Banking and finance
If you like numbers and have a head for financials, figures or maths, banking and finance is the industry to make your mark in. It is an environment that offers a huge variety of careers from careers in Banking and Fund Management through to Sales, Trading, Research, IT Support, Operations, Finance and Development.

Broadly speaking, investment banks work to finance the trading and commercial activities of individuals and other organisations, helping clients raise capital, advising them on investment and fund and debt management and representing them in acquisitions and mergers. Investment banking provides high levels of responsibility, good promotional opportunities and exceptional financial rewards for the most successful employees. All this comes at a cost, however, as competition for places is very high and the work often demands long hours, lots of pressure and high levels of stress.

Insurance
Insurance according to Wikipedia is 'a form of risk management primarily to hedge against the risk of a contingent loss'. The insurance industry helps businesses to protect themselves from risk, and provides a wide range of services to consumers, including car and house insurance, pensions, life cover and savings. Modern insurance began when clients at Lloyd’s café in London (est. 1688) would make bets on the chances of ships returning safely from voyages, and the owners of ships started to make bets against their safe return in order to hedge their risk. Lloyd’s is still a leading insurance market in London.

The insurance industry is huge in the UK, and as such it offers a large number of graduate opportunities each year, mainly through the larger household name insurance firms, but also through smaller brokers. Careers in insurance could see you become a broker, an actuary, an underwriter, risk analyst or claims clerk, as well as a range of the other functions to be found in any business enterprise, such as management, marketing, business development, customer operations, HR and IT.Insurance careers offer some fantastic rewards – good financial rewards, if not always initially, then after qualification and gaining a few years’ experience; dealing with interesting challenges and clients; and in the City especially a good social life.

Actuarial
Actuaries are highly trained experts who apply statistical and mathematical knowledge and techniques to real world business situations. They are often involved in producing models of and predictions about future outcomes, based on assessments of past performance. They also apply their knowledge to assessing risk.The skills of an actuary are in demand in a variety of industries, including life and general insurance, pensions, investment and risk management and business consultancy.The training to become an actuary is quite long and challenging – often six years can be required to qualify. As in accountancy, trainee actuaries often work within a professional firm, combining work duties with studying.