Advice!! Please help
Hello all. I need advice!!!!! This is my first time posting here, so please bear with me. A bit about my background, I have a Bachelor's degree in Finance (2004) and a Master's degree in Finance ( graduated 2008). I have been working in Accounting, Finance for the past 3-4 years. Accounting and corporate finance kinda fell on my lap, I needed a job and that's all I could find in the MD/DC/VA area. I hate Accounting with a Passion, I've always wanted to work in Investments, especially Investment Banking. What are my prospects? I had an interview with Morgan Stanley for a position in their Operations department, something along the lines of a Derivatives Analyst position, however, the pay is about $40,000 because it's an entry level position. At this point, I can get a job in Accounting/Finance paying 60,000-70,000, so if offered the position at Morgan Stanley, should I take the cut? Is it really worth it? Are there any prospects for growth @ MS in Operations? what does it lead to? Could I later on transfer on the Investment side of things at MS or somewhere else? I would eventually want to move to NY. I guess what Im asking is, what would you recommend? My experience is in corporate finance, not in Investment, but my dream job would be Investment analyst, or IB Analyst.I know at the end of the day, its my decision, but just wanted to get some insight from others in the industry. Anything you're willing to share would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much.
Your post doesn't make dollars. Try using paragraphs and capitalizing only the first word of each sentance and proper nouns.
Not to be a hater, given that you have a whole bunch of monkey points and are presumably in the industry. But seriously, making a snarky comment about grammar when you spelled "sentence" wrong?
Lol, thanks for pointing it out
that's all you could come up with? Seriously? lolll
Fair enough, I'm in a bad mood but there's no need to be short-tempered. Also mea culpa on the spelling error, I should know better (especially when, as you pointed out, I was being snarky.)
Ok, how's this: Operations at a secondary office is a long shot to make it to a front-office position, but probably still better than accounting. Depending on the type of corporate finance (ie real corp fin with a decent size company, not Big 4 advisory "corp fin", it might be easier to move from a corp fin role to investment banking but still challenging.
Banks don't hire people in their mid-twenties with advanced degrees to ops roles with the intention of promoting them to front office. Expect an uphill fight.
One thing to know about ops is that while it's not very popular on here, you can make decent money doing it and have a pretty good lifestyle. Our COO has a pretty sweet deal and she's had some pretty impressive roles/responsibilities at big-time asset managers.
Additionally, you should probably do some more research and thinking about what your end-game is. If you want to be a trader, the ops role is far better than corp fin/accounting, but for investment banking that may not the case.
Once again, some more clarity on what you mean by Corp Fin would be helpful as well.
Very well put. This position will not make it easier nor will it be a suitable launching pad.
Your best bet into IBD is networking and cold calling. Hopefully you can get a lateral interview. Also if you have had good career progression, you should consider an MBA to reset your options
I guess my next question would be, what could one expect working in Operations long-term, what does it lead to? Thanks
go to b-school and provided you get into a decent school you'll have a good shot at IB internships given your accounting background.
If you can be more detailed about your previous experience and the accounting/finance role you have offered, people will be able to give you better advice.
I think the people who make it from operations are people who went through a formal operations program, not from a satellite office.
And to be honest, I can't imagine a satellite office will offer in-office networking either. For example Citi has operations divisions in Tampa, NYC, Buffalo etc. Maybe the move to the FO can be done from NYC, but probably not from Tampa. Just a hypothetical
***edit decent money in operations comes from going through the analyst programs. I think they pay ~65k all in
operations will be as exciting as your current job. I knew a few full times and they would finish all of their daily work by lunch. It would take the older crowd all day. So essentially you are stuck with an aging crowd and under-stimulated.
operations won't make investments.
research it more before you accept anything
lol, now that's a downer! The only thing I guess is MS on a resume will look better than a no-name small company
What do u mean? yes you need an understanding of Accounting to be good in IB but you won't be the one doing the Accounting per se, and that's what I hate! that has nothing to do with IB. Analysts spend most of their time creating financial models for valuations and such. And that's what I enjoy!
it sounds like you want to work on the buy side of the business...like maybe work for a money manager and "stock pick" for a fund. At any rate, it is extremely competative and your best chances will be to get your CFA and/or MBA. And of course as everyone said, networking can always be the opportunity, regardless of what position you take...just have to be lucky.
WCMonkey, True. I plan on doing the CFA in the next 2 years, and maybe an MBA later on depending on what direction my career takes. I guess, I just want to get into investments because the more I stay in Accounting/Corp Finance, the harder it will be to transition to a new career
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