Best Websites To Find A Job In Finance

If you’re looking for a job in finance, there’s certainly room for optimism these days. Hiring levels have picked up significantly over the past few years and some experts suggest they’ll get stronger still as baby boomers leave the workforce. 

That’s not so say that the job market isn’t still competitive, especially for roles requiring less experience. Candidates can get a major leg up, however, when they find the right tools to use for their search. Here are some of the top websites for landing a finance job in less time.

There’s something to be said for job searching on sites that focus solely on your industry. In the finance industry, one of the best is eFinancialCareers, which posts finance jobs in North America, Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region. Job seekers will find openings for everything from investment bankers and asset managers to business analysts and actuaries. 

In addition, the site offers useful commentaries on the state of hiring in various niche markets and advice on managing your career. 

Another place where you can narrow your search is FinancialJobBank. More U.S.-oriented than eFinancialCareers, the site lets you explore thousands of accounting and finance jobs, from entry-level vacancies to more advanced positions. Job hunters can also let employers come to them by building an online Career Portfolio. 

The site also offers a blog with lots of practical tips for landing the right job, like drafting an effective cover letter and making the most out of a job fair visit.

One of the main challenges in any job search is to become more than just another résumé. The professional networking site, LinkedIn, manages to give your search a personal dimension that most other sites simply can’t offer.

Sure, you can look up job titles that interest you. (And you may want to read Investopedia's tutorial, A Guide to Financial Careers.) But you can also tap your network to see if you know someone who works at the company. Or, for example, you can look up the recruiter or hiring manager to see if you went to the same university. By exploiting these features of the site, you may find a connection to the company that you wouldn’t otherwise have.  

It also works the other way around. Managers can look to see what other people are saying about you, evaluate your network, browse your various skills and so on. (Have a look also at How To Use LinkedIn To Get A Job.)

When it comes to browsing the greatest number of jobs in the least amount of time, it’s hard to beat Indeed and SimplyHired. Both platforms work in essentially the same way, aggregating thousands of job posts from company websites and other job boards.

Are Indeed and Simply Hired the only websites you should use? Probably not. But they are a nice safety net of sorts, catching jobs that you may have not found through more industry-specific sources.

Rather than looking at massive, one-size-fits-all job sites, sometimes it helps to investigate professional organizations in your field. One of the more prominent groups in the finance world is the Association for Financial Professionals, or AFP. Its Career Center posts primarily mid-level to executive jobs, so it can be a good way to target your search if you’re some years into your career. 

Once you log in (it’s free), you can start searching jobs or post your résumé to the site so employers around the country can find you. One of the handier functions on the site is a job alert that sends you an email when a relevant position becomes available.

Using the right job boards for your industry can dramatically reduce the time it takes to find employment. But keep in mind that keyword searches are only one part of the equation. It’s also important to build your professional network so you can find out about the many positions that never get posted online.