Two types of separate banking careers are very common in the United States. The first type is a corporate job in which an employee works for a large banking firm. The second type is a local job entailing work in a local branch of a bank, savings institution, or credit union. While the second type requires minimal education, the first type requires quite a high level of college degree, as well as being in the right circles of people in order to actually get your foot in the door at one of the large corporations.
Corporate banking requires a high skill set, an extensive cluster of college degrees, and, in most cases, the requirement that one live or relocate to New York City or to London, England. These two centers of the finance world are the best places to get jobs in banking of the corporate kind.
Corporate banking requires a Master's degree (or higher) in finance, economics, or an MBA (Master's degree in Business Administration). These bankers have excellent decision making skills and math skills. Not only should your math skills be top-notch, but you should be comfortable with differential equations and have a knack for seeing patterns in data that other people, and computers, sometimes miss. Analytical skills are a must, and the career can be a high stress one; however, the salary and job-satisfaction level are high.
Corporate bankers earn salaries that vary widely. You could earn somewhere from $50,000 to $100,000, but you might also earn several hundred thousand per year, depending on your skill set and the type of job you can land, and what firm it is at. Bank on making a salary between 50-100K, but know that you may very well end up making more than that.
Small and large banks need people to work in their branches as tellers, loan clerks, customer service representatives, and managers. Tellers require no additional education beyond a high school diploma; however, they should have excellent math skills and be comfortable handling large sums of money and taking extensive safety precautions on a daily basis. The average hourly income for bank tellers is just over $10.
Loan clerks have a more complicated job, and a slightly higher hourly wage to match it. Earning somewhere between $11-$14 per hour in average-sized banks is the norm, and the job requires quite some finesse. Loan clerks (or officers) handle loan applications for clients; clerks assess the income situation of the person requesting the loan, as well as their credit history and the risk value of taking on this customer's loan. Loan officers have more responsibility in the decision-making process, and therefore can earn a much higher annual salary (upwards of $50,000).
Customer service representatives sometimes work in a bank or at a call-center. Customer service workers earn about the same as bank tellers, and work with the public just as much as other bank employees, the difference often being that the work with customers is over the phone or per email.
Bank managers are a different type of bank employee than previously described. Often, bank managers hold a college degree, usually in business administration, but sometimes in finance or economics. Managers earn anywhere from $20 to $40 an hour depending on the size and location of the bank. Responsibilities in this job are to manage all aspects of a given branch according to the guidelines of the bank as a whole. Managers above the branch level are more likely to have a Master's degree in business administration than a Bachelor's degree.
Money will always be a part of society; however, banking is not projected to increase more than average in the coming years. While healthcare and some other job fields will increase much more than average, banking is set to remain at a steady rate of marginal increase.