Can anyone help me? Does anyone have any idea how I can get a
Finance/Banking job in the US or UK with no Finance experience? I have
a 2:1 BA (Hon) degree in Finance but that does not seem to matter? If
some one could help me I would be very grateful!

Matt

Matt,

Actually, what I wrote as a comment below this answer is pretty much
as complete an answer as there is to this question (I was wary of
posting an answer to begin with in case I missed an obvious solution).
Short of having a family tie to the industry and using that to get in,
there is no secret success route into a finance job.

You could look at getting sponsorship to take some of the professional
licensure exams - but these are not guaranteed ways into a joba nd
tend to narrow your skills rather than broaden your options.

The best thing I can do in addition to the text in my comment below is
give you some useful links. You may find jobs on here which require
very little experience - but they normally require a Ph.D. instead of
the experience - I have yet to see a finance job that says "no
experience necessary, no advanced degree either" other than the ones
offered through the careers fairs (which are extremely competitive and
don't necessarily lead to the job of your dreams - after all, the
successful people are the competitive overacheivers - and the job
continually demands that of you).

http://www.jobsinthemoney.com/
has a whole load of jobs in the finance industry.

http://www.prmia.org/
is a free organization of risk professionals in the industry. They
have a job section, but it's primarily aimed at PhD grads and long
time industry pros. You could try out their forums or getting involved
with the local seminars.

http://www.bc.edu/msf
is a link to Boston College's Master of Science in finance program.
There are others, but I know from personal experience that people here
get good placements.

http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/index.html
Businessweek's guide to business schools. A great resource if you
decide to go that way and want to compare advanced degree programs.
The most important thing to look for in a program is arguably it
placements - who cares if you have a top MBA if you don't have a good
job to pay it back.

Regards

calebu2

I can't give you a complete answer to this question, but I'll give you
my best shot at a couple of ideas.

A 2:1 shows that you have the skills to do what is required of you in
the finance profession, but directly you are unlikely to make a dent
on the industry unless you are lucky enough to impress a financial
company that comes round your university to do campus interviews.

A couple of possibilities are as follows :

1) Get a Masters degree in Finance - either an MBA or MSF and use the
time during that program to do as much networking as possible. I'm a
student at Boston College, Boston, MA and I know a lot of people who
do the MSF in Finance here for a year to signal that they really are
interested in finance. They also make full use of the extracurricular
activities, such as seminars, speaker presentations and socials to
network and to sell themselves to industry. If you can find a program
that has a good placement program and/or alumni network you might be
in better shape. Certainly in the US, a BA means very little at the
moment for a real job in finance - it is the higher degrees (MBA, MSF
and PHD) that get you noticed.

2) You could do a Ph.D. in Finance - that would make you highly
desirable but probably isn't worth the effort for what you gain unless
you really have your heart set on it.

3) Try and get involved with some professional organizations /
seminars - I can't say whether this really works, but I'm trying this
one - give me 12 months and I'll tell you how good of an idea it
really is. Force yourself into circumstances where you can have
intellectual discussions with industry people about finance.
Networking works well, especially in the US. However that said there
were a lot of people who told me at conferences this year that "this
isn't the year for hiring, rather the opposite is true". So if that is
true you need to keep pressing, keep impressing and don't give up
until the market changes.

4) Find an entry level non-professional position. I'm not sure that
this really works either - gone are the days of working your way from
the mail room to the board room. But, again, if you can find a foot in
the door and use it to impress people it might work. Just make sure
you don't shoot yourself in the foot by creating a boring resume item
that shows little drive or ambition.

Hope this helps

calebu2

What about law school?  I was a finance major who ultimately went to
law school. There are relatively few attorneys that can appreciate (or
understand) a present value, even if it hit them in the back. Since
many attorneys are liberal arts majors, someone with palpable finance
skills is a valuable person. Law school is 3 years.

Just an idea!  Good luck,
weisstho-ga