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Seeking High Salary Entry-Level jobs in Finance in Belgium? Here’s What to Look For

The field of finance can be a rewarding career choice if you choose to venture into it.  Because of it’s fame for being a high-paying industry, finance is a highly competitive sector and getting an ideal starter job could prove as quite the challenge.  However, entry level jobs in finance with good salaries do exist, and if you start out in one of these strong positions you can steadily advance from there.  The investment in spending time to seek out these high salary entry-level finance jobs will – quite literally – pay off in the end.

The financial job market can seem daunting with the large number of specialisations and subsets.  A piece of advice would be to get your foot in the door at the best open opportunity, even if the specialisation is not the exact one you were hoping for.  It is easy to move around through subsets once you have gained experience in one.  First things first – how can you seek out this initial prospect?  After you have checked off the skills below, you can review the top three highest salaries in finance in Belgium at the end of this article. 

It Begins at School

It is likely that you have studied something related to finance if you want to begin a career in this field – a course that enhanced your ability to work well with numbers.  This knowledge is the basis for the type of skills you need to attain an entry-level job.  Later on in your profession, it may be beneficial to study a business course to learn more about the industry as a whole.  If you are newly graduated, you can continue your studies a bit further; consider expanding your knowledge in analytics and IT software, for example.  This can be attained through a quick online course and will add weight to your CV. 

Connect!

LinkedIn is one of the most popular social networking websites for professionals.  If you are actively looking for a job, you undoubtedly have an account.  The goal of making connections is not only to add financial professionals to your network, but also anyone who could add value to your career – for example, past employers who can recommend you, or colleagues who can credibly endorse your skills.  Connecting with recruiters can highly benefit you, as their main priority will be to find you a suitable job if you are actively looking.  You are encouraged to connect with consultants at James Woodman on LinkedIn to discuss the potential jobs in finance in your area.  In addition to all of this, there are more ways to connect than online.  Attend job fairs and accumulate business cards of interesting people that might have something to offer you.  Make the effort to reach out to them so that they know your name. 

Dive In

If you have sharpened your skills and made some relevant connections, you need to start pursuing your options.  Look through job boards such as LinkedIn, Monster or Indeed, or specialised websites like James Woodman to find jobs only within your sector.  You will be flooded with different types of entry level jobs, so now we will get to the interesting part: which ones offer the highest salaries in Belgium?

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Financial Controller

An entry-level Financial Controller makes an average of €48,611 per year in Belgium, topping our chart of the highest paid entry-level job in the sector of finance (data from PayScale, January 2019).  Financial controllers are tasked with managing the finance departments of a company, and therefore have many responsibilities.  Some tasks include completing account invoices, reviewing payroll, creating and managing budgets and more.  Though this job has a lot of responsibility, it is an amazing chance to learn many skills and to earn a large salary in your junior position!  Luckily for you, we have many financial controller jobs available to browse right now.  

Business Analyst (Finance/Banking)

A Business Analyst for Finance and Banking is somewhat similar to a Financial Analyst; the ability to scrutinise data is crucial here, but the overall analysis reports on how the business can be more successful as a whole.  This role most often requires a degree in accounting, finance or information technologies to best interpret the data given.  According to the data at PayScale (January 2019), the average Business Analyst in Finance and Banking makes the second highest amount of €40,976 annually in Belgium. 

Financial Analyst

Financial Analysts scrutinise the financial data from specific areas of a company and prepare detailed reports, budgets and financial forecasts.  This job has a lot to do with breaking down data accumulated at a company and giving a plan of action on how to resolve issues.  According to the most recent data (January 2019) at PayScale for Belgium, the average entry level salary for a financial analyst is €35,837.

The list of entry-level positions in finance is of course very long; as aforementioned, the many subsets and specialisations lead to many different opportunities.  If high salary is not the number one priority in your job search, you have the option to explore many different prospective options.  Whichever path you choose, the knowledge you will gain and retain at in your junior position is the highest commodity you can obtain to benefit your career.