Career Investigation Report on Labour Market Trends in Financial Service Industry

The purpose of the report is to analyse my career opportunities and the Australian labour market trend. The report explains the state and national levels employment situations in Australia, from an overall perspective and from the financial service industry perspective along with graph and table. The report found out that Australian Labour market is growing and financial services industry is expecting the growth of 3.2% by the end of 2023. In addition, current growth of the financial services industry in Australia experiences a growth of 8.2% and the employees of this industry get a salary of AU$ 1400 per week.

Running head: CAREER INVESTIGATION REPORT
General Workplace Practice
Career Investigation Report
Student’s name:
Name of the university:
Author’s note:

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction.................................................................................................................................3
2. Research and analysis.................................................................................................................3
2.1 Labour Market trends in financial service industry...............................................................3
2.2 National and state employment trends...................................................................................4
2.3 Accounts and Financial service industry employment trends...............................................6
2.4 Career opportunities in Financial service industry and construction industry......................8
2.5 Intercultural challenges..........................................................................................................9
3. Recommendations and job seeking strategy..............................................................................10
4. Conclusion.................................................................................................................................11
Reference List................................................................................................................................12

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Executive Summary
The purpose of the report is to analyse my career opportunities and the Australian labour market
trend. I am currently doing my Masters of Professional Accounting Advanced Degree Majoring
in Finance. I want to make my career in the financial service industry like financial services in
Australia are associated with banking, insurance, credit offices and financial institutions. This
report explains the state and national levels employment situations in Australia, from an overall
perspective and from the financial service industry perspective along with graph and table. The
limitation of the study is that it solely depends on the secondary data. Another limitation of the
study is that it depicts statistics only the financial service industry. In addition, the data sources
of the report are government websites, secondary data sources from internet and statistics
collected from the secondary sources. This report found out that Australian Labour market is
growing and financial services industry is expecting the growth of 3.2% by the end of 2023. In
addition, current growth of the financial services industry in Australia experiences a growth of
8.2% and the employees of this industry get a salary of AU$ 1400 per week. In the financial
services industry, the unemployment rate has been observed in the Northern Territory and in
Tasmania regions. Therefore, in this report, I have included SMART goals as a job-seeking plan
which would help me to enter the financial services industry at the proper time.

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1. Introduction
The purpose of the report is to analyse the market trends and career opportunities in the
Australian Labour market. I am a postgraduate student in Masters of Professional Accounting
Advanced Degree Majoring in Finance; therefore I am looking for an opportunity to work in the
Accounting and Financial Service Sector. This report analyses the market trends of the Financial
Service industry and this report will also determine the current and future career prospects of this
particular industry. This report also researches on past, present and future market trend along
with employment and unemployment data from the relevant source of information to understand
the situation in Labour Market of Australia. Finally, this report provides the in-depth evaluation
of innovative job-seeking process to present the holistic approach of the career development.
At the beginning of the report, Labour Market trends of the financial service industry are
provided in recent time in Australia. In addition, national and state employment trends in all
industries are outlined along with career opportunities in the financial service industry. The
report is looked at the role of recruitment based agencies in Accounting and Financial Service
Industries. The cultural challenges of the future workplace are also described. in the final section,
a job-seeking plan is provided to assess the true value of the job search and overall career
development.
2. Research and analysis
2.1 Labour Market trends in the financial service industry
Labour market situation has been strengthened after June 2016 and the level of
employment in all sectors increased by almost 1.9% in Australia (Imip.gov.au 2018). The annual

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average rate of growth of the labour market in Australia is the highest in the last five years and it
is noted that employment growth is particularly strong after 2015 second half. As published in
the report by Yang et al. (2017), female participation was accounted for almost 60% of
employment growth and it is worth notice that female employment was up by almost 135,300
compare to just 88,000 for males in the year 2016-17. The shift to the part-time job in overall
sectors is also seen in the aggregate monthly hours. On the other side, the level of unemployment
fell by 3.2% in Australia and the unemployment rate was declined by almost 6% since the year
2015. In the financial service and accounting industry, the unemployment rate is just 0.1% and
the participation rate of the employment has been increased over the period between 2016 and
2017 (Imip.gov.au 2018). Financial services employ more than 456,600 employees in both full
time and part-time; this data also reflects that the financial service industry employs almost 3.6%
of the total workforce in Australia (Jobs.gov.au 2018). In the last five years, the labour market
trend has been showing the growth of employment and the employment in the financial service
industry has increased by flat 9%. The average age of the employees in the Financial service
industry is 39 years and average earning of the employees is AU$ 1,500 per week (apart from
tax) for the employees who work for a full time (Jobs.gov.au 2018).
2.2 National and state employment trends
It has been observed that in the last 24 months, the strongest employment growth was
observed in New South Wales (almost 4.2%) and in Queensland (almost 2.5%). However, the
employment trend has been declined in the areas of the Northern Territory (-1.5%) and in
Tasmania (-1.1%) (Aph.gov.au 2018). In last 24 months, it has been observed that employment
opportunities trend has been the highest in the Health Care and Social Assistance in Australia
and second position is taken by the Retail Trade ( up 68,400) and Financial Service Industry is

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on the third position (up by 39,400) (Imip.gov.au 2018). Australian Government department of
Employment shared the total employment review showing the projected growth in overall
employment sector is 7.8% in the next five years. In the national level, the projected growth of
employment in Australia is expected to accelerate and it shows the importance of an optimistic
future in the Australian Labour market. As commented by Termstra and Verbeeten (2014), the
unemployment trend rate in Australia at present is 5.5% and compared to 6% in 2016. The
unemployment rate in overall industries has been increased in the Northern Territory (5.9%),
Western Australia (4.4%) and Southern Australia (7.2%). In the financial service industry, the
trend of the unemployment rate has been decreased in mainly Queensland and New South Wales
(6.1%) (Aph.gov.au 2018). In Australia, the migrant unemployment rate has several factors like
skill level, English issue proficiency, age and relevant work experience. The employment and
unemployment rates of Australia appear mainly from the macro level which shows the job
opportunities. In the state levels, the job seekers have been facing extreme competition in
Victoria and NSW. In the financial service industry, the prospect is high as many of the
international companies are coming to Australia and they provide higher employment rate in
urban sections. Trend employment has been increased in Queensland (2.4) and NSW (4.1%) over
the last 12 months in Australian Labour market in state and territory level.

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Figure 1: Employment in State and Territory Level
(Source: Job.gov.au 2018)
2.3 Accounts and Financial service industry employment trends
In the financial services sector, the recruitment of the employees has not been accelerated
in the past two years.
Nov 17 (‘000) Feb 18 (‘000) May 18 (‘000) Aug 18 (‘000)
Financial
services industry
435.8 436.7 434.4 456.6
Table 1: employment figure in the financial service industry
(Source: Ausbanking.org.au 2018)
Financial service sector provides 10 types of occupations like banking, financial
investment, financial brokers, credit loan officers, insurance, accountants, financial dealers and
financial managers. The improvement of the labour market situation has been observed since

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2016 and the on-going structural shift has been observed to more labour-intensive services. In
addition, the service-based industry has been observing record-number of employment
recruitment. Reflecting the strengthening in the overall employment rate in Australia, the
condition of the young job seekers in the financial service sector has been improved since June
2016. The youth unemployment rate has been declined over the period of 2015 and 2016 and it
stood at 13.2% (Imip.gov.au 2018). The financial service sector has been observing the growth
of recruitment after the international companies started the recruitment for full-time employment
in Australia. Some of the international financial service providers are AXA, Allianz, JP Morgan
Chase, Prudential and Barclays. In Australia, the largest financial service provider is National
Bank of Australia and it is in the banking sector (revenue is AU$ 47.9 million), some of the other
financial service providers in Australia are Westpac Bank, AMP Bank and ANZ. Financial
service sector provides almost 3.6% of the total workforce in Australia. Employment growth in
Australia in the last five years is 36.1 (‘000) and employment growth in Australia shows the
percentage of 8.6% (Austrade.gov.au 2018). The following table shows that the forecast of
employment rate in Australia in the financial service sector provides job opportunities as it is
showing strong growth possibilities.
Employment characteristics in the Financial
service sector
Data
Male share of employment as per Aug 2018
(%)
51.5
Female share of employment as per Aug 2018
(%)
48.5
Average full-time hours 39

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Median weekly earnings AU$1400
Projected employment growth (till 2023)
(‘000)
14.2
Projected employment growth (till 2023) (%) 3.2
Table 2: Employment characteristics in financial services
(Source: Imip.gov.au 2018)
2.4 Career opportunities in the Financial service industry and construction industry
In 2018, Australian Government Regulators continues to oversee the conduct of financial
institutions and these institutions play a key role in driving demand. In Australia, NAB and ANZ
are going through the structural change in Australia related to the new customer service
experiences. It has been observed that the healthcare industry is accelerating faster in Australia
and the construction industry takes the third place. I am currently studying postgraduate in
Masters of Professional Accounting Advanced Degree Majoring in Finance. Therefore, my sole
aim is to make a career in the financial service industry as a financial service industry is
associated with various paths like banking, insurance, financial institutions and credit officers.
Financial services industry is projected to be in the fourth position in employment growth after
the construction industry. Within the classification, almost 150,000 employees are working in the
banks and other people are working in the credit unions and other financial service industry.
However, the unemployment rate in the financial service sector is average at 3.1% in the last five
years. In the financial service sector, 9% of employees are working here in underemployment
and underemployment is higher between the aged group 30s and 40s (Ausbanking.org.au 2018).

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I would like to focus on two industries to make my future, primary target will be financial
services sector and secondary target would be construction industry where I can make my career
as accountants. I have recognised an alternative career path which is different from my proffered
career in the financial services industry. Sometimes, I feel like I am not comfortable with seating
always in a desk and I would like to make my career where I have to travel for the projects. The
construction industry caters in a different section for those interested in labourers, management
and finance. The construction industry is expected to grow by 10.9% over the next five years.
2.5 Intercultural challenges
Key stakeholders of the financial services industry are the government, industry bodies,
regulators, employees and customers. Cultures in bank shape the way people talk, act and don't
act on a daily basis. The culture within the financial services organisations is visible through the
actions and choices of the employees and other stakeholders (Mazanec et al. 2015). The right
culture can align people's values and it sets the behaviour with the strategy of the firms. Greet
Hofstede shared the cultural dimension concept and he defined that there are six different
cultural dimensions. Power distance dimension talks about inequality which exists within the
workplace between subordinates. I will be working in the Australian financial services
organisation and Australia scores low in power distance. Low power distance characterises the
flatter organisation and financial service sector in Australia shows almost equality between
supervisors and employees. In addition, individualism and collectivism show the strength of the
relationship that individuals have with others in the community. Australia scores high in
individualism and high scores refers to the high value placed on people's time and respect to the
privacy of the people. In the Australian job market, another issue comes from the distinction
between common people and indigenous people. The job seekers need to show the confidence in

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order to get the job and the employees must show the interpersonal skills to have the
employability. In the workplace, Australians like to call the employees and supervisors by their
name; it is quite different from other culture. In financial service sector; the employees have to
understand the requirement of a different culture as the employees have to manage the clients as
well.
3. Recommendations and job seeking strategy
I am interested in making my career in the financial service industry as this industry has
enough opportunity and it shows a good growth rate. In addition, the financial service industry
has its association with 10 other job roles. I am an international graduate and I have a goal to
secure permanent residency in Australia. In order to be a part of the financial services industry, I
am doing the postgraduate in finance. During the leisure, I always check vacancies in the
financial service sector to enter the industry with the intention of grabbing the accounts as soon
as possible.
Specific: I am going to follow the job-seeking plan, focusing mainly on an accountant or
any financial roles in the financial services industry in Sydney particularly. My job-seeking plan
will have a specific aim to identify the best recruiters in the city and establishes a solid idea to
gain insights into the financial service industry. Relationship with external recruiters will provide
me access to the hidden job market.
Measurable: This job-seeking plan can be measured in the future when the extremal
recruiting agencies will call me for informing me about job opportunities. I can also have the
calls from the financial service employers.

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Achievable: I want to use innovative job-seeking strategies like attending the seminars,
networking events, making LinkedIn profiles, pursuing recruiters and publishing my own
business cards. I want to make a list of potential financial service organisations that I want to join
in future. I will also check the vacancies and eligibility criteria to apply for the posts.
Realistic: Job-seeking plan helps to improve the resume and makes a person job-ready.
The job-seeking plan makes the job-seekers perfect in writing cover-letter. I am also planning to
join a crash course to improve my interpersonal skills.
Time-bound: My job-seeking plan and expansion of my professional network will be
completed within 6 months.
4. Conclusion
It can be concluded that the Australian job market is flourishing and I want to make my
career in the financial services industry. Financial services industry in Australia has been
experiencing a growth of 8.6%. The projected estimated growth of financial service industry is
3.2% and research has made clear that employees are happy in this sector. I am doing my
postgraduate in finance and I am going to start the job-seeking plan as well.

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Reference List
Aph.gov.au. 2018. Employment in Australia. Available at:
https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/
pubs/BriefingBook45p/EmploymentAustralia [Accessed 3rd Oct 2018]
Austrade.gov.au. 2018. Australian Employment Conditions. Available at:
https://www.austrade.gov.au/International/Invest/Guide-to-investing/Running-a-business/
Employing-people-in-Australia/Australian-employment-conditions [Accessed 3rd Oct 2018]
Australia Banking. 2018. Banking statistics. Available at: https://www.ausbanking.org.au
[Accessed 3rd Oct 2018]
Australian Government Jobs. 2018. Australian Labour Market. Available at:
https://www.jobs.gov.au/annual-report-2016/analysis-trends-australian-labour-market [Accessed
3rd Oct 2018]
Gregory, R.G., 2015. The two-step Australian immigration policy and its impact on immigrant
employment outcomes. In Handbook of the Economics of International Migration (Vol. 1, pp.
1421-1443). North-Holland.
Imip.gov.au. 2018. Financial information. Available at:
http://lmip.gov.au/default.aspx?LMIP/GainInsights/IndustryInformation/
FinancialandInsuranceServices [Accessed 3rd Oct 2018]

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Mazanec, J.A., Crotts, J.C., Gursoy, D. and Lu, L., 2015. Homogeneity versus heterogeneity of
cultural values: An item-response theoretical approach applying Hofstede's cultural dimensions
in a single nation. Tourism Management, 48, pp.299-304.
Rallapalli, K.C. and Montgomery, C.D., 2015. Marketing strategies for Asian-Americans:
guidelines based on Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions. In Minority marketing: Research
perspectives for the 1990s (pp. 73-77). Springer, Cham.
Terpstra, M. and Verbeeten, F.H., 2014. Customer satisfaction: Cost driver or value driver?
Empirical evidence from the financial services industry. European Management Journal, 32(3),
pp.499-508.
Yang, C., Xia, X. and Li, Y., 2017. None of My Business: CEO Financial Career and Corporate
Innovation. International Journal of finance. 2(3), pp.23-34.