Economics should be economical, or the prospects for the profession of economist. Profession economist Can an economist

Economist is traditionally one of the most popular areas of study in Russian universities. Today 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.

Profession economist

I live in the Kastorensky district of the Kursk region. She worked as an economist for 5 years, she started working after finishing her 3rd year at the institute.

Why does a company need an economist?

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

Difference between economist and accountant consists in the fact that the accountant actually collects and systematizes the documentation and its contents, and the 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 an economist's work - prove which of the selected areas of activity 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 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 position as an economist, especially from scratch, without work experience, is very difficult, almost impossible. This requires either, or a lucky break. 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 for any position is the applicant’s goodwill, 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 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 that started my activity– this is a compilation of 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 outlet.

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

To the advantages of the profession It can be attributed to 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 problem, 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 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.

Economists are in demand in companies where it is necessary to control costs, correctly calculate funds, and where constant analysis of the economic activity of the enterprise is necessary. Features of the profession, duties and limits of liability They require from an economist a special set of personal qualities, professional skills and knowledge, the presence of which contributes to career success, and the absence of which, accordingly, is harmful.

What personal qualities does an economist need?

Competence in the profession, of course, is more important than the psychological traits of the employee, however, the employer also pays attention to them. A person may know his profession well or even far exceed the required minimum, however, if he does not possess a number of necessary personal qualities, and, therefore, does not work for pleasure, his productivity is unlikely to be impressive. Worse, it can negatively affect the rest of the team.

Let's try to create a generalized portrait of an economist, formulating it into a list of characteristic personal qualities. So, a typical economist:

• diligent, neat and attentive. The profession requires intense and painstaking work, most often related to paperwork and calculations;
• has an analytical mind and scrupulous mathematical and logical thinking, knows how and loves to work with numbers;
• knows how to quickly concentrate in any situation;
• emotionally stable, because activities are often associated with stress, urgent preparation of reports, analysis of large volumes of information in a short time;
• principled, honest and responsible. Otherwise, a professional economist, constantly seduced by his proximity to financial flows, can quickly turn into a good swindler.

What should an economist know?

If the listed personal qualities can be called necessary for any economist, then in terms of knowledge and skills, what is common to all economists is, in fact, a higher economic education, then the set of knowledge and skills depends on the corresponding directions. For financial management you need one thing, for analytics - another, for statistics - a third, for an accountant - a fourth, etc.

Nevertheless, let's try to outline the general minimum knowledge for a typical economist. So he should know:

• the procedure for developing financial annual plans and various business plans;
• clearly know and follow the order and timing of all financial reporting;
• procedure for developing materials, financial and labor costs;
• market methods of farming, all technologies used in production;
• all methods of economic analysis and statistical accounting;
• the economist must determine the economic efficiency of new technologies introduced into production;
• all rules for the preparation of materials when drawing up contracts;
• all methods and methods of carrying out computational work;
• accumulated foreign and domestic experience in the rational organization of the economy in market conditions;
• labor legislation standards.

What should an economist be able to do?

• An economist must speak foreign languages, and knowledge of English is often, if not a prerequisite, then significantly influencing the level of salary.
• An economist must have excellent command of a computer and all software necessary for work (usually 1C products). Due to the fact that all calculations in modern realities have long been carried out using a computer, and not wooden abacus, computer science is one of the main and compulsory disciplines in economic universities.
• An economist must understand all the intricacies of planned economic work.
• An economist must understand the management of all accounting documentation.
• An economist must understand all complex legal acts, regulations and orders.
• An economist must be able to defend the interests of his company.

Before entering an economics major, you need to decide what exactly attracts you in economics and business, choose a direction that matches your personal interests and qualities. The admissions committees of economic universities will help you make your choice. In addition, large economic universities, such as, for example, the Financial University, often hold open days for applicants, where applicants can get all the information they are interested in and make the right decision. Contacts of the admissions committee and announcements of events for applicants can be found in the relevant sections on the websites of educational institutions.

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

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!

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.

Salary

Salary as of 08/05/2019

Russia 20000—60000 ₽

Moscow 35000—100000 ₽

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.

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.

Where can a certified economist go to work? This question worries not only future graduates of higher and secondary specialized educational institutions, but also applicants who are just preparing to set foot on this path. Recently, universities in our country have begun to graduate hundreds of representatives of this specialty, which is why competition in the labor market in this specialty is colossal.

Today it is difficult to find yourself even for an economist with honors, especially without work experience. Therefore, this industry must be considered as broadly as possible. Let's figure out what this specialty is and where a graduate of a specialized faculty can go to work.

What is the profession of an economist?

Financial work has always been considered the most prestigious, and after the collapse of the USSR, the need for economists grew sky high. Even today, despite the huge number of university graduates, the market needs quality specialists in this industry. The basis of the activities of a representative of this specialty is planning, analysis, forecasting and management of the financial activities of an enterprise. Today, higher and secondary specialized educational institutions in the country train specialists in the following sectors:

• actually, economics;
• management;
• trade;
• merchandising;
• finance and credit.

Like any other specialty, economics has its own advantages and disadvantages. If we talk about the advantages of the profession, we can highlight the following factors:

1. Wide range of employment opportunities. Almost every enterprise needs economists, but more on that a little later.
2. High wages in the industry. A good specialist can save up for housing and a car in just a few years. Although everyone, as you know, starts small, so everything will come with time.
3. The opportunity to open your own business, taking into account the availability of all the basic skills for this.

But there are also certain disadvantages, in particular:

1. Increased responsibility. Any miscalculation can lead to financial losses for the enterprise, which can cost the employee his position or at least a good deal of hassle from his superiors.
2. High competition. In recent years, a huge number of economists have graduated from domestic universities. However, this factor may not be scary for a truly intelligent specialist, because in this case it is quality that is important, not quantity.
3. Skills and abilities. The work is very complex and stressful, you constantly have to deal with numbers and it is important to avoid errors in calculations.

Where can you really get a job?

In fact, the list of industries where a good economist can go to work affects almost all areas of our lives. Even despite the highest competition in the field, the list of positions that can be offered to a graduate of a specialized faculty remains quite wide. We list just a few options that will be a good starting point or will bring a stable income.

Employment in government agencies. Regional departments of the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank will be an excellent option for any economist. Let’s be honest, it’s almost impossible to get a job there, but it’s still worth considering as an option. Well, what if? If we take a lower level, then we should pay attention to the Federal Tax Service and social services, which also need specialists in this profile.

Private financial institutions and large stores. Banks and insurance companies are generally a treasure trove of vacancies for representatives of this specialty, but the question is different: do they often not hire people without work experience? Large stores also need economists, but most often yesterday’s university graduates are not trusted with anything more serious than issuing loans.

Various manufacturing, agricultural and trading companies. In general, this also includes the hotel and restaurant business. There are plenty of vacancies for economists in such organizations, for example:

• managers;
• accountants;
• financial analysts;
• computer science and other positions.

Salaries at such enterprises can fluctuate significantly, depending on the level of the company and the region in which it is based. But if you look for your first job somewhere in this environment, there is a good chance of finding an option with good pay or to gain work experience.

If you do not want or do not have the opportunity to go to work in your specialty, there will always be alternative options. First of all, this is education and science. As for education, any good theorist will be happy to be hired to teach at a school, higher or secondary specialized educational institution. But only if there is a vacancy, since such institutions are not used to expanding their staff. You can also get a job at a research institute and consider any economic problems from a scientific point of view. These options, as a rule, are not profitable and do not provide experience directly in the economic sphere. Therefore, they are chosen quite rarely.

In general, you can get a job in economics; first of all, you need your desire. If you try and grow professionally, you will succeed!

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