With its reputation for sky-high salaries, fierce intellectual challenges and fast-paced careers, the financial sector is a tempting option for final-year students looking to start a graduate job in 2008.

Fewer than a quarter of the organisations featured in the new edition of The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers are accountancy firms, banks or financial institutions, but together they account for more than half the vacancies on offer from Top 100 employers next year, a total of more than 9,300 entry-level positions. The most vacancies are at the Big Four accountancy firms – Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers – which expect to take on about 4,200 new graduates. The accounting sector remains one of the fastest growing destinations for university-leavers – vacancies at the leading firms have increased by more than 80 per cent since 2002.

The number of graduate jobs in investment banking has also risen sharply in the past three years. Targets for 2008 – set before the recent turmoil in the financial markets – show that the City’s top 12 investment banks expected to hire at least 3,500 graduates next year, an increase of nearly 700 entry-level posts compared with the last recruitment round. High-street banks and other financial institutions offer fewer vacancies, but they too expect to take on additional graduates in 2008.

Despite these buoyant vacancy numbers, the supply of jobs does not necessarily match the career aspirations of new graduates. In a survey by High Fliers Research of more than 17,000 final-year students who graduated this year, accountancy was ranked only fifth and investment banking appeared in third place, behind the year’s top choices of teaching and careers in the media. And while there were up to 100 new graduates chasing every vacancy at leading investment banks, just ten competed for each place offered by the best-known accountancy firms.

Part of the investment banks’ appeal is the money paid to new joiners, which outstrips all other employment sectors. Starting salaries at the largest banks are expected to average £38,000 for graduates in 2008. More than 60 per cent of students who applied to investment banks this year confirmed that their main motivation was the remuneration – twice the number attracted by the content of the work. Most, however, accept that generous pay comes at a price – just 15 per cent believed that City jobs offer a positive work-life balance.

For would-be accountants, the main attraction is the professional qualification and the associated long-term career prospects. Starting salaries may be lower than other parts of the financial sector – £25,000 for London and the South East of England – but a recent shortage of qualified accountants has pushed pay farther up the profession average to record levels.

For this year’s graduates, PricewaterhouseCoopers was the employer of choice for accountancy and the overall winner in The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers for the fourth year running. The top-rated financial employer was HSBC; Goldman Sachs was the leading investment bank.

Early applications are a must for the financial sector. The majority of investment banks have November closing dates and will complete their selection processes in December. A number of retail and commercial banks also have preChristmas deadlines and plan to make job offers early in 2008. Although all the major accountancy firms recruit year-round, vacancies are filled on a first-come, first-served basis and anyone applying in the next fortnight, if successful, could expect a job offer in four to six weeks’ time.

Martin Birchall is the managing director of High Fliers Research www.highfliers.co.uk

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