Financial Maths & Economics
Deciding on your Career
Possible Career Opportunities
Choosing a career involves more than just finding out
what is open to you. Knowledge about yourself is vital to
the process. It is valuable to start by looking at your
strengths, weaknesses, interests, abilities and skills in
order to relate career options to you.
Actuary
Insurance
Underwriter
Economic Analyst
There are resources available on our website for help
deciding ‘what next?’ including Psychometric Tests at:
www.nuigalway.ie/careers/students/careerinfo.html .
Fund Accountant
Trader
Management
Consultant
Sample Job Advertisements
Some jobs advertised recently that may suit students /
graduates (these jobs are not currently available and are
shown here for illustration purposes only).
Graduate Programme, Virtu Financial Ireland. Expertise
in mathematical sciences and/or computer sciences.
Strong work ethic, team orientation with a desire to
succeed. Opportunities in software engineering, systems
engeering, trading analysts, operations analysts. [13]
Graduate Trainee Actuary, Mercer. Degrees sought:
actuarial, mathematics, statistics. Graduates should be
able to thrive in an environment that focuses on
acheivement, service excellence and teamwork. [13]
DAA Graduate Programme. A two-year structured
development programme. Flexibility to move nationally
and internationally is important. 2:1/1:1 degree/masters.
Particularly interested in graduates of: Business,
Accounting, Finance, Maths and Statistics. [13]
Graduate Policy Analyst, Commission for Energy
Regulation. Two year programme with the opportunity to
develop skills and gain experience in regulation, policymaking, financial analysis, team-working, verbal and
written communication, and negotiation. Excellent tertiary
academic record (2.1 or higher), preferably in Economics,
Law, Engineering, Finance, Business or other closely
related discipline. [13]
Summer Analyst Internship, Goldman Sachs. Programs
last between eight and eleven weeks and are designed to
fully immerse you in the day-to-day activities of one of
our divisions. [13]
First Derivatives Graduate Programme. Degree
disciples such as Finance, Computer Science,
Mathematics, Economics etc. The following graduate
positions are now recruiting: Technology Trading /
Financial Engineering / Software / Data Science [14]
Stockbroker
Financial
Analyst
Financial
Adviser
Statistician
Teacher
Technical
Writer / Editor
Accountant
Claims Adjuster
Investment
Fund Manager
Management
Banking
Research
Analyst
Note: Further qualifications may be needed for certain
positions. This list is a sample representation of positions
available.
Up to 40% of graduate employment opportunities are
open to graduates of all disciplines.
Your skills and the employment market
When conducting your skills audit, it is important that you
think of the broad spectrum of skills that you have
acquired throughout all areas of your life.
You should consider everything you have done on your
course, as well as any work experience you have
completed (paid or voluntary), any extracurricular
activities that you have been involved in which can
demonstrate that you have developed your skills eg.
membership of clubs and societies, team sports etc It is
by knowing your strengths that you can start marketing
yourself effectively to employers!
By taking this degree you will acquire many transferable
skills: the ability to analyse and reason, with a logical
approach to problem solving. You will also acquire a
large number of other skills that are invaluable in today's
labour market, such as, the ability to analyse data, prepare
reports, make presentations, and work as part of a team.
The most specific skill that graduates possess will
naturally be highly developed numeracy.
Further study opportunities
For certain career choices, employers may look for
candidates with further qualifications and training.
Some of the courses chosen by graduates in the past at
NUI Galway (www.nuigalway.ie/courses) were:
 PhD
 HDip Education (now Professional Masters in
Education)
There are many other courses available to graduates of
Financial Mathematics & Economics at NUI Galway for
example,
www.nuigalway.ie/conversion
covers
conversion courses and also links to full time, online and
part time courses.
Other courses taken by graduates were:
 PGDip Actuarial Science UCD
 MSc Computational Finance, UL
 MSc Management, UCD
 MSc International Business, UCC
 Masters in Statistics, UCD
 MSc Risk Management / Financial Regulation, QUB
 MSc in Actuarial Science, Heriot Watt, Edinburgh
 PGDE in Mathematics, Uni of Edinburgh
 MSc Finance and Capital Markets, DCU
The website www.postgradireland.com also contains
useful information on postgraduate courses in Ireland,
www.prospects.ac.uk is an excellent site for researching
opportunities in the UK and http://europa.eu.int/ploteus
covers the EU.
What past graduates have done
Here is a sample of job titles and employers occupied by
past students who studied Financial Maths & Economics
6 months after graduation. This has been taken from NUI
Galway’s First Destination Statistics.
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Financial Engineer, First Derivatives
Financial Software Engineer, Murex
Buyer, Smyths Toys, Galway
Trainee Actuary, Irish Life & Permanent
Hedge Fund Accountant, CITCO Fund Services,
Dublin
Hedge Fund Accountant, Brandeaux, Dublin
Financial Analyst, AIB
Trainee Accountant, KPMG
Trainee Accountant, Grant Thornton, Dublin
Corporate Lending, AIB
Hedge Fund Accountant, JP Morgan
Analyst, Gazprom London
Graduate Ttrainee, Bank of Ireland
Graduate Trainee, KBC Bank Dublin
Trainee Actuary, Acorn Life
Operations Analyst, Goldman Sachs
Economist, Goodbody Stockbrokers, Dublin
Resources in the Careers Information Room
Reference material in the Information Room includes:
Occupational Files:
 ‘J’ [Finance]
 ‘I’ [Actuary/Insurance]
 ‘O’ [Statistics & Economics]
Publications:
 Target – City & Finance
 Careers in Banking & Finance
 Getting into the City
 Inside Careers: Actuary
 Inside Careers: Banking Securities & Investments
 Inside Careers: Chartered Accountancy
 Inside Careers: The Tax Advisers Profession
Drop into our information room and we will be happy to
assist you.
Useful websites
We have found that the following websites contain
relevant and interesting information on opportunities with
a degree in Financial Maths & Economics.
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www.nuigalway.ie/careers
www.maths.tcd.ie/pub/ims/ Irish Mathematical Soc
www.esri.ie Economic & Social Research Institute
www.iea.ie/ Irish Economic Association
www.istat.ie/ Irish Statistical Association
www.actuaries.ie/ Society of Actuaries in Ireland
Europe
 www.prospects.ac.uk Sector info and options
 www.insidecareers.co.uk incl. Actuaries, Banking
 http://plus.maths.org/ Plus internet magazine
 www.ima.org.uk/ Institute of Mathematics
 http://www.mathscareers.org.uk/ IoM Careers site
 www.actuaries.org.uk Faculty / Institute of Actuaries
 http://www.euro-math-soc.eu/jobs_list.html Jobs
 www.eeassoc.org/ European Economic Association
 http://targetjobs.co.uk/ sector info and options
Abroad
 www.austms.org.au Australian Mathematical Society
 www.ams.org American Maths Society
 www.math-jobs.com/
 www.iea-world.com/ International Economic Assoc.
 www.beanactuary.org US site
There are many social media sites and groups helping
people who are looking for work. Search LinkedIn,
Twitter, Facebook to find people, companies and
discussion groups to follow. Use query sites such as
www.twitjobsearch.com/, www.google.ie/alerts to search
for latest news items. See our FAQ at
www.nuigalway.ie/careers/students/faq/socialmedia.html
See more links at
https://delicious.com/careersinfo/finance