By : Julia Hollister
The numbers are clear: Excellent math skills add value to prospective job candidates and expand their career prospects.
Mathematicians with doctorates are the elite in the field, often working for research organizations or universities doing theoretical work. While opportunities for pure mathematicians are limited, their prospects change dramatically when their degrees include a specialty in science or computers, fields that put a high value on math expertise.
Those with a bachelor’s or master’s degree and an affinity for numbers will find their ability is prized in a wide range of professions – as accountants, architects, bankers, computer programmers, engineers, financial advisers and analysts, insurance actuaries, lab technicians, market researchers and statisticians, to name a few.
In fact, there is a demand for people who are nimble with numbers in almost every field. Restaurants and retailers need competent cashiers, business offices need clerks who can keep accurate accounts, and government needs number-crunchers of all kinds.
Here’s a look at three people applying their math abilities in the workaday world:
A World of Numbers
As an employee of the State Franchise Tax Board, Denise has no doubt that math skills are critical in today’s world.
"Everyone, starting with the early grades, should have a positive attitude about math," she insists. "In fact, my daughter’s kindergarten teacher recently admonished parents who don’t like math to keep those opinions to themselves because their children will follow that school of detrimental thought. Especially if that child is female."
Denise graduated from college with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a concentration in accounting. She admits she has always been fascinated by math because it is not subjective and always has an objective outcome.
But are math skills shaped by heredity or environment? "I think everybody has the ability to become quite proficient in math," she theorizes. "But some are more inclined to like it, and it is just human nature to be more apt to succeed at something you like."
With a number of openings in the accounting field, the state Franchise Tax Board is hiring those who have qualified for the civil service employment list. For more information visit the board’s website at ftb.ca.gov and go to its jobs and career page.
Denise points out that each year the FTB hires many auditors, tax collectors, an army of systems analysts and IT specialists, and tax professionals. Even if you land a job in customer service, you will be helping with tax calculations, so math prevails everywhere. Even the FTB’s attorneys have to start with a solid math background to understand how tax liabilities might be computed.
"Computers are making math easy and taking some of the stress out of the equation," she admits. "When I started to work in accounting, I used a 10-key calculator. Now, everything is automated, but even so, you have to have a foundation and structure in math."
She advises those in college to plan ahead because civil service jobs don’t happen overnight. Get on the state’s list in your junior year so you will be next in line by the time graduation rolls around.
Balancing the Books
The sub-prime mortgage mess, Wall Street meltdown, and billions in bailouts are just the latest in a long list of corporate and government fiascoes that all too frequently remind us of how important it is to have people who can make sense of the numbers and keep those in charge accountable.
Jim works in the accounts payable department of a large company in San Jose and admits it’s fun to keep track of someone else’s money.
"I was always pretty good with numbers and liked understanding that kind of detail and logic," he explains. "I began working with cash in a retail business and that led to getting into purchasing and my present position."
He took some courses in accounting and QuickBooks software and quickly learned how to apply what he had learned.
"Basically, I handle 100 vendors, pay invoices, deal with returned items, record debits and credits and all that fun stuff," he reports. "I was lucky to work with a CPA part-time last year and learned a lot about account reconciliation as well as getting some insights about tax work."
He says one of the best pieces of advice he ever heeded was signing up for a career counseling class that tests your personality and offers suggestions about which career suits you best. It’s a quick and valuable tool for anyone considering a career change.
"It took me a little while to learn about business math, but if someone wanted to get started in the numbers field, I would suggest trying some schooling with junior college courses. Start with as many as you can afford money-wise and time-wise and then decide how far you want to go."
No red ink for this job outlook – the opportunities are plentiful if you are thorough, persistent and have fierce attention to detail.
"Most of all you have to love the job," Jim concludes. "I love money, but like everyone else I don’t have enough. But having math skills is the bottom line because it is something we use in everything."
Insuring Accuracy
Sometimes it takes a leap of faith to further your career. For Laurie, it was deciding to take a job as a bank teller in the Bay Area.
"I think they had more confidence in me than I did, so I was hired," she recalls. "It was pretty gruesome in the beginning making sure everything was accounted for at the end of the day."
But it was good training. "That job taught me a lot and actually set up my future career path." She is currently the financial coordinator of an upscale San Francisco dental office.
"I work with numbers all day, figuring out percentages for insurance claims, collecting payments, posting checks and running the numbers for monthly financial reports. The success and financial health of the business depends on the doctor getting paid for his services."
Working through the mountain of insurance paperwork is challenging and frustrating, Laurie says, in part because the premiums keep going up while benefits are going down. It’s an ongoing learning process trying to keep ahead of the latest changes.
"I take the approach that I am doing patient education because most people don’t understand their insurance premium schedule. It is complicated, but I explain the billing payments in easy-to-understand terms and that seems to calm a lot of fragile nerves.
"This job is more than just drilling the numbers," she adds. "I am a patient’s advocate."
Job Vacancy , Indonesia Job , Job Indonesia
The numbers are clear: Excellent math skills add value to prospective job candidates and expand their career prospects.
Mathematicians with doctorates are the elite in the field, often working for research organizations or universities doing theoretical work. While opportunities for pure mathematicians are limited, their prospects change dramatically when their degrees include a specialty in science or computers, fields that put a high value on math expertise.
Those with a bachelor’s or master’s degree and an affinity for numbers will find their ability is prized in a wide range of professions – as accountants, architects, bankers, computer programmers, engineers, financial advisers and analysts, insurance actuaries, lab technicians, market researchers and statisticians, to name a few.
In fact, there is a demand for people who are nimble with numbers in almost every field. Restaurants and retailers need competent cashiers, business offices need clerks who can keep accurate accounts, and government needs number-crunchers of all kinds.
Here’s a look at three people applying their math abilities in the workaday world:
A World of Numbers
As an employee of the State Franchise Tax Board, Denise has no doubt that math skills are critical in today’s world.
"Everyone, starting with the early grades, should have a positive attitude about math," she insists. "In fact, my daughter’s kindergarten teacher recently admonished parents who don’t like math to keep those opinions to themselves because their children will follow that school of detrimental thought. Especially if that child is female."
Denise graduated from college with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a concentration in accounting. She admits she has always been fascinated by math because it is not subjective and always has an objective outcome.
But are math skills shaped by heredity or environment? "I think everybody has the ability to become quite proficient in math," she theorizes. "But some are more inclined to like it, and it is just human nature to be more apt to succeed at something you like."
With a number of openings in the accounting field, the state Franchise Tax Board is hiring those who have qualified for the civil service employment list. For more information visit the board’s website at ftb.ca.gov and go to its jobs and career page.
Denise points out that each year the FTB hires many auditors, tax collectors, an army of systems analysts and IT specialists, and tax professionals. Even if you land a job in customer service, you will be helping with tax calculations, so math prevails everywhere. Even the FTB’s attorneys have to start with a solid math background to understand how tax liabilities might be computed.
"Computers are making math easy and taking some of the stress out of the equation," she admits. "When I started to work in accounting, I used a 10-key calculator. Now, everything is automated, but even so, you have to have a foundation and structure in math."
She advises those in college to plan ahead because civil service jobs don’t happen overnight. Get on the state’s list in your junior year so you will be next in line by the time graduation rolls around.
Balancing the Books
The sub-prime mortgage mess, Wall Street meltdown, and billions in bailouts are just the latest in a long list of corporate and government fiascoes that all too frequently remind us of how important it is to have people who can make sense of the numbers and keep those in charge accountable.
Jim works in the accounts payable department of a large company in San Jose and admits it’s fun to keep track of someone else’s money.
"I was always pretty good with numbers and liked understanding that kind of detail and logic," he explains. "I began working with cash in a retail business and that led to getting into purchasing and my present position."
He took some courses in accounting and QuickBooks software and quickly learned how to apply what he had learned.
"Basically, I handle 100 vendors, pay invoices, deal with returned items, record debits and credits and all that fun stuff," he reports. "I was lucky to work with a CPA part-time last year and learned a lot about account reconciliation as well as getting some insights about tax work."
He says one of the best pieces of advice he ever heeded was signing up for a career counseling class that tests your personality and offers suggestions about which career suits you best. It’s a quick and valuable tool for anyone considering a career change.
"It took me a little while to learn about business math, but if someone wanted to get started in the numbers field, I would suggest trying some schooling with junior college courses. Start with as many as you can afford money-wise and time-wise and then decide how far you want to go."
No red ink for this job outlook – the opportunities are plentiful if you are thorough, persistent and have fierce attention to detail.
"Most of all you have to love the job," Jim concludes. "I love money, but like everyone else I don’t have enough. But having math skills is the bottom line because it is something we use in everything."
Insuring Accuracy
Sometimes it takes a leap of faith to further your career. For Laurie, it was deciding to take a job as a bank teller in the Bay Area.
"I think they had more confidence in me than I did, so I was hired," she recalls. "It was pretty gruesome in the beginning making sure everything was accounted for at the end of the day."
But it was good training. "That job taught me a lot and actually set up my future career path." She is currently the financial coordinator of an upscale San Francisco dental office.
"I work with numbers all day, figuring out percentages for insurance claims, collecting payments, posting checks and running the numbers for monthly financial reports. The success and financial health of the business depends on the doctor getting paid for his services."
Working through the mountain of insurance paperwork is challenging and frustrating, Laurie says, in part because the premiums keep going up while benefits are going down. It’s an ongoing learning process trying to keep ahead of the latest changes.
"I take the approach that I am doing patient education because most people don’t understand their insurance premium schedule. It is complicated, but I explain the billing payments in easy-to-understand terms and that seems to calm a lot of fragile nerves.
"This job is more than just drilling the numbers," she adds. "I am a patient’s advocate."
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