Financial services administrators and advisors perform an essential public service by offering private and corporate customers options for deals on investments, insurance, tax, pensions, mortgages and loans. Members of the public respect finance professionals for their expert advice and product knowledge.
While administrators are office based, advisors may be required to visit customers at home or on business premises. Independent financial advisors, or IFAs, are required to follow the exact letter of the UK law and provide their client with the best current options when offering services. Financial services workers also need to maintain up-to-date records, usually on a central database, and liaise with product providers and buyers to ensure the terms of the contract are fulfilled.
Successful applicants will have excellent communicative, record keeping and IT skills and be self-motivated and able to prioritise. A background in the field or in accounting is necessary. Incumbents should also have an FSA certificate in financial planning.
Openings exist throughout the country for industry administrators and advisors. The Home Counties and cities such as Birmingham, Bristol and Manchester tend to have the best paid positions. Experienced administrator salaries begin at around £21,000, while advisors may earn more than £55,000 a year.

• Having team working abilities.
• Being flexible and creative.
• Having adaptability.
• Having advanced mathematical skills.
• Being trustworthy and honest.
• Having good communication skills.
• Having logical thinking to solve problems.
• Keeping attention to details.
• Having advanced understanding about accounting principles.
• Being a good listener.

Financial services have more than 50 different career options for professional and technical level. There are various jobs and schemes for graduates for direct apply. A good academic record is requested by employers, so there is a need to have a GCSE in math as a minimum. In other cases, business related experiences will be enough for a job, so degree would be less important than skills the person has thanks to his experience.

There are formal graduate internships to get experience in financial services for penultimate year students. There also are other areas such as Sales Representative and Customer Services where there is no need of advanced math skills.