How low/unsuccessful have you been?

Just an introduction. I'm 26, residing in Singapore and on my last year of a BSc Economics and Management under the University of London International program.

I don't know if it's recognised as far as outside Singapore is concerned but the culture here, people place pretty much importance on the local universities and not some distance learning program. I've been interested in econ and recently more into finance.

Have been wanting to get a nice summer intern to gain experience but i always end up just doing random part-time jobs to earn enough to get by. In the end, my resume is a mix of stuff like call centre officer, IT venue assistant manager.. Nothing related to my interest. I'm not sure about economists in private companies but the central bank here hire mostly grads from local universities.

The only closest finance related job i found was a remisier, which was basically getting as many people to trade under your account as possible. It required a SGD$30k collateral and my savings is barely 0.1% of that. The other are 'personal banker' and 'financial advisors' roles which are basically sales of financial products to clueless people (at least that's how it is here)

I'm pretty new to WSO and stuff here are really interesting to read, much to learn.

I'm kinda unsure what I wanna do at this age of 26. I like finance, but I'm not good at it. Only reading more is helping me for now. Meanwhile, I'm not sure what to do. Been searching for any job i could. BO operations are also difficult.

 

chronotes, I can totally empathize about not being sure what to do next / searching for a job. I had my ideal job out of graduation but things didn't work out [safety issues, long story]. Anyway, took me a few months to get back on the horse and now I'm moving towards a new career and am very happy about it. I have a lot of friends who have recently graduated and are also trying to figure out what to do next. If there's one thing that differentiates my friends who are moving forward vs. those who are standing still it's taking action. The ones who are doing well are constantly moving forward, learning about new careers, networking, etc. Many of them don't even know what they want to do but taking action seems to help immensely. I hope that helps.

 
Best Response
Nikola:

chronotes, I can totally empathize about not being sure what to do next / searching for a job.
I had my ideal job out of graduation but things didn't work out [safety issues, long story]. Anyway, took me a few months to get back on the horse and now I'm moving towards a new career and am very happy about it.
I have a lot of friends who have recently graduated and are also trying to figure out what to do next.
If there's one thing that differentiates my friends who are moving forward vs. those who are standing still it's taking action. The ones who are doing well are constantly moving forward, learning about new careers, networking, etc. Many of them don't even know what they want to do but taking action seems to help immensely. I hope that helps.

Thank you for the comment Nikola. One thing to take away from your reply is that I really should move on. However my distance learning degree is holding me back. It's been 4 years and I have not graduated due to failing some of the subjects,.. it's gonna be the 5th year now.

I'm not moving on in my life particularly because of this. Meanwhile i'm just trying to read up as much as I can and pick up some skills like financial modelling for make myself more marketable. I thought of taking CFA but the cost is holding me back as i have very little savings (no job)

 
Flake:

So you would rather work at a call center than take a financial advisor/PWM type of role?

nope, not really. Those job experiences that i had were purely for the money sake. Because I'm in a distance learning program, internship opportunities are really limited to what little local universities we have here. I'm not so sure about the culture of financial advisors/PWM overseas but over here, if I wanted to be one of them I would have just done it without a degree (they don't need one other than some certifications) and save the study loan. The cut-throat cultures in these sales field only allow the least ethical person to survive in the industry (mostly pushing the unknowing elderly to buy the products). I know because I know people who are working like that..

 

I'm almost 25 and in relatively the same boat. I have been head set on finance since I was about 20 (started school at 19) but life and other things got into the way at times. For example, I should have graduated finance at 23 but was offered a sales position with an insurance company and was burnt out from school and taking 5 classes/semester for 4 years straight. Long story short, I decided on the job and did very well, saving most of my money while I was working. I decided that finance is where I need to be and now I am almost 25 and still in school with frickin 22 year olds (one more semester to go) and doing my best to get to the positions I want. Currently, all I have is 6k invested in the markets, 18k of student loan debt, 1k in cash, live with my parents, a severely weakened social life, and most of my friends are doing better than me. I'm doing the CFA1 in December so I don't feel completely terrible about my prospects. Life is pretty shitty for me at the moment, but what else can you do? Sit there and be depressed? Life is about always moving forward.

 

I "failed out" of college for medical reasons and during my forced "year off" I was arrested twice. Depression and all that. Didn't graduate until I was 24.

If you know you aren't the person your situation dictates (aka a shithead, and no offense, I was there) and you're actively working toward your goal, it does get better.

Commercial Real Estate Developer
 
bknol656:

I'm almost 25 and in relatively the same boat. I have been head set on finance since I was about 20 (started school at 19) but life and other things got into the way at times. For example, I should have graduated finance at 23 but was offered a sales position with an insurance company and was burnt out from school and taking 5 classes/semester for 4 years straight. Long story short, I decided on the job and did very well, saving most of my money while I was working. I decided that finance is where I need to be and now I am almost 25 and still in school with frickin 22 year olds (one more semester to go) and doing my best to get to the positions I want. Currently, all I have is 6k invested in the markets, 18k of student loan debt, 1k in cash, live with my parents, a severely weakened social life, and most of my friends are doing better than me. I'm doing the CFA1 in December so I don't feel completely terrible about my prospects. Life is pretty shitty for me at the moment, but what else can you do? Sit there and be depressed? Life is about always moving forward.

It's nice to know you chosen the path you wanted since 20. To be honest, I'm quite late into it. I have 30k of student loan, no savings and staying with parents. Was unable to earn enough with part time jobs even though I'm quite a good saver IMO. Went for my National Service (conscription) for 2 years, but didn't manage to save up even those allowances were measly (long story short, spent a lot on my ex-gf)

Glad to know you're already gonna take CFA1. I'm still not confident about myself especially academically. I would probably think my degree is much easier than CFA1. Not to mention i dont even have the money for the exam itself.

Yea like you said, better be moving forward. Currently trying to learn new stuff online to buff up my resume while looking for some really low entry level jobs.

Thanks guys for sharing. Still trying to get out of the sticky mudhole..

 

Omg guy's I've finally received a reply for an operations position with a small hedge fund.

The email mentioned that there will be a test on that day, followed by an interview in the afternoon.

The test will consists of 2 parts, cash reconciliation. Where I'm will to be a broker statement,cash activity report to analyse and perform cash and trade reconciliation. And a second part where there will be some financial quiz that test for knowledge on financial instruments and Excel formulae.

I know a bit of cash reconciliation but I'm not sure if the same knowledge can be applied here for the broker statement and cash and trade recon. Does anyone know about how I can prepare for this?

Also, I know some Excel formulae but I'm not sure what I should look out for especially in this role?

I havent had any interview for the past 2 months and this will be the first. I really don't wanna blow up this opportunity, especially for the test where it's something i can prepare for. I only have abou 3 days though.

Damn im nervous as hell

 

Aliquid necessitatibus iure eaque ex. Illo in ut quia reprehenderit id. Eveniet quas reiciendis modi maiores tenetur et consequatur velit.

Ad aspernatur molestiae doloribus saepe quo repellat est eaque. Earum quae assumenda adipisci voluptatem at. Exercitationem aspernatur neque rerum voluptatem voluptate architecto.

Career Advancement Opportunities

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Jefferies & Company 02 99.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 19 98.8%
  • Harris Williams & Co. (++) 98.3%
  • Lazard Freres 02 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 03 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Harris Williams & Co. 18 99.4%
  • JPMorgan Chase 10 98.8%
  • Lazard Freres 05 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.7%
  • William Blair 03 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Lazard Freres 01 99.4%
  • Jefferies & Company 02 98.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 17 98.3%
  • Moelis & Company 07 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 05 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Director/MD (5) $648
  • Vice President (19) $385
  • Associates (86) $261
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (13) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (33) $170
  • 2nd Year Analyst (66) $168
  • 1st Year Analyst (202) $159
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (144) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
6
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
7
kanon's picture
kanon
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
10
Jamoldo's picture
Jamoldo
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”