Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents
Working Conditions
Securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents held about 341,500 jobs in 2014. The industries that employed the most securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents were as follows:
Securities and commodity contracts intermediation and brokerage
35%
Depository credit intermediation
32
Other financial investment activities
11
Nondepository credit intermediation
5
Management of companies and enterprises
4
Most securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents work many hours under stressful conditions. The pace of work is fast, and managers are usually demanding of their workers, because both commissions and advancements are tied to sales.
Investment bankers travel extensively because they frequently work with companies in other countries.
Because computers can conduct trades faster than people can, electronic trading is quickly replacing verbal auction-style trades on exchange floors. The environment of the stock exchange is changing as a result, with more traders carrying out orders behind a desk and fewer working on the exchange floor.
A growing number of securities sales agents, employed mostly by discount or online brokerage firms, work in call-center environments. In these centers, hundreds of agents spend much of the day on the telephone taking orders from clients or offering help and information on their accounts.
Because most of the major investment banks are in New York City, employment of securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents is concentrated in that metropolitan area.
Work Schedules
Securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents usually work full time and more than 1 in 3 worked more than 40 hours per week in 2014. In addition, they may work evenings and weekends because many of their clients work during the day. Call centers often operate 24 hours a day, requiring agents to work in shifts.