause for concern for nonbusiness students as well because there are many different job opportunities working at a finance company ranging from functions in human resources to technology. J.P. Morgan, for example, recruits heavily from the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, the School of Information Studies and the College of Arts and Sciences.

The key to mitigating this may be looking beyond the job board or resume drops at career fairs, when students simply leave their resumes with recruiters. Long gone are the days of simply submitting a resume and getting a job. Instead, in more recent times, there are often informal interviews even before the resume screening process takes place.

Often these informal relationships may supersede the hiring process laid out by human resources and help accelerate a candidate. For those without access to these connections, creative solutions are in order. This is increasingly important in a hypercompetitive job environment.

If one has the resources, he or she should consider picking up the phone and calling employers or asking his or her teachers for recommendations. For those without these things, they should think about taking an exam geared toward matching businesses and workers. Within the past few years, independent companies have been developing different pre-employment tests to aid employers.

One such test is the Wall Street Admissions Test or WSAT. This test is technical and more geared toward those who want to work with the numbers side of finance. It is one of the newer exams that companies may force you to take prior to submitting an application.

The WSAT is different from another more popular and extensive exam called the Bloomberg Aptitude Test or BAT. The BAT addresses the needs of both traditional finance students (finance, accounting and economics majors) as well as those from nontraditional backgrounds (English, engineering, chemistry, etc.).

Unlike the WSAT, the BAT is an anonymous exam where any employer ranging from a hospital to a bank or a hedge fund to a marketing company can find you. The anonymity in the BAT comes from test takers being allowed to selectively show their scores to employers.

Both tests and ones similar to them are free. It’s those who are hiring that pay for the most part.

With commencement approaching, many people experience both happiness and fear. “What happens when I get into the ‘real’ world?” That’s a question swirling around in the heads of many seniors and future graduates. While employment isn’t immediately on the minds of many, especially with finals approaching, after those two weeks it should be. Why not take one more test, something that will cost you nothing, but could potentially help you land a coveted role? There are a lot of talented people, so setting one’s self apart is where the true work comes in.

Fran Walker is a senior finance and accounting major. Her column appears weekly. She can be reached at fwalke01@syr.edu.

Published on December 2, 2013 at 1:54 am