Got numbers on your mind? We’re not just talking about making bank. If you have great attention to detail and the ability to follow and compute numbers easily, then that can be an incredibly lucrative skill. When changing careers, it’s best to follow those skills that come naturally and build on them. Here are a few career paths that could make good use of that number-driven brain of yours.

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Bookkeepers

One of the simplest jobs to get into that would make good use of that numeric brain is bookkeeping. This might involve freelancing services out to small businesses or getting a permanent position at a larger business. Bookkeepers do a variety of jobs, most around keeping finances in order. They normally make sure that everything is being accounted for, showing an accurate cash flow for the client, and storing and organizing any financial documents. Effectively, they do the financial busy work so that their client or employer doesn’t have to.

Accountants

A lot of people might make the mistake of believing that a bookkeeper and a chartered accountant do roughly the same thing. Indeed, sometimes, accountants do handle bookkeeping duties, but that’s far from their usual job description. Accountants are highly qualified specialist advisors. They need training and certification to provide their main duty: giving tax advice. As such, quite a bit of education is needed beyond being good at math, but options like a low cost CPA exam course can make it easier for people at all life stages to find that path to becoming an accountant. It does require a lot of time and work, regardless, however.

Actuaries

Are there any particular kinds of mathematics that you excel at? How about probability? If that’s the case, then becoming an actuary might give you a good chance of a successful career. Typically, actuaries work for insurance, investment, and other companies. They determine, with math, the risks of certain events, as well as the likely costs of any damages caused by those events. Becoming an insurance actuary isn’t the only option either, as they often work in a private consulting capacity, helping business owners learn and avoid all manners of risks.

Data science

One of the industries that are quickly rising is that of understanding, interpreting, and making use of data. Data analysts and data scientists are two different job roles, but they mostly rely on the same skills of being able to comb through vast data-sets to pull out the data relevant to deliver insights to an employer or a client. Of course, given that data is handled via computers, training with IT systems is also going to be essential, especially in working with specialist software design to collect and collate data from a wide range of sources (also known as Big Data.)

The careers above are about doing more than counting or doing sums, it should be noted. However, if you’ve got a brain that’s inclined towards all things numeric, then you have a head start in hopping into any of them.