Edelweiss Mutual Fund’s Managing Director and CEO Radhika Gupta has urged students and campus placement cells to look beyond a handful of “glamorised” finance careers, arguing that too many graduates are competing for the same high-profile roles while some of the industry’s fastest-growing segments remain severely short of talent.
“But campuses have glamorised a handful of roles in finance: equity research, , PE while quietly treating many others as second-tier careers,” she said in a X (formerly Twitter) post on Sunday. She also assured candidates that this thinking is now outdated.
In her open letter addressed to placement cells and campuses, Gupta noted that the vast majority of job applicants to Edelweiss MF are interested in equity research and investing roles. “We get thousands of CVs to join us. 85% of them come for one role: equity research/investing,” she wrote.
What are some growing areas in the finance space? Gupta weighs in
According to the senior executive, some of the biggest opportunities in finance over the next decade will come from spaces that are less crowded, evolving rapidly and severely talent starved.
In her X post, she also highlighted several areas within finance that are likely to see strong growth and rising demand for talent in the coming years:
- Risk: Regulation and governance needs and complexity are exploding. Demand for good talent far exceeds supply.
- Investment Products: Modern investment products are as much about design, positioning and communication as actual investment management.
- Derivatives Trading: A massive new SIF and hedge fund ecosystem is emerging, with very few trained professionals.
- Private debt and infrastructure Investing: India’s capital needs are enormous, but specialist talent is limited.
‘The most misunderstood career in finance’
Gupta also singled out sales as one of the most overlooked and misunderstood career paths in the industry. She noted that despite the wide range of opportunities available, Edelweiss rarely receives resumes for sales roles from campus recruits.
Gupta also singled out sales as one of the “most misunderstood” career in finance campuses, adding how the fund manager never gets resumes for that role. According to her, a career in sales helps professionals build resilience, sharpen business acumen and cultivate leadership skills.
“It’s not a surprise many CEOs are formal sales leaders. And in reality, everyone in leadership does sales at some point,” she wrote.
The executive also shared that she witnessed talented people in all of these areas rise very quickly at young ages, build meaningful careers, be genuinely happy, and make a lot of money. In contrast, many people remain stuck because they refused to look beyond the glamour shortlist campuses celebrate, she added.
How can one choose the right career?
The Edelweiss chief executive argued that students should make career decisions by asking themselves three key questions:
1. What will the world need more of?
2. Where is competitive intensity lower?
3. What am I good at?
Drawing a parallel with entrepreneurship, she advised students to think about their careers the way founders think about startups. They can do so by identifying growing markets with unmet demand rather than simply chasing the crowd.
The future of finance job opportunities
Too many students are chasing the same visible careers while some of the fastest-growing areas in Indian finance are starved of talent, according to Gupta. She added that this mismatch between aspirations and market demand is unlikely to be limited to finance, suggesting that similar trends can be witnessed across several other industries.
“The people who build extraordinary careers over the next decade may not be the ones who followed the crowd into the most glamorous roles. They may be the ones who saw opportunities others did not,” she noted.
Towards the end of her post, she highlighted what she called a paradox in India’s job market. While campuses often complain about a shortage of job opportunities, companies frequently report a shortage of suitable talent. According to Gupta, both cannot be true at the same time. She suggested that the real challenge lies not just in the availability of jobs, but in better signalling, career guidance and matching candidates to the right opportunities.