Profession of economist. First person story. Economist pros and cons of the profession Who to work with an economic education

Let's start with the relevance of the economist profession. This specialty quickly moved from being unpromising to the forefront with the advent of the free market, and since the 1990s, it has topped the list of priority specialties among those entering higher education institutions.

When choosing the profession of an economist, as a promising and successful one, you just need to take into account all the pros and cons of this specialty, as well as how much you like working with calculations and solving certain problems yourself.

The profession of an economist has the following advantages:

• The profession of an economist is universal, so getting an economic education means that even for a specialist who has a different education, it helps to increase competence;

• A specialist who masters the profession of economist has a good prospect in realizing his professional knowledge, even if there are a large number of graduates with an economic education.

Currently, more and more people are striving to obtain, along with another profession, an additional economic education, which contributes to a better understanding of the laws operating in the economy and broadening their horizons in the field of business.

Economists are in demand for every company in which they can apply their knowledge in economics, as employment prospects are trending positively.

For a graduate of an educational institution, it is necessary to immediately determine the area in which he prefers to carry out his activities in the field of economics.

Areas of economics include a variety of areas, such as:

• financial management;
• accounting;
• analysis;
• marketing and others.

Various areas of economic activity contribute to achieving a successful career.

And one of the advantages is that this activity is classified as quite independent, since you have to not only analyze processes in the economy, but also influence their implementation, like a strategist-commander, by:

• improving the structure of the enterprise;
• optimization of personnel;
• concentration of efforts to achieve the assigned tasks.

An important advantage of the profession of an economist is the high payment, for example, the salary of economists with experience can reach more than 50 thousand rubles.

The profession of an economist also has disadvantages:

• One of them in the profession of economist is that a specialist without experience has to work for up to several years for a relatively low salary;

• In addition, at the initial stage of the career ladder, there is a lot of competition among ordinary economists, so they usually have to gain experience in small companies.

Therefore, when choosing a profession as an economist, it is necessary to take into account the pros and cons and how they relate to each other.

Remember the qualities that a future economist must have:

• stress resistance;
• communication skills;
• attentiveness and good memory;
• ability to perform a lot of monotonous work;
• ability to smooth out conflict situations;
• a neat appearance that will make people trust you;
• knowledge of a foreign language, or better yet several.

You can learn more about the profession of an economist by watching this video.

Where can I get an education as an economist? To do this, you need to find universities in your or neighboring cities. The advantage of modern education is the opportunity to receive it in absentia. This means that you can work in this position at the same time, but for less money. But you will also get a more complete understanding of this profession and experience in this field.

In general terms, an economist is a specialist who is responsible for the results of a company’s economic activities. The specialty of an economist is similar in nature to the professions of a financier, accountant, marketer, manager. Economists are needed in all structures where there is a need for planning, calculations and control over financial flows, analysis of the results of the organization’s financial activities, and determination of profitability.

The profession of economist has become popular in the modern world due to the development of international trade and market relations, but despite this, its history goes deep into the past. The concept of economist appeared in Ancient Greece. It characterized a person who was engaged in housekeeping. He conducted a household analysis. The very first economist is Aristotle. He developed a theory regarding the utility value of production and commodity exchange.

Responsibilities of an economist

Coordinating the implementation and developing planned tasks based on statistics is the main function of an economist. The task of the economist is to carry out economic activities that are aimed at increasing the efficiency of the organization’s labor activity and its profitability, achieving the highest results through the optimal use of material, financial and labor resources, based on statistical data for all structural areas of the company’s activities.

1. determination of the efficiency of production and labor activities;

2. calculation of financial, material and labor costs necessary for the sale and production of products;

3. maintaining periodic reporting, developing, maintaining and adjusting a database of economic information, making changes to the database that occurred during data processing;

4. keeping records of indicators for all results of the company’s economic and financial activities.

What should an economist know?

In addition to his direct responsibilities, an economist must know the regulatory framework for auditing and accounting, economic activity, and statistical planning of the company.

It is impossible to be a professional specialist without knowledge of planning and accounting documentation, the organization of statistical and operational accounting of indicators, and methods of economic analysis. A good economist knows market methods of management and production technology.

An economist is a specialist in financial planning, management and research of financial and economic activities, who takes part in budget planning, monitors the organization’s expenses, deals with accounting and conducts audits. In other words, an expert on economic issues.

This is one of the most important specialists, since he is in charge of the financial well-being of the company, and in some cases its entire existence.

The areas of concern for economists include:

– correct setting of priorities and goals to obtain maximum profits with minimal losses;
– economic analysis of the economic activity of the enterprise;
– development of measures to promote the saving regime;
– increasing efficiency and identifying reserves;
– prevention of losses and expenses, rational spending of funds;
– performing calculations on labor, material and financial costs necessary to bring work, services, developments and research into the development of new equipment or technology.

Features of the profession

An economist conducts an economic analysis of an organization's performance in order to improve its efficiency. This is a modern profession, although the word “economics” appeared in Ancient Greece, then it meant “housekeeping”, i.e. housekeeping became the object of economic analysis.
In fact, economists are needed by very different enterprises: small firms and large banks. Depending on their specialization, they are needed by organizations: financial and credit, commercial, accounting and auditing, etc.

Necessary qualities of an economist

– high intelligence and efficiency;
– ability to work with large volumes of information;
– the ability to competently express one’s point of view and the ability to prove it;
– organization and responsibility;
– self-confidence and active life position;
– a penchant for research and professional knowledge of macroeconomics and microeconomics, statistics and financial planning, budgeting and special computer programs, tax and labor legislation;
– critical thinking;
– assessing the effectiveness and appropriateness of one’s own and others’ actions;
– the ability to quickly analyze a situation and make a high-quality forecast.

Where can an economist work?

An economist can work in government agencies (Ministry of Finance, Central Bank), in banks and financial organizations, in enterprises in various industries, in educational institutions, in various business structures, in research institutes.

Economist is traditionally one of the most popular areas of study in Russian universities. IQ Review will tell you what kind of profession an “economist” is, how it differs from being an accountant, and how much they pay for it. Natalya, an economist with five years of experience, shared her story.

Why did I choose the profession of economist?

I live in the Kastorensky district of the Kursk region. worked for 5 years, started working after finishing the 3rd year of the institute.

Why does a company need an economist?

Many people believe that the profession is akin to that of an accountant. After all, both of them work with numbers related to the organization’s work, its profitability and results.

The difference between an economist and an accountant is that an accountant actually collects and systematizes documentation and its contents, while an economist must analyze and evaluate the results of work for a specific period, identify shortcomings and, based on what happened, make a forecast.

Yes, yes, an economist is a kind of predictor who is based on facts.

What you need to know to work as an economist

First of all, working as an economist involves close communication with numbers, formulas and various kinds of relationships. Therefore, knowledge of mathematics and its fundamentals is mandatory. Anyone who is unable to find the percentage of a given number simply has no business in this field. It is desirable, or rather, even mandatory, for a person to have an analytical mind. After all, based on the obtained data, it is necessary to assess the current situation at the enterprise and submit a report to the manager.

An example of work is to prove which of the selected activities is profitable, and which project should be suspended or completely closed.

Nowadays, the vast majority of specialized higher educational institutions, technical schools and colleges have faculties that train economists. This is due to the fact that the profession is very popular among young people. The university I graduated from has an agricultural focus. From the first to the third year we studied subjects that all competent and educated agricultural workers should know. I won’t list everything, but among them were crop farming, livestock farming, philosophy, mechanization and others.

At first we didn’t understand why we needed, say, mechanization. But in senior courses, when in statistics or enterprise economics we began to be asked problems to calculate fuel consumption, seed yield or livestock productivity, in which it was necessary to derive profitability and projected profit, everything fell into place.

The essence of the profession of an economist is to know all the ins and outs of the enterprise, every “cog” that can be “screwed” into the system in order to increase returns.

And, of course, in modern conditions every specialist should know a computer. And not at the user level. An advanced user of Microsoft Office programs is the minimum required for work; they usually also require knowledge of 1C products.

How to find a job for a novice economist

Getting a job as an economist, especially from scratch, without work experience, is very difficult, almost impossible. This requires a case. Newcomers can get this job in an alternative way - start working at the enterprise in a different position, while simultaneously studying at a university to major in economics. Management will definitely notice the employee’s desire for improvement and, at the first opportunity, will provide the desired position.

Typically, when hiring newcomers to this position, managers do not make serious demands. They ask you to present a diploma of education and ask several questions about your knowledge in the field in which the company operates. Whether the candidate can cope with his responsibilities or not remains to be seen during the probationary period. For all employees this is three months; for management personnel the period can be extended to six months. At this time, the management of the enterprise may decide to dismiss the employee due to the fact that he cannot cope with his duties. Therefore, apart from lost time, the director of the enterprise does not risk anything in this situation.

The main thing that managers pay special attention to when hiring for any position is the applicant’s friendliness, correct speech and communication skills. Particularly in the provinces, where everyone knows everything about each other, the authorities usually make inquiries about the person.

How I found a job - personal experience

From personal experience I can say that I read an advertisement in a local newspaper that a trading company needed an economist. Having plucked up the impudence, since I had only completed my third year at the institute by profession, I came to the director and stated that I didn’t know anything about work, but I was eager to work in this field and in this position. I must say that I worked as a salesperson for a long time, so I imagined the “kitchen” of a trading enterprise. This was also said. I don’t know what was the decisive factor, but two days later the director called me back and invited me to come to the company’s office with documents for registration.

Functional responsibilities of an economist at an enterprise

A few words about what an economist should do at his workplace every day. First, you need to describe the company itself a little. This is a part of a network company, well-known in Russia, which specializes in retail trade in consumer goods (food, household items, furniture, toys and office supplies). The structure of the organization, which was managed by 6 people, included 30 rural shops.

The first thing I started with was compiling the daily turnover for each store. For this purpose, there was a special notebook, which was lined by hand, where a list of stores was located horizontally, and the amount of daily revenue sold by each outlet was entered vertically. Amounts were selected from the 1C program with a cumulative total. As a result, at the end of the month the result of the enterprise’s work was visible in the form of a total amount and the result of the work of each store and its turnover. This concept refers to the number of days required to sell the average stock of goods in a retail outlet. Average inventory for the period is divided by the average one-day turnover of the point.

At the end of each month, in a special table made in the Excel editor, a comparative analysis of the work of each outlet was carried out in comparison with the previous month and the same period last year. This made it possible to analyze the work of the enterprise as a whole and for each department. Costs and expenses were analyzed in the same way. I made similar forms to analyze the costs of electricity, repairs of premises, gas supply, wages and deductions, and the amount of remaining goods in stores.

The number of reports the preparation of which was part of my responsibilities is difficult to calculate. The main three were sent monthly to the head office located in the city of Kursk, and included all the indicators that the company had achieved over the past month. Every month a report was prepared to the Statistical Office, which included the same data. In addition, quarterly and annual reports on production performance for the quarter and year were submitted.

By the end of the quarter, I was developing a plan for each store for the next three months. Planning was based on a comparative analysis of similar periods of the past three years and the last quarter.

By all rights, the plan for a retail outlet should be directly linked to the number of people living in the village where the store operates, but this is a real problem. Information about residents is collected by calling village administrations, but they have one thing in their papers, but in reality it is completely different. They provide information only about registered citizens who, perhaps, have not lived there for many years, and those who came to work and live without registration are simply not taken into account.

Therefore, my method was the most optimal. In January of each year, an indicative plan for the coming year was drawn up. It was based on the figures that the parent company presented to us and the capabilities of each store.

How much do economists earn?

It’s difficult for me to talk about how much people in my profession earn in big cities, but for our area my salary was considered good. My salary was 16,000 rubles. Minus the income tax of 13% and trade union dues from this figure, we received about 14,500 rubles per month. Payments were made officially, with all necessary deductions. The social package was represented only by payment of sick leave and gifts for children for the New Year holidays - not the scale of an enterprise that offers free trips to the sea or its own children's camps.

According to the statistics that I was interested in, the minimum salary of an economist in a large city starts at 22,000 rubles, and its upper limit is 80,000 rubles. But in order to earn that much, you need to have extensive work experience in this specialty, and also live in the city.

Pros and cons of being an economist

The advantages of the profession include the fact that the economist is an employee independent of anyone other than the director. In addition, people who decided to devote themselves to this profession are individuals who put a creative approach to activity at the forefront. The ability to see what others don't see, to improve structure and staffing so that efforts can be directed towards achieving goals is really exciting.

I don't see any shortcomings in this work. The only negative characteristic of the vast majority of enterprises in our time is to load the one who copes with his responsibilities with the maximum number of additional functions that distract from the main process.

What does it take to be appreciated and noticed?

In my case, the only people above me in rank were the chief accountant and the director of the organization. Accounting is not my thing! But I had no desire to become a leader. No, I don’t want to say that I’m not ambitious! Very much! But this is not the case. Our director had so many responsibilities and problems that it sometimes seemed to me as if he spent the night in his office. The enterprise, which he inherited from his predecessor, was in a state of extreme decline. And he didn't even have time to breathe.

I held a good position, I really liked my work, and I didn’t want to change anything. In addition, not having much experience and experience, I tried to go to neighboring branches of the parent organization to see experienced economists, where I learned a lot. Several times I was sent to advanced training courses, after which I was entrusted with working with personnel.

Parting words for beginners

The most important thing in our profession, as in any other, is to remain human. Attention to details and numbers, perseverance and literacy are qualities that must be present. It is advisable, if the opportunity arises, to first get a job as an assistant economist. This will allow you to avoid many mistakes and miscalculations common to beginners in any profession.

Economist is a specialist in the field of economics, an expert on economic issues. Economists are called both scientists (that is, specialists in the field of economic science) and practitioners who work in the field of research, planning and management of the economic activities of an enterprise. The profession is suitable for those who are interested in mathematics and economics (see choosing a profession based on interest in school subjects).

An economist is one of the most important specialists in an enterprise. The job of an economist is to correctly set priorities and goals to obtain maximum profits with minimal losses.

Features of the profession

The responsibilities of an economist include: conducting an economic analysis of the organization’s work to improve the efficiency of its activities.

Economist:

• plans and improves the activities of the enterprise;
• participates in determining the system of remuneration and incentives for all categories of employees, calculates the organization’s need for personnel;
• plans costs, use of resources, expenses and profits of the enterprise;
• exercises control over the process of performing financial and economic activities.

Pros and cons of the profession

Pros of the profession: The profession of “economist” is in high demand in the labor market. The versatility of the profession allows you to find work in any sector of the economy. Having special economic knowledge, you can safely open your own business without the risk of becoming unprofitable.
Disadvantages of the profession: High responsibility: the success of the enterprise depends on the work of an economist. Quite a lot of competition in the labor market due to an overabundance of specialists. Painstaking work with numbers.

Place of work

The profession of “economist” is in demand in almost all areas:

• Government institutions dealing with economic issues (Ministry of Finance, Central Bank);
• industrial and agricultural enterprises;
• educational institutions (teaching activities);
• Hotel and restaurant business;
• organizations and enterprises of small, medium and large businesses;
• financial organizations (banks, tax inspectorates, pension funds, insurance agencies);
• research institutes, Academy of Sciences.

Important qualities

High intellectual performance, developed logical memory, high concentration, ability to work with large amounts of information, ability to competently express and prove one’s point of view (orally and in writing), responsibility, organization, self-confidence. Active life position, penchant for research activities.

Training to become an economist

In this course you can get a profession as an economist in 6 months and 10,000 rubles:
— One of the most affordable prices in Russia;
— Diploma of professional retraining of the established form;
— Training in a completely distance format;
— Certificate of compliance with professional standards worth 10,000 rubles. For a present!
— The largest educational institution of additional professional education. education in Russia.

The Interregional Academy of Industrial and Construction Complex (MASPK) invites you to obtain a profession within the framework of additional education. In addition to retraining programs, the Academy offers advanced training courses in the main areas and specializations within this professional field. Distance learning is possible.

Russian Institute of Vocational Education "IPO" - recruits students to obtain a specialty through a distance program of professional retraining and advanced training. Studying at the IPO is a convenient and quick way to receive distance education. 200+ training courses. 8000+ graduates from 200 cities. Short deadlines for completing documents and external training, interest-free installments from the institute and individual discounts. Contact us!

Salary

Salary as of May 22, 2019

Russia 25000—60000 ₽

Moscow 30000—80000 ₽

Career steps and prospects

To gain extensive experience, it is better for a novice economist to start working in a small enterprise. Here he will quickly become acquainted with the real state of affairs in the Russian economy and organization in particular. From the first days he will have to solve a whole range of problems, and not work in one direction. The career growth of an economist is to achieve the position of chief economist, and subsequently, financial director, subject to a high level of development of management competencies.

Famous Economists

Historians consider Aristotle to be the first economist, who built theories about the exchange of goods, their value and utility.

Bukharin Nikolai Ivanovich, Gaidar Egor Timurovich, Gromyko Andrei Andreevich, Keynes John Maynard, Marx Karl Heinrich, Ricardo David, Smith Adam, Struve Petr Berngardovich.