Career Exploration in Finance and Banking

About This Course

This course introduces students to the challenging and lucrative world of finance. While “Wall Street” may still get a bad rap after the 2008 financial crisis, finance careers still remain highly sought after and can be highly rewarding. The course reviews key financial terms and examines various groups, positions, and roles within financial institutions. Students will learn about resumes, interviews, and networking. Students will also discuss ethics on Wall Street and the role of finance within society. Prerequisites:  None

Course Objectives: Upon completion of this course, students will be able to...

• Describe laws and regulations to manage business operations and transactions in the securities and investments industry
• Plan the use of financial resources in order to perform key duties in the securities and investments industry
• Plan day-to-day securities and investments operations.
• Utilize career-planning concepts, tools and strategies to explore, obtain and/or develop in a securities and investments career
• Determine client needs and wants and respond through planned, personalized communication to guide purchase decisions and enhance future securities and investments opportunities.
• Describe the roles and responsibilities and identify potential career opportunities of entry level positions in finance and on Wall Street
• Define key financial terms related to jobs in finance
• Examine prominent financial firms, including their history, culture, and current situation

Course Outline:

Module 1: Why Pursue a Career in Finance?

Module 2: Finance Basics

Module 3: Investment Banking

Module 4: Sales and Trading

Module 5: Private Wealth Management

Module 6: Financial Planning and Analysis

Module 7: High School, College and Internship Preparation

Module 8: Networking, Resumes, Cover Letters and Interviews

Module 9: Succeeding on the Job

Module 10: Life after Banking

Resources Included: Online lesson instruction and activities, opportunities to engage with a certified, online instructor and classmates, when appropriate, and online assessments to measure student performance of course objectives and readiness for subsequent academic pursuits.

Additional Costs: None

Scoring System: Michigan Virtual does not assign letter grades, grant credit for courses, nor issue diplomas. A final score out of total points earned will be submitted to your school mentor for conversion to their own letter grading system.

Time Commitment: Semester sessions are 18-weeks long: Students must be able to spend 1 or more hours per day in the course to be successful. Summer sessions are 10 weeks long: Students must be able to spend a minimum of 2 or more hours per day, or about 90 hours during the summer, for the student to be successful in any course. Trimester sessions are 12-weeks long: Students must be able to spend 1.5 or more hours per day in the course to be successful.

Technology Requirements: Students will require a computer device with headphones, a microphone, webcam, up-to-date Chrome Web Browser, and access to YouTube.

Ensure that your school or district network and device administrator establishes network access permissions or exceptions for online resources relevant to the course in which you are choosing to enroll. Ref., Michigan Virtual Course Allow List

Please review the Michigan Virtual Technology Requirements.

Instructor Support System: For technical issues within your course, contact the Customer Care Center by email at CustomerCare@michiganvirtual.org or by phone at (888) 889-2840.

Instructor Contact Expectations: Students can use email or the private message system within the Student Learning Portal to access highly qualified teachers when they need instructor assistance. Students will also receive feedback on their work inside the learning management system. The Instructor Info area of their course may describe additional communication options.

Academic Support Available: In addition to access to a highly qualified, Michigan certified teacher, students have access to academic videos and outside resources verified by Michigan Virtual. For technical issues within the course, students can contact the Michigan Virtual Customer Care by email at customercare@michiganvirtual.org or by phone at (888) 889-2840.

Required Assessment: Online assessments consist of formative and summative assessments represented by computer-graded multiple choice, instructor-graded writing assignments including hands-on projects, model building, discussion-based assessments (one-on-one conversations with your teacher), and other forms of authentic assessments.

Technical Skills Needed: Basic technology skills necessary to locate and share information and files as well as interact with others in a Learning Management System (LMS), include the ability to:

• Download, edit, save, convert, and upload files
• Download and install software
• Use a messaging service similar to email
• Communicate with others in online discussion or message boards, following basic rules of netiquette
• Open attachments shared in messages
• Create, save, and submit files in commonly used word processing program formats and as a PDF
• Edit file share settings in cloud-based applications, such as Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides
• Save a file as a .pdf
• Copy and paste and format text using your mouse, keyboard, or an html editor’s toolbar menu
• Insert images or links into a file or html editor
• Search for information within a document using Ctrl+F or Command+F keyboard shortcuts
• Work in multiple browser windows and tabs simultaneously
• Activate a microphone or webcam on your device, and record and upload or link audio and/or video files
• Use presentation and graphics programs
• Follow an online pacing guide or calendar of due dates
• Use spell-check, citation editors, and tools commonly provided in word processing tool menus
• Create and maintain usernames and passwords

Additional Information: None