Financial Training at Centennial College Ensures Speedy Entry into the Workforce

“It has courses such as mutual funds, your basic math and English courses and your introduction to financial services, which is really, really helpful because today it’s such a high in-demand job,” says Zara Kareshi a student of the financial training undertaking (officially known as Financial Service Fundamentals) at Toronto’s Centennial College. “What I like about the program is that financial services is not only interesting because it talks about the economy and what finance is actually like but also because it’s practical. These days you can work up towards a designation. It’s such a broad field you can get into anything in finance just by studying financial services.”

Zara gives excellent insight from a student perspective on the benefits of the financial services training at Centennial College. Let’s take a closer look at specific details. First and foremost, to apply, students must have completed a minimum of an Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD) or equivalent or be 19 years of age or older. In addition, students must have the compulsory English 12C or U or skills assessment, or equivalent and Math 11C, M or U, or 12C or U or skills assessment, or equivalent. Students will be placed in the appropriate English and math levels based on skills assessment results. This may lead to additional courses and require extra time and fees.

Taking one year to complete, the financial training courses offered within the program are designed to get students into the field quickly. To ensure that students are qualified, Centennial College employs experienced faculty members who are professionals in the industry. These professors lead financial training courses such as: Financial Accounting (introduces simple tools to allow students to analyze financial information and explain the information contained in the financial statements in their future roles as managers, investors, or other users of financial accounting information); Credit and Collections (topics include consumer lending, mortgage lending and financial statement analysis affecting particularly consumer loans and mortgage applications); Professional Selling (emphasis is placed on pre-selling activities, techniques and procedures to use during the sales interaction and post sales activity); and more. In addition, students in the financial training program have the opportunity to take a course leading to a license to sell mutual funds. (This will incur costs in addition to regular tuition).

Graduates of the financial training at Centennial College. First, they may continue their education into the two-year financial training program where in one additional year they can enhance their qualifications. This enables them to pursue lucrative careers in the broader financial services industry. The other option is to enter the financial services sector. “Many people end up working for banks and some people work for mutual fund companies selling mutual funds or advising on mutual funds to the general public. I am confident that in eight months, if you pass the exams, if you meet the standard, there are jobs available,” says Harvey Willows, a professor in the financial training program.