How to Get Into Finance: Entry-Level Jobs and Career Paths

How to Get Into Finance

You can get into finance without starting in investment banking. The practical route is to choose one lane, build evidence that you can do the work, and tailor your resume to that lane. For many job seekers, the most realistic first targets are accounting, junior financial analyst roles, loan or credit jobs, and client-support roles at financial advisory firms.

If you are early in your career, focus on three things:

• learning the language of the role
• showing proof through coursework, internships, projects, or adjacent work
• applying to jobs where your background already overlaps with the day-to-day tasks

Choose the finance lane that matches your background

Accounting and audit

A strong option if you like structure, spreadsheets, controls, and detail. Staff accountant, audit assistant, tax assistant, and accounts payable or receivable roles can all lead deeper into finance. In U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, accountants and auditors had median annual pay of $81,680 in May 2024 and projected employment growth of 5% from 2024 to 2034.

Financial analyst roles

A good fit if you enjoy Excel, business performance, and turning numbers into recommendations. Many entry-level postings ask for budgeting, reporting, variance analysis, or research support rather than advanced modeling. In U.S. BLS data, financial and investment analysts had median annual pay of $101,350 in May 2024, with 6% projected growth from 2024 to 2034.

Loan officer and credit roles

This path fits candidates with banking, customer service, sales, or underwriting-adjacent experience. The work is part analysis and part client communication. U.S. BLS data shows median annual pay of $74,180 for loan officers in May 2024, with 2% projected growth from 2024 to 2034.

Financial advisor support

If you like personal finance and client conversations, you do not need to start as a full advisor. Many candidates begin in client service, paraplanner, operations, or advisor assistant roles and grow from there. U.S. BLS data shows personal financial advisors at $102,140 median annual pay in May 2024 and 10% projected growth from 2024 to 2034, though full advisor roles usually take time, licensing, and trust-building.

Skills finance employers look for

• Excel or spreadsheet fluency
• comfort with financial statements, budgets, or lending terms
• attention to detail and accuracy
• clear written communication
• the ability to explain numbers to non-specialists
• professionalism with confidential information and compliance rules

How to build experience before you have a finance title

You do not need to wait for the perfect internship to start building proof.

• Turn classwork into portfolio pieces. A budgeting model, company analysis, or forecasting exercise is more useful than listing coursework alone.
• Use adjacent experience. Teller work, bookkeeping, customer service, sales, payroll, operations, and data-heavy admin work can all support a finance application when you describe them well.
• Learn the tools that appear repeatedly in job descriptions. Excel is the baseline. Depending on the path, QuickBooks, SQL, Power BI, or Bloomberg exposure may help.
• Take one targeted course or certification if it closes a clear gap, but do not collect credentials without a job target.

Where to look for finance jobs

Broad job boards are fine, but do not stop there. Search bank and credit union career pages, accounting firms, insurance companies, corporate finance teams, university alumni networks, and local professional associations. Online communities can help you learn the language of the field, but company career pages and referrals usually lead to better-matched applications.

How to tailor your resume for finance jobs

A finance resume should make it easy to trust your accuracy and judgment.

• Mirror the job title and keywords when they are honestly relevant to your background.
• Quantify work that involved reporting, reconciliation, forecasting, cash handling, budgets, or client outcomes.
• Put finance-relevant tools near the top of your skills section.
• Add relevant coursework, case competitions, student funds, or projects if paid experience is thin.
• Remove bullets that are interesting but do not support the role you are targeting.

If you are applying to multiple finance roles, Minova can help you compare your resume against the job description, spot missing keywords, and tighten role-specific bullet points before you apply.

Quick answers

Do I need a finance degree?

Not always. Finance, accounting, economics, math, and business degrees are common, but adjacent backgrounds can work if you can show relevant skills and a clear reason for the move.

What is the easiest finance job to get first?

That depends on your starting point. Customer-facing candidates often fit banking, lending, or advisor-support roles. Detail-oriented candidates may have a faster path through accounting, audit support, or finance operations.

Is finance still a good career path?

Yes, but treat finance as a group of different career tracks, not one market. In U.S. BLS projections for 2024 to 2034, personal financial advisors were projected to grow 10%, financial analysts 6%, accountants and auditors 5%, and loan officers 2%.

What should go on a finance resume if I have no direct experience?

Relevant projects, Excel work, quantified part-time jobs, internships, and bullet points that show accuracy, analysis, customer trust, or responsibility with money.