Find your field
Explore the work across banking, investing, markets, corporate finance, accounting, wealth, risk, and fintech. Start with the role you want to do, then build a plan around it.
These fields overlap, and job titles vary by employer. Use the overview to find a starting point, then read the responsibilities of the specific role.
01 / Investment banking · Corporate banking · Commercial banking
Help companies raise capital, complete transactions, or access lending and banking services.
Compare advisory work with credit analysis and relationship management. The team matters as much as the bank's name.
02 / Asset management · Private equity · Hedge funds · Research
Study businesses, securities, and investment opportunities to support decisions about capital.
Compare public-market research with private-market diligence. Prepare to explain a view and the evidence behind it.
03 / Sales & trading · Quantitative research · Quant trading
Work with markets through client coverage, trading, data, models, or software.
Separate client-facing markets roles from research and engineering roles. Use the job description to identify the required technical depth.
04 / FP&A · Treasury · Corporate development
Support a company's financial planning, cash management, and strategic decisions from inside the business.
Compare planning and forecasting with liquidity management and transaction work. Look for evidence of how your analysis changed a decision.
05 / Audit · Financial reporting · Public accounting
Prepare, examine, and explain financial records, with responsibilities that depend on the employer and specialty.
Distinguish the requirements of the accounting role itself from a move into another finance team. Check any credential requirements in the actual posting.
06 / Financial advice · Private wealth · Family offices
Help individuals and families address financial goals, investment needs, and the decisions surrounding their wealth.
Compare planning, relationship management, and investment roles. Ask how the team serves clients and how the role is compensated.
07 / Risk management · Compliance · Credit analysis
Assess exposures, examine controls, and support responsible decisions within financial organizations.
Identify the kind of risk or control the team owns. Credit, market, operational, and compliance work call for different examples and preparation.
08 / Financial technology · Finance operations · Business infrastructure
Build and operate the products, systems, and processes that deliver financial services.
Start with the function: a fintech employer can hire for finance, product, engineering, risk, or operations. Tailor your evidence to that function.
For occupational duties and education information, consult the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational profiles. The field groupings here organize the resources available on Wall Street Playbook.
Which tasks would you want to repeat: analyzing companies, supporting clients, forecasting results, building models, or improving processes?
Which parts of your experience connect directly to the role? What work sample or interview example would make that connection clear?
Ask about ordinary weeks and peak periods, client demands, travel, location, and how the team distributes work.
Choose a primary target and a nearby alternative. Build a focused application plan for each instead of sending one generic resume everywhere.
There is no single recruiting calendar for all of finance. Track deadlines and requirements for the employer, program, location, and level you are targeting.
Build a shortlist of roles and employers, then record the actual program deadlines and eligibility rules. Prepare one relevant work sample and use internships, projects, and campus experience to explain your interest.
Explore entry routesMap your current work to the target job's responsibilities. Identify the strongest transferable evidence, close a specific skill gap, and explain why this role is a deliberate next step.
Plan a career changeCompare the scope, level, and responsibilities of the new role with your current work. Prepare examples of decisions, ownership, and results that show why the move makes sense.
Position your experienceTargeting a structured banking or investing process? Read the investment banking recruiting guide or the private equity on-cycle guide for that specific path.
Compare the same role level, location, and type of employer. Keep base salary separate from discretionary bonuses, commissions, equity, and longer-term incentives. A headline total is not the same as guaranteed pay.
Use current job postings and employer conversations to check the range for your target. When reading a salary survey, check its date, sample, and definition of compensation.
Find a guide that matches your target, practice the relevant interviews, and make your experience clear on the page. Check each playbook's contents to see which roles it covers.