There are many roles within the financial services industry. Of course, there are the more common financial adviser, administrator and paraplanner roles etc. But we are here to shine a spotlight on the other amazing opportunities within the industry.
Business operational roles typically work alongside every department and knowing the ins and outs of the company is key here. This type of role is varied, and the extent of operational resources required will of course vary depending on company size and the individual position of the business.
Roles within business operations may also extend to roles in sales, marketing and technology (to name a few!), but first, let's take a look what a day in the life of a Chief Operations Officer may look like...
Disclaimer – As with all of our ‘day in the life of’ this is an example only and some parts of the day may have been exaggerated for contextual purposes...
Not only is it 9am on a Monday, but it is also the beginning of a new quarter. First things first, it’s time to analyse some Management Information (MI). Ascertaining trends and translating what that looks like for the business is something you particularly enjoy. Whilst waiting for some reports to finish running, you take the opportunity to send some motivational updates out to the team and thank them for their amazing efforts during what was a particularly successful previous quarter!
MI analysis done! That’s a nice big tick off your list (who doesn’t love a productive Monday morning?!). Next up it’s time to carry out your quarterly review meetings! These meetings are carried out with the manager of each department and serve as an opportunity to review departmental goals and objectives.
Another key focus for the meeting is a discussion around whether targets have/have not been met, recommending and implementing solutions when not.
You’ve managed to prise yourself away from the meeting room and grab some lunch (tuna salad for all those wondering… it is meat-free Monday after all). Next on your hit list is a review of business capacity and potential recruitment. Forecasting capacity is exactly that, a forecast. Things never work out entirely as forecasted. However, it is a key driver for sales/marketing potential and serves as a layer of bulletproofing for any forecasted increase/demand helping to put plans in place before it’s too late.
You tie up any loose ends, respond to a couple of emails and head into your final meeting of the day with the CEO. Business strategies are the main topic of conversation for today which ties in nicely with the quarterly review meetings you held this morning. You come out of the meeting with a couple more to-dos on your already big to-do list but it’s nothing that you can’t handle! You’re a COO after all…
The working day as you know it is done but you just can’t help utilising this quiet time… A little bit of competition analysis and horizon scanning never hurt anybody and it serves you well knowing what is happening in the wider markets and economies.
