Credit Analyst vs Credit Risk Analyst vs Financial Analyst vs Financial Risk Analyst vs Risk Analyst
I'm about to be a graduate of the Class of COVID-19 from a non-target school. I'm exploring career opportunities in finance and, since there are so many of them with various titles, I often get confused about what the jobs entail. With that said, could somebody please explain the differences between these jobs in terms of the responsibilities? Some of them seem to overlap to varying extents and I found that one credit analyst position might be different from the next. Thanks in advance.
There are so many different possible applications of those titles that it is impossible to cover them all. However, I can try to tackle the credit ones. Credit analyst typically is used for buy side funds (credit shops) and the responsibilities include modeling out various scenarios given the target company's industry and specific idiosyncratic qualities- think about it like the credit equivalent of the PE exit opp from IB. As for credit risk analyst- this varies a lot between different firms in terms of responsibilities. For example JPM is known for having a great credit risk function that performs indepth analysis on a specific company that the DCM/Lev Fin team is syndicating a loan for. However, at other firms like say GS or MS, credit risk there is more technical in nature and further removed from any deal related process and primarily deals with the VaR of the firm's book- therefore not modeling out specific scenarios that a Credit Analyst at a buyside fund would be doing. As for financial analyst, this is literally the most generic term in finance and could mean anything ranging from making journal entries in Quickbooks to doing M&A at Houlihan Lokey. Lastly, risk analyst and financial risk analyst would be probably closer to a more statistical side of evaluating risk at a bank/industry firm. This again includes looking at VaR and also running stress tests, CCAR, and other various regulatory requirements. Risk also includes operational risk and reputation risk, along with many others. If you have a specific desire to go into a certain field, maybe you can ask a more directed question.
More specifically, I am trying to determine how to direct my job search given that I have no relevant finance experience (I'm a bit tardy, I might add) and am looking for an entry-level position that I could leverage into IB or buy-side later on. I am also looking at other options like unpaid internships and so forth, but that's another discussion. Any advice?
Edit: I would also like to add that I study economics, so I would ideally use that to my advantage in selecting a job.
I heard Credit Risk -> IB (LevFin) is a pretty common lateral
have to give more background here. From what im gathering you are a non target with no experience and im assuming no network. A FT position at an ib (not just ib, any division in ib including MO/BO) is difficult without any type of experience etc. How about accounting firms or lower tier consulting, maybe a corporate finance gig
I'm looking at several options, including transaction advisory services (which might actually give me more work-life balance), FP&A (good for transferable skills), or consulting firms in the area. I know a FT position is going to be nearly impossible, but I'm willing to take some backdoors in, and maybe I'll even like one of those more...
If IB is your main goal i would say business school is your route if you find a top school, that being said there is no point in working different gigs for pieces at a time just to lateral all the way to maybe a close to IB gig. Tons more options in finance than IB
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