Evaluation of Career Opportunities in Banking Industry

The aim of the paper is to enlighten the reader about the information about the career opportunities in the Australian Labour Market for the students enrolled under Master of Professional Accouting course in the country. The paper is going to explain the labour and career opportunities in a company. Further, it also talks about the opportunities in the industries along with strategies for job seeking and intercultural challenges.

Being studying a professional accounting course, I assumed that the best suited job according to my qualification would be one that helps me to work practically. There is no better industry than the banking industry which a MPA graduate can work. During the course learning of MPA, all the practical subjects are learned considering that we will graduate and use that theoretical information in actual world scenarios. This industry is chosen because the Australian banking sector is increasing day by day and providing profitability to people who are in it (Borland, and Coelli 2016). Further, considering the Australian labour market rules in the banking sector, it should be noted that banking sector employs more than 448,800 people that accounts 3.5% of the total workforce. The fact should be noted that there are many people employed in the industry with optimum satisfaction rate the shows favourableness for the industry to enter (Australia Government 2019).

From the past five years, the employment rate in the market has risen by 7.9 %. The optimum age for the workers in this industry is 39 years and optimum income is $1,434 per week. Among the ratio of total number of employees working the organization, maximum numbers of them are hired as bank worker. So, it can be clearly seen that there is high degree of requirement as bankers in the financial industry (Bishop, and Cassidy 2017). In the banking industry, there is still prevalence of fixed working hours in Australia as more than 82.3 % of people work as a full time employee in the organization. However, the overall Australian industry is shifting towards flexible working hours but the banking sector follows a strict decorum of fixed working hours and good infrastructural workplace for the employees. There is subsequent increase in the number of females working in the industry by 48.6%. The industry is not good in terms of growth and competition among employees as there is presence of high degree of competition among employees in a banking organization (Childe 2016).

Evaluation of Career Opportunities in Education and Training Industry

Also from the above information it can be seen that employment rate is increasing with the increasing number of females in the industry but the presence of glass ceiling is making the growth of female section stagnate (Weller 2017). There is high degree of gender inequality in the labour market of country Australia that is making the growth of the female section stagnate in the society. This industry is chosen by most of the people because of the comfortable job role as the employees various bank holidays along with an average of 39 working hours in a week (Reserve Bank of Australia 2019).

I have chosen education and training industry because of my keen interest in training people and educating them. Also, the education and training industry of Australia is highly successful and profound in the work that they do. The industry works with more than 1,035,400 people which constitutes of 8.1% of the total workforce present in Australia. As Australia is known for providing efficient teaching services due to its famous and highly efficient universities that gathers the interest of students from worldwide (Meagher, and Goodwin 2015). Resulting in which, the education industry is in constant need of good professors and tutors as well. Over the past five years, the employment rate of the country has been increased by 15.8% that shows remarkable progress. The average age of worker in this industry is 42 years and average income is $1,150. Contradicting to above industry, the female share in this industry constitutes of 72%. The teaching industry also has flexible working hours for people as 40% of the people present in this industry work in part time. However, increasing inflation rate in the country is reducing the number of students enrolling with the universities of Australia. Due to which, the universities are focusing on reducing the salaries given to the professors (Bonoli 2017).

Also, due to enough flexibility in this industry people take this industry leniently as it is made for part time working job only. Among this industry, the maximum number of people are employed are primary school teacher and least number of people are employed are vocational educational teachers (Enright, and Petty 2016). Further, it should be noted that the fact is true that the industry might be increasing in numbers but it is lacking efficient quality teachers. Specifically university lecturers and tutors are accounted with a number of 50,600 people in the country Australia that states a fair number (Healy 2015). People in Australia prefer the education and training industry as their side-line goal or objective as they believe that if their primary goal will not get completed then this surely will. This industry is good for people to earn money but it is devalued in terms of its job role as people working in other industries find this teaching and training job less critical due to which they do not give enough importance and respect to the professors and tutors. So, it can be said that rest all the aspects are optimum in this industry and for the profession only the considerate pay is less due to which people take this occupation lightly (Australia Government 2019).

Goals and Tasks for Job Searching and Network Building

• For  Banker

Goals	Tasks	Estimated Time to complete
Goal 1: Update Resume	Create a proper resume	1.5 hours
	Analyse other resumes online and look for changes	1.5 hours
	Make changes accordingly.	1.5 hours
	Tailor resume according to companies interested	1.5 hours
Goal 2: Apply to 5-7 jobs in the field	Search online for banks in market.	2-3 hours
	Analyse the job description, person description and company values	1.5 hours
	Short list top 5-10 banks according to preference and their person requirement.	1.5 hours
	Finalize the best suited bank and post to apply for that.	1 hour
	Read about the bank profile and employment policies.	1 Hour
	Tailor cover letter.	1 hour
	Present review of cover letter in both hard and soft copy	1 hour
	Look for resumes and cover letter for response	5-6 days
	Log information in job search log and follow up as appropriate	30 minutes – 1 hour
Goal 3: Build and maintain network	Update LinkedIn Account	1 hour
	Contact LinkedIn alumni groups	1.5 hours
	List current useful connections	2.5 hours
	Contact Career services websites and site supervisors	30 minutes
	E-mail important people to set up meetings	1 hour
	Reach out new contact in the industry	1.5 hours

• For Professor

Goals	Description	Time
Analysis of Personality for suitable job role	Evaluation of personality through personality tests to gain information about the personality that I hold for the particular job role.	2-4 hours
	After performing the test, outline the skills and competencies that I possess and which are differential from others	4 Hours
Formation of Resume	Create a resume to outline the educational qualification that I possess. Along with this also explain the differential skills that can help me to effectively grow in the job.	2 Hours
Evaluation of prospective Universities	Being with finding out prospective universities that have job vacancy in the accounting department	4 Hours
	Then go on analysis the job requirement, pay scale and university profile.	3 Hours
	Contact HR an send a resume	2 Hours
	Then look of for other job search sites where jobs are posted by agencies. Also contact agencies for further recruitment.	2 Hours
Selection & Interview	Find a date and finalize the job interview.	1 Hour
	Prepare thoroughly and learn concepts for interview and then ace the interview confidently.	5 Hours

 

Nobody has ever said that jobs are easy to perform and comfortable to deal with, people face problems and they do realize that it is difficult to sustain in differential working environment. One of the most important issue due to which people face problems is intercultural issues. Intercultural challenges are the challenges that a person face when they are exposed to different working environment. For instance, a person living in China will face intercultural challenges while working in US because of the difference in both the cultures. It is can also be said that cultural diversity at workplace does wonders for the organization if aligned properly with the human resource strategy (Rees, Smith, and Hall 2016). Different perspectives and background can provide brainstorming ideas to the company to grow (Blackmore, Gribble, and Rahimi 2017). However, the intercultural challenges that I might face while recruitment at workplace are discussed below:

• Threat of Cultural Shock: Cultural shock occurs when a person belonging to a diverse culture is recruited in different environment. Surviving in an environment different from their background makes the employee question on their background. Overlapping of one culture over culture over can also create various problems in the environment. Thus, I can face the problem of cultural shock if I get a job in a different country where my immediate boss follows and practice different cultural activities (Dustmann 2015). This can give rise of conflicts and difference in opinion. Cultural shock ultimately leads to quitting the job and unwillingness to work as well.
• Difference in Understanding: Communication issue is one of the biggest intercultural challenges present in the environment. It is not important to circulate the regulations at workplace, but it is important to communicate at workplace and listen to the opinions of employees. If the higher level management will not try to involve the employees of the company in their decision making process then I might face difficulty to survive in diverse environment (Delaporte, and Pirach 2018).
• Opportunity of Attractive Creative Ideas in Business: Lastly, one of the biggest opportunities that I might face in intercultural environment is that, this type of environment will provide me the opportunity to present my brainstorming ideas and make the organization work in an innovative manner. People coming from different cultural background possess differential features that can provide creative ideas to the company to function (Hawthorne 2016).

Based on the research conducted in above mentioned analysis, below mentioned recommendations are present that can help me to increase my employability and prepare me to enter the Australian job market. It should be noted that the recommendations are provided on the basis on my selection of ‘banker profession’ in financial industry.

• Thorough market research: I believe that it is important for me to gather complete information about the external environment in order to succeed in the prospective job and market. Analysing market information will help me to cater the needs of the company. Research will help me to know the degree of competition present in the market and what pay skills I should expect from the company (Li, et. al., 2016). I will get the information about the best and worst in the business along with dos and don’ts as well.
• Analysis of potential skills: performing certain tests related to my personality will help me to better understand about my qualities and areas where are need to work hard. It will also help me to analyse the qualities that I would require as a banker. Big 5 personality test, Myers and Brigg etc. are some of the personality test that I can use to identify my personality
• Using flexible approach while working: flexibility is the best key to dissolve in any difficult environment and rise up successfully. So, I should key the fact in mind that flexibility in my working habits will successfully help me to eliminate intercultural issues and grow effectively (Preston 2018).

Conclusion

Thus, in the limelight of above mentioned events, the fact should be noted that the paper represented information about the labour market trends of Australia in banking as well as education and training industry. The paper represented the trends along with the creative plan to capture the job. Intercultural challenges and recommendations are provided attract the right type of job and survive in it as well.

References

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