Finance

Pensions

The pensions industry has recently undergone major changes and there is now a greater variety of options and products available to customers. The changing nature of the industry means that pension's professionals are likely to need an increasingly broad set of personal and technical skills in order to develop their careers. Keeping up to date with changes in pension's bills, regulations and financial products is essential to career development.

Pension's management is an increasingly important area of work due to the shift in government policy away from dependence on the state pension as the main provider of retirement income.

Pension Advisors help people plan for their retirement by helping them choose appropriate pension plans. Pension scheme managers are responsible for ensuring pension schemes operate effectively.

Graduate opportunities exist in both public and private organisations, large, medium and small businesses including public sector pension providers, life assurance companies and pension consultancies.  However, most graduate training schemes tend to be in larger organisations. 

Most employers are open to degree subject but will look for graduates who are good with numbers, have strong communication and interpersonal skills and posses personal integrity and commercial awareness.

Professional training in pensions is necessary to qualify in the field and training is often work based with assessments in the workplace or via examinations.

Useful links:

The Pensions Management Institute

The National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF)

The Pensions Advisory Service (TPAS) 

Institute of Financial Services