In comparison, structurers are desk-bound. Through communicating with the originators, structurers spend their time creating complex financial products to suit a company's financing needs.

It's up to the people on the syndication desk to ready the market for the sale. They calculate the best price range for the product in question, assess demand, and make sure the correct documents are in place.

Financial products are born or "originated" in the capital markets divisions of investment banks. There, capital markets bankers produce the securities used by companies and institutions who want to raise money on the public markets. Their two main products are stocks, which are traded on the equity capital markets, and bonds, traded on the debt capital markets.

Investment banks act as "underwriters" on behalf of the company issuing stocks or bonds. They assume the risk of issuing the securities and do the work necessary to bring them to market in return for a fee known as the "underwriting spread".

Equity capital markets (ECM) bankers help companies raise money by issuing shares. As underwriters, they guarantee that they will sell the shares the company is issuing for a certain price. The bank is obliged to buy the shares itself if they can't find enough people to buy the shares at the price they've agreed with the client. These shares might be part of an initial public offering (IPO), or a rights issue.

On the other hand, debt capital markets (DCM), deal with saleable units of debt in the form of bonds, including treasury bonds issued by governments, investment grade bonds issued by companies and high yield bonds, which are more likely to default and therefore pay a higher rate of return. DCM is also known as the fixed-income market.

Capital markets workers' responsibilities also include issuing more complex products, such as equity-linked securities - or bonds that can be converted into equities at a pre-arranged price - and derivatives.

Some job titles and careers in capital markets include: Senior Originator Specialty Lending; Risk Manager; Equity Derivatives Product Control; Junior FICC Structurer; and Debt Capital Markets Analyst, to name a few.

Key characteristics of a capital markets worker include a strong, analytical ability and statistical aptitude, strong communication skills, ability to manage multiple projects, and perseverance.