If you are a finance graduate completing your college this year, a good job must be on top of your priority list right now. You are in for some luck right now as there are plenty of interesting, off beat jobs that are available for the taking. Here this post discusses 7 such job opportunities.

Most finance students decide to pursue a major in finance to fulfill their dreams of a high paying job and stable employment after college. Most of them seek career with financial institutions, commercial banks and other accounting firms. Finance undergrads and MBAs with specialization in finance have hedge funds, investment banks, and management consulting at the highest on their employment priority list – for simple reasons of being high paying and more prestigious.

However, the competitions is tough and unfortunately for the current generation finance graduates, there are far more students than opportunities available in the most desirable financial fields. A large number of finance students, in fact a majority of them, have to consider the prospect of working at one of the departments of a company or a banking institution, accounting firm or a consulting firm. But just because you didn’t find the typical investment banking job or a financial analyst role in a MNC, doesn’t necessarily mean you don’t belong in this major. There are some new generation jobs in finance that you might want to consider in 2015.

Maritime Analyst

One would agree to this fact: a shipping analyst is one of the most unlikely careers that finance graduates would ever think of. The role of a maritime analyst or a shipping analyst is to analyse economic and freight market trends and keep a record of the freight market developments. Amongst the most important roles and responsibilities writing market analysis reports and conducting presentations with clients is necessary.

Therefore, it is needless to say that excellent communication skills are an important requirement for succeeding in this role. Travel enthusiasts will especially love this role as maritime analysts have to travel around the globe due to the dynamic nature of the shipping industry. The salaries are more than modest with a fresh graduate earning from $3,500 to $4,500 per month.

Commercial Banker

Although you might have heard this before, commercial banker is a worthy career for anyone looking to advance their financial status as well as career graph. Owing to the complex duties associated with this role, the remunerations are extremely good. One of the major roles of a commercial banker is to make new customers for your bank. These are not your regular customers, but small and large businesses with turnover ranging from few thousand dollars to hundred thousand dollars to millions. The bigger business you attract, the better incentives you get to keep. Soliciting new customers will require you to apply every trick in the trade, including taking out clients for dinner, golf outings or inviting to other events. Part of your responsibilities will include soliciting existing customers, review their accounts and making sure that the customer makes best use of the facilities provided by the bank.

Also known as retail banker in some countries, the professional engaged in these roles act as a primary point of contact between the bank and the customer and hence become the main financial advisor for the companies with whom you form relationships. A pleasing personality, excellent communication skills, confidence, and solid understating of financial concepts are the desired attributes. According to data provided by Payscale, a commercial banker earns an average salary of $84700 annually.

Asset Manager

An asset manager, can either work on the behalf of an investment bank or independently. His work responsibilities include management of a client’s investments. However simple it sounds, there are huge implications associated with this role. Not only the asset manager takes care of the existing wealth of his client, but he or she is also responsible for increasing the wealth through strategic investments on their behalf, giving them access to a varied range of traditional and alternative product offerings that would not be available to the average investor.

A flip side to this is that if the investment goes wrong due to some reason, that money of the client goes to drain and the asset manager is partially or fully held responsible for the same. The asset management industry is huge, and according to an estimate worth $53 trillion. Clients are from every walk of life, from the high net worth individuals to a layman investor. According to Elle Kaplan, founder of LexION Capital “an asset manager must legally act in the client’s interest. An asset manager’s advice is also highly customized” . Payscale puts the average salary of an asset manager around $72,000.

Business Development

A Business Development Manager’s sole motive is to improve the market value and position of his organization and achieve good financial growth. His work involves defining long-term organizational strategic goals, building key customer relationships, identifying the best business opportunities, and negotiating and closing business deals for this company. A BDM works cross functionally and coordinates with the internal team, marketing staff, and other managers to increase sales opportunities and thereby maximize revenue for their organization. Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric, recommends that every business professional should undertake at least one sales job in his or her career.

A stint as a business development/marketing manager helps you comprehend the company’s product and service offerings and become more sensitive towards customers’ preferences and sensibilities. They call clients, make presentations on solutions and services that meet or predict their clients’ future needs. Those who are lucky enough to have a sales experience in their resume are the ones who are looked up to for senior level management positions such as VP finance jobs.

Entrepreneur

In your search for the apt career opportunity after your finance major completes, you might become a bit indifferent towards the corporate culture and decide to start your own thing. There is a sea of endless opportunities and huge potential waiting to be tapped. However, a word of caution here would help; most startups fail to materialize any significant success and fall within their first five years. Yet, if you are receptive enough to offer a product or service that is lacking in the market, there is no reason why you can’t achieve mercurial success.

Starting your own business venture means you will have to rapidly and simultaneously execute a variety of different tasks such as accounting, administration, marketing, and IT management. For many, this is a small price to pay for the exciting thought of success that can be yours. There are a number of finance graduates who would prefer this kind of environment against a much more routine, and narrowly-defined job inside a multinational. Entrepreneurship is not for everyone, but if done right, nothing better than it.