As we all know, the financial industry is a well-known "volume", both academic qualifications and certificates, if you want to develop and make achievements in the financial industry, research is the fate of financial people can not escape.
Under the current "cold wave" of employment, which certificates are more valuable and can help you better promote and raise your salary and achieve a further upgrade in your career?
With rising market uncertainty, the global job market has ushered in a new round of "cold wave".
It is reported that the number of layoffs in major investment banks in Europe and the United States in 2022 will exceed 100,000, and a large financial institution in Shenzhen has recently been laid off by about 40% in the future.
In terms of salary, according to market news statistics, the average salary of major ** companies will "plummet" in 2022, for example, the average salary of a large ** company in 2022 will only be 78630,000 yuan, a decrease of about 20% from 2021. The banks are not having a good time either. For example, the average monthly salary per capita of a large bank in the first half of 2023 decreased by 13 year-on-year62%。
It's a pity that a good job is already "hard to find", but in this cold wave, there seems to be a "warm wind".
According to Liepin's "ESG Talent Attraction Insight Report 2023", as of April 2023, the number of new ESG jobs has increased by 64% year-on-year46%, with an average annual salary of 31 for ESG recruitment490,000, an increase of 1158%。
When I opened the recruitment software, the salary of ESG posts was indeed "unbeatable". Whether it is investment institutions, internal enterprises, or third-party institutions such as rating agencies, brokers, and consulting companies, they are all recruiting ESG-related talents.
According to a headhunter in the ESG industry, "the starting salary of ESG fresh graduates is now a normal level of 2-40,000 yuan, and the monthly salary is even 150,000-200,000 yuan."
So, why are ESG jobs so hot?
The concept of ESG can be traced back to the United Nations Global Compact, launched by then-UN Secretary-General Kofi Atta Annan in 2000, which emphasizes the importance of human rights, labor security, the environment and the prevention of corruption. In 2005, Annan invited the heads of the world's 50 largest financial institutions to convene the "Who Cares Wins", during which they agreed that the three major elements of ESG are the cornerstone of the long-term stable development of the financial industry in a rapidly changing world.
In order to ensure that the concept of ESG theory does not become empty talk, the market has explored a path for the development of the ESG ecosystem in the past decade or so.
The implementation path is as follows:
1) ESG guides international organizations, regulators, and exchanges to formulate a set of ecological rules
2) Based on the above rules, enterprises can disclose according to the corresponding industry conditions;
3) Rating and investment advisory agencies publish corporate ratings based on corporate data
4) Finally, investors will incorporate ESG factors based on the above information and value the company.
In this context, ESG can form a closed-loop process in the capital market that permeates all aspects of the ecosystemIn recent years, increasing investor demand has also driven financial institutions and other stakeholders to provide higher quality ESG-related products and services.
At present, ESG investment is receiving more and more attention and recognition from the global market. As of Q2 2023, 5,372 financial institutions around the world have signed the PRI, and the compound annualized growth rate is expected to be 286%。According to PwC, the global ESG asset management scale will reach 33 percent by 2026US$9 trillion, accounting for 22% of global assets under management.
From a structural point of view, the development potential of China's ESG market in the future is still huge. Due to the relatively late start of ESG investment in China, as of Q2 23, the total number of PRI signatories in China accounted for only 26%, much lower than that of European and American countries.
The "14th Five-Year Plan" clearly states that in the future, China should implement the new development concept and continue to promote high-quality development. Theoretically, ESG can provide guiding principles for the development of enterprises in environmental, social and governance aspects, and point out the way for high-quality development of enterprisesIn practice, ESG can provide methods and indicators to evaluate the performance of enterprises in environmental, social and governance aspects, and provide necessary tools for enterprises to practice high-quality development.
It can be said that the concept of ESG coincides with the concept of high-quality development proposed by China, and with the steady progress of the "14th Five-Year Plan", ESG investment will also become popular in China, which is not only an important reason for the continuous popularity of ESG in China in the past two years, but also the fundamental basis for enterprises to be willing to cultivate ESG talents with high salaries.
Of course, the ESG industry is so hot now, and its requirements for recruiters are relatively high.
According to Liepin data, the total proportion of master's and doctoral degrees among ESG talents is 8121%, of which 782%。
In addition, ESG talents need to learn more than just a single financial knowledge, such as social science and environmental science. In addition, big data and artificial intelligence technology will be used to construct ESG rating indicators using data analysis.
This also puts forward higher requirements for ESG practitioners, who may "only learn the knowledge of a certain discipline, but also have a multidisciplinary background, so the ESG threshold is not low, it needs talents with complex backgrounds," a senior ESG headhunting consultant told Wall Street.
So, how do you gain market recognition and enter the ESG industry?- It may be a good choice to improve your professional ability by studying for the CFA exam.
As mentioned above, the current ESG industry lacks the most capable compound talents, but due to the late start of the domestic ESG market, many practitioners are halfway through short-term training and public information to learn ESG on their own.
This leads to the fact that although it can be told in theory, it cannot be well implemented in daily practical work, which is also one of the main pain points faced by the current market.
However, the CFA exam has been verified and assessed in the financial market for many years, and its knowledge system is complete and comprehensive, including economics, financial analysis, corporate governance, portfolio management and other aspects, which can be highly applicable to financial training and can systematically improve the theoretical foundation and practical ability of candidates.
More importantly, the CFA exam already contains a large amount of ESG content, such as financial report analysis, equity investment, fixed income, alternative investment, portfolio management and wealth planning. Candidates can improve their professional ability by preparing for the CFA exam, and at the same time, learn a variety of ESG knowledge concepts, which are very important for practitioners who want to enter the ESG industry and effectively face the practical challenges of the industry.
CFA's mission is to lead the global investment industry by promoting high standards of ethics, education and professional excellence. Therefore, the CFA certificate represents the global investment industryThe highest level and subject to the highest ethical standardsIt is known as the "** standard".It is similar to the high ethical standards and high social responsibility emphasized by ESG. This is also an important factor for major enterprises and institutions to prefer CFA holders.
As mentioned at the beginning of this article, under today's employment "cold wave", certification has become one of the necessary options for financial people to broaden their professional boundaries and tap the depth of career development.
For those who want to transform into ESG-related fields in the financial industry, if you want to be able to apply what you have learned, organically combine theoretical knowledge and business practice, and be widely recognized by major enterprises and institutions, the CFA certificate must be your best choice.
The above content does not constitute investment advice and does not represent the views of the published platform. Users should consider whether any opinions, views or conclusions contained herein are appropriate to their particular investment objectives, financial situation or needs. The market is risky, investment needs to be cautious, please make independent judgment and decision-making.