Career changer, and after 1 year, got a SA offer
So I posted this a while ago:
am-i-crazy-to-consider-moving-to-sf-bay-area-with-no-job
and had spent months banging my head against the wall trying to get a job offer, any offer. As of today, I am the proud owner of a summer analyst position. I still am in shock, and really, really happy right now. So thanks to all of you. While the advice I got turned out not to be relevant in my case, it was great to have the support.
Some background: I had a degree in Finance, older, and a career changer who was unemployed.
WHAT WORKED FOR ME
- Contacting smaller employers directly with a rock-solid pitch about HOW I could help them
- Meeting my future boss who was 1) smart 2) had an open mind (very important if you are over 30) and 3) right place, right time
- Targeted cover letters, re-written each time
- Dumb luck (which I made for myself by being active)
- Taking a crap job, busting my rear, getting a great recc that I could leverage
WHAT DID NOT WORK FOR ME
- Answering ads
- "Networking" events
- Mass copy/paste emails
- Being the "best" (eg, best grades, graduated top of my class, all irrelevant) on paper
WHAT I LEARNED
- Most people working in HR are morons and have no idea what a team actually needs
- Some will put you down and tell you that you will never make it. See if there is any relevant criticism that can help you go forward, otherwise, ignore them.
- You have to be prepared to put in an huge amount of work to get a job offer as a career changer over 30. If you are the kind of person who wants to sign off at 5pm every day, it will not happen for you.
- Even if you do everything right, if you are not lucky, it will not happen for you
- Don't let your self esteem get wrapped up in someone else's opinion of you. Some people will think you are great, some will think you are a loser. You need to have a good solid opinion of yourself before you undertake this. Otherwise, the despair and disappointment will literally kill you, if you don't know who you are.
Advice to ppl over 30: no matter what your career center says about placement rates, and how anyone can get a job, it is NOT true. Because you are the age you are, you will have to work 10x as hard to even get them to look at you. EVEN IF you are smarter, more talented, whatever. It does not matter. This business is geared towards young people. Thus, when you are in school, take any internship you can get and work work work on getting finance experience.





You sir, are a baller.
You sir, are a baller. Congrats on the offer, I'm sure you'll kick some ass.
Folks, keep in mind when reading this, that it worked for him, but nothing is the same across the board. While being a top student may not be absolutely necessary, don't let your grades slack, it's important to learn the material (and if you know the material, you'll get the grades).
Best of luck Tupsi!
"WSO is like the 300 for anti spamage. None shall pass." -happypantsmcgee
"You stop being an asshole when it sucks to be you." -IlliniProgrammer
Yes, thank you, absolutely do
Yes, thank you, absolutely do not let the grades slip! What I meant was that top grades do not guarantee anything, but they certainly DO help. Do not good grades lull you into a false sense of complacency (eg, I graduated first in my class so I will def get an offer) might be a more accurate way for me to put it.
Well done, dude.
Well done, dude.
Can you elaborate on how
Can you elaborate on how "dumb luck" played into your situation. Congrats!
smabs wrote: Can you
Can you elaborate on how "dumb luck" played into your situation. Congrats!
haha, how would one even go about answering this?
"I got into an elevator with a guy who just saw 'Pursuit of Happiness' so he took a chance"?
If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses - Henry Ford
happypantsmcgee wrote: smabs
Can you elaborate on how "dumb luck" played into your situation. Congrats!
haha, how would one even go about answering this?
"I got into an elevator with a guy who just saw 'Pursuit of Happiness' so he took a chance"?
Who knows, maybe he ran into a burning building to save a cat and it turns out the cat belonged to the daughter of the head of S&T at his future shop. It's not too far fetched that a definable "circumstance" played a significant role in his landing the position.
CompBanker
CompBanker
Can you elaborate on how "dumb luck" played into your situation. Congrats!
haha, how would one even go about answering this?
"I got into an elevator with a guy who just saw 'Pursuit of Happiness' so he took a chance"?
Who knows, maybe he ran into a burning building to save a cat and it turns out the cat belonged to the daughter of the head of S&T at his future shop. It's not too far fetched that a definable "circumstance" played a significant role in his landing the position.
Right, but I think the take away from this is that you have to keep pushing and making yourself available/putting yourself in situations where meeting someone who is able and/or willing to help you is likely.
If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses - Henry Ford
Elaborating on dumb luck: I
Elaborating on dumb luck:
I randomly emailed an MD that I knew thru an small org we were in together. We had met before at an event, but I didn't know him that well. Turns out, he has an analyst leaving in a few weeks that he had not found a replacement for yet. So it was a combo of being 1) VERY proactive and CONSTANTLY searching for people to reach out to 2) really really really lucky timing and 3) someone else leaving.
Honestly, it could have just as easily gone the other way if they other guy wasn't leaving. The MD prob would have said the usual "thanks but no thanks". But like someone else said, you have to consistently put yourself in situations where these things can happen. I can't even tell you how many times I did this same thing (cold email) and was rejected before.
Hi tupsi22, First off -
Hi tupsi22,
First off - congrats on breaking in as an older candidate, it's really tough if you don't go through the normal cycle. I'm curious though why you didn't choose to do an MBA and go in as an associate, or what did you do in a prior life before deciding to career switch into banking (know the hours, and the difficulty of firms assuming you won't be able to work with someone younger but more senior, and etc).
I did an MS because I wanted
I did an MS because I wanted very specific education in Finance, not the more general MBA studies. I think it is very much a myth (at least it was for me) that having an MS, or an advanced degree, can bring you automatically in at the associate level IF you are a career changer OR you are older.
If you already have biz exp, sure no problem. But what I kept hearing over and over was "You have a great degree/grades/reccs but NO experience, NO job." In my previous life, I worked in a totally unrelated field, so yeah, not many transferrable skills there. They really did not care that I had worked in my previous field for 10 years and had done great work there. Maybe this was different before the economy tanked.
That is actually one of the
That is actually one of the bigger differences between MSF and MBA, an MSF might be able to get you a starting position as associate, MBA should get you a starting position as an associate.
Also, I don't really believe in dumb luck, I believe you create opportunities for yourself. All the cold-emailing/calling and networking you did directly led to you getting a job. Don't sell the work you did short by calling it dumb luck :-p
"WSO is like the 300 for anti spamage. None shall pass." -happypantsmcgee
"You stop being an asshole when it sucks to be you." -IlliniProgrammer