Financial jobs and North America financial careers in Investor Relations / PR. Browse available job offers and apply online

The PR department is the conduit for information between the bank and the media. When journalists want to know about anything, from the latest research notes to initial public share offerings or industrial relations tribunals, they often call the people in PR.

Large financial institutions typically employ a head of global PR based at head office, with other PR managers and PR assistants scattered across major regional centres. Some PR staff have a defined responsibility for a particular part of the firm, such as its private bank. Former journalists, as well as career PR people, help to fill these roles.

However, although banks mainly recruit for their own PR jobs, such firms also outsource some of their media requirements to PR agencies. These PR roles typically manage specific campaigns or deal with specialist enquires (e.g. employer branding). Equally, PR agencies employ specialist public relations staff to communicate information about significant financial events such as mergers and acquisitions and initial public offerings of shares. Companies will often employ these agencies to communicate on their behalf.

As with PR, marketing staff are also concerned with the way the organisation is perceived by the outside world. A marketing job focuses not on the media but on presenting a financial services firm's image to existing and potential customers.

At many investment banks, inhouse communications experts also produce company magazines, run intranet sites and manage corporate events.

Jobs in investor relations require playing a more formal role, distributing information about a company and its financial performance to existing and potential shareholders. Investor relations professionals are "middlemen" who handle inquiries from shareholders and investors, and other people who are interested in a company's stock or financial stability.

An investor relations career is essentially strategic management that demands expertise in communication, finance, marketing, and securities law compliance. The goal is to encourage communication between a company and the financial community that will help its securities achieve fair valuation.

The investor relations job is wide ranging, and includes working at fund-raising roadshows to keep audiences up to date about the firm's internal operations. Investor relations people also attend press conferences, shareholder meetings, and private meetings with investors.

Company annual reports and the investor relations section of company websites fall under their remit, and they communicate information about corporate governance and corporate social responsibility.

The investor relations department usually reports to the chief financial officer or treasurer, although in some firms the function is managed by the PR team.