How to Start a Career in Finance: Skills, Steps, and Proven Pathways

Overview: A Practical Roadmap to Your First Finance Role

Starting a career in finance is achievable with a structured plan that combines foundational education, targeted skills, relevant experience, and consistent networking. You can begin with a bachelor’s degree, pursue internships, build a project portfolio, and use informational interviews to open doors. These steps reflect standard industry expectations and current hiring practices, including the value of internships and demonstrable skills in resumes and interviews [1] [2] .

1) Understand Core Entry Paths in Finance

Many juniors break in through roles such as financial analyst, credit analyst, corporate finance rotational programs, commercial banking analyst, treasury analyst, insurance analyst, or financial planning associate. While pathways vary by firm and region, hiring managers often look for evidence of analytical ability, comfort with data, and communication skills demonstrated through coursework, internships, or projects [1] . If you’re still deciding among niches-corporate finance, banking, investments, insurance, or real estate-mapping interests to role requirements helps you prioritize the right courses and certifications. Universities also note that different finance careers align to different credentials and licensing paths, such as appraisal licenses for real estate roles or counseling certifications for credit guidance [3] .

2) Build the Right Education and Skills

While it’s possible to enter finance without a degree, a bachelor’s in finance, accounting, economics, or a related field typically improves candidacy and provides structured exposure to key concepts like financial statements, valuation, and risk [1] . Beyond formal education, you can strengthen your profile by developing technical skills (Excel, financial modeling, basic SQL, and presentation building) and showcasing them on your resume. Career guides emphasize tailoring resumes to highlight analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills-often with action verbs and measurable outcomes-to overcome limited direct experience [4] . For candidates without experience, creating an online portfolio of finance projects-for example, company analyses, mock equity research write-ups, or budget models-provides tangible proof of ability during screening and interviews [2] .

Step-by-step actions

List 3-5 target roles (e.g., corporate finance analyst, FP&A analyst, credit analyst) and review common skills in job postings. Align your next 8-12 weeks of learning to those skills [1] .
Build a portfolio: analyze one public company, build a three-statement model, and write a brief investment thesis. Host it on a professional profile or personal site to share in applications [2] .
Revise your resume to emphasize outcomes (e.g., “Built cash-flow model to evaluate project ROI; informed capex decision”). Many early-career guides recommend strong verbs and quantified results [4] .

3) Leverage Internships and Early Experience

Internships offer hands-on exposure to financial workflows and can clarify career fit, expand your network, and strengthen your resume. Completing more than one internship-especially in different subfields-can help you identify a specialty and signal breadth to employers [1] . If internships are competitive in your area or timeline, you can pursue part-time roles in bookkeeping, analyst assistant positions, or structured online simulations from reputable providers to demonstrate practical skills and initiative, which are useful talking points in interviews [2] .

Step-by-step actions

Apply to 10-15 relevant internships or rotational programs each cycle and tailor cover letters with specific examples of analysis or projects from your portfolio [1] .
Use each internship to ship deliverables you can discuss (monthly variance analyses, KPI dashboards, or valuation cases) and request permission to describe anonymized results.
Where internships are limited, consider structured simulations to practice real tasks and reference them during interviews [2] .

4) Network with Intention

Networking remains a critical component of landing interviews in finance. Practical guidance includes using professional platforms to follow firms and recruiters, join relevant groups, and request informational interviews to learn about roles and hiring calendars. Webinars and events can further expand your exposure and create warm introductions that may support referrals down the line [4] . Many early-career resources also encourage staying current on industry news-via established outlets-to make informed points in conversations and interviews, demonstrating genuine interest and context awareness [2] .

Step-by-step actions

Draft a short outreach message requesting a 15-minute informational chat with alumni or analysts; prepare 5 focused questions about their day-to-day and hiring process [4] .
Attend virtual events and ask one thoughtful question per session; follow up with a thank-you note summarizing a key takeaway [4] .
Read daily market and company news from established financial publications to reference trends and deal activity in conversations [2] .

5) Prepare for Interviews and Case Assessments

Entry-level finance interviews may include behavioral questions, technical accounting and corporate finance concepts, Excel or modeling tests, and short case prompts. To stand out, candidates can pair concise STAR-format stories with portfolio examples that show real analysis work. Early-career guides repeatedly stress that demonstrable skills-models, dashboards, or written analyses-help translate academic knowledge into job-ready competence during interviews [2] [4] .

Step-by-step actions

Create a bank of 10 behavioral stories (leadership, problem-solving, conflict, ownership) and rehearse concise answers supported by metrics where possible [4] .
Practice foundational topics: three financial statements, DCF logic, working capital, ratios, and variance analysis; pair each topic with a mini case or model.
Bring one-page summaries of your portfolio projects to interviews to help guide discussion and showcase outcomes [2] .

6) Choose Credentials Strategically

Depending on your chosen path, you might consider credentials such as an MBA (for leadership-track roles), or role-specific licenses and certifications in areas like real estate appraisal or consumer credit counseling. Universities and career centers note that different finance careers may require or benefit from distinct licensing frameworks, so it’s wise to confirm requirements for your target roles and geography before committing time and cost [3] . When uncertain, you can begin with low-cost, practical skill-building and only pursue advanced credentials once a clear ROI is evident in your chosen track.

Step-by-step actions

Create a short list of roles and research their common certifications or licenses; note whether they are required or simply valued by employers [3] .
Estimate time and cost for each option and weigh against expected responsibilities, pay bands, and promotion pathways described in postings [1] .
Prioritize hands-on skills and early experience if you’re still exploring; revisit advanced credentials once you’ve validated fit in a role.

7) Overcome Common Challenges

Breaking into finance often involves a catch-22-needing experience to get experience. Career resources recommend reframing experience: highlight relevant academic projects, applied simulations, or personal analyses to demonstrate capability; tailor resumes to emphasize outcomes; and leverage informational interviews to access hidden opportunities. This combination helps bridge the gap when formal experience is limited [4] [2] . Because competition can be intense, persistence across multiple application cycles and continuous upskilling typically improves results over time [1] .

Alternative pathways

Internal transfers: consider joining a company in operations or data roles and transitioning to FP&A or treasury after 6-12 months with strong performance indicators.
Adjacent roles: roles in data analytics, accounting support, or fintech operations can provide transferable experience and exposure to financial metrics and processes [1] .
Project contracting: short-term analyst projects can offer verifiable deliverables for your portfolio when full-time roles are scarce.

8) Execute Your 90-Day Plan

Combine the above into a focused plan you can execute:

Weeks 1-4: Select target roles; complete two portfolio projects (company model + KPI dashboard); update resume with quantified outcomes and skills alignment [4] [2] .
Weeks 5-8: Apply to 30-50 tailored roles/internships; schedule 8-12 informational interviews; consume daily finance news to prep for discussions and interviews [1] [2] .
Weeks 9-12: Practice interview cases and technicals; refine projects based on feedback; continue applications and follow-ups. Use each interview to learn which skills to strengthen next cycle [4] .

Get Started: Action Checklist

Pick 3 target roles and validate skills via 10 recent job postings [1] .
Build and publish 2-3 finance projects to a portfolio and reference them in your resume bullets [2] .
Book 2 informational interviews per week for the next 6 weeks; follow up with concise thank-you notes [4] .
Apply for internships or entry roles weekly; measure conversion rates and improve materials and skills iteratively [1] .

References

[1] Indeed (2025). How to start a career in finance: degrees, internships, and tips.

[2] The Forage (2025). How to get into finance with no experience: skills, portfolio, and networking.

[3] Texas Wesleyan University (2022). Tips on breaking into a finance career and role-aligned credentials.

[4] 365 Financial Analyst (2025). Seven steps to launch your finance career: resume, networking, internships.