Information Technology

This is the backbone of banking. Client records, company trade records, pricing, transaction processing, security, etc… The efficient management of risk of a bank is tightly correlated with the investment in IT. From support to systems development, IT is pervasive in the banking environment. Banks have lots of money and spend lots of money in IT.

An IT manager’s dream! You get to test and implement all the new technologies, because bank managers are often convinced that having an edge in IT gives them an edge in the business (which is not necessarily true). In any case, as an IT engineer in a bank, you will get a lot of exposure, and you’ll make friends with all the traders, because they always want something from you (the latest Blackberry, or a new set of Pentium chips in their machine…)

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Human Resources

Great spot! Think about what resource represents the highest cost to a bank - Not IT or real estate; it is people! The salaries and bonuses form the single largest expense of a bank. That is why they have great HR departments. Banks always claim that they want to recruit the best and the brightest, and true to their word, they go to great lengths ensuring they have the means of doing so: on campus recruitment, work-life balance programs, implementation, firings (err yes, sometimes banks have to fire people) and relocation, etc…

Like any other big corporation, a bank must invest in people recruiters and people managers; HR is also the first employer of graduates: during their first year, graduates belong to HR. In HR, you pay for their housing, you pay for their training, and you even pay their salary. Being in HR in a bank is a great way to jump start a career in people management. You will interview, recruit and “exit” a large amount of people in a short time; giving you the opportunity to obtain experience quickly and efficiently.