How to start a career in finance?
Hi everyone!
I need an advice what better to do in my situation.
A year ago I finished one of the best universities in Russia with Dual Degree Program with University of London International Programmes, Under Academic Direction of London School of Economics. I am BSc Economics and Finance. Was top 10% in the class in statistics and econometrics.
Also I have some work experience in McKinsey & Company for 10 month(Moscow,Russian office).
I am a green card holder( legally authorized to work in the United States).
Is it possible for me to find a work in US in finance or consulting?
Is CFA Level 1 will increase my chances to successfully find a work?
Where is better to start my search?
I just want to start my career in US from any position except sales or working on phone and things like that.
(I want to find a job where I will grow as a professional)
Any advices are welcome!
Thank you!
I'll bite.
What did you do at McKinsey? Why are you switching from Moscow? Have you asked for a transfer to a U.S. location? Are you looking to get out of consulting?
I was a project assistant. It was a part-time job mainly for students. My family and I moving to US. Very bad political situation in Russia. No, I am good at finance or consulting.
Understood.
CFA at any level has a recommended study time of around 300 hours. A CFA in the US is looked upon favorably but if you can't make the time commitment then don't bother with it now.
You have great credentials from a top university but it's hard to tell you where to apply as it will depend on where your family decides to move to. Do you have an idea?
NYC has a lot of opportunity for both consulting and finance but very expensive.
Chicago has a lot of opportunity for both careers as well but not as much. It's definitely cheaper than NYC.
I'm not going to go through every major city in the U.S. but consider checking out the following places and see where they have offices.
McKinsey, Bain, Boston Consulting Group, Accenture, Deloitte, A.T. Kearney, Booz Allen Hamilton, Strategy& for consulting. Not sure how your prior work experiences will translate here but I'm assuming it can't be astonishingly different.
Hope this helps.
So what thoughts you have?)
There are plenty of international applicants from the schools you mentioned. I'm curious as to what exactly was the degree you obtained at those schools? I don't know enough about them but if they're comparable to a dual bachelors degree you shouldn't have much of an issue.
Connect with people you met at the schools you went to and see what luck they've had with job applications.
I haven't heard people using indeed to get jobs in banking or consulting. Apply directly on the websites of companies in your area. Browse the websites of those companies and see if any of the people are from Russia. If they are, email them and tell them your story. They'll be more than likely to help out.
As mentioned elsewhere, I would pick up a copy of Dastidar's markets book for useful knowledge, put in context. Its cheap, the cost of a couple of drinks and a lot more valuable
Career Change to FInance (Originally Posted: 06/20/2010)
Hi
I did MBA finance and CFA from ICFAI Business School. Note the CFA is from India. ( Once upon a time, CFA from AIMR and ICFAI collaborated to award CFA in India and then there was a feud)..
anyways, I moved into IT and its been 12 years and want to get back to my first love in Financial Services. There is very little of finance in my professional life over past 12 years, although my fundametals are still very solid.
Given this background, what would be a pratical roadmap for me. Appreciate thoughts and comments
Thanks
How's your programming? If you are skilled enough, I'm sure there are a bunch of places within pissing distance of your user name that would at least take a flier on interviewing you.
Thanks for reply.
I am not into programming ( I am ERP functional consultant , pre-sales , management.).
Considering I have MBA and CFA, I am willing to start where a recent MBA graduate would start.
I guess my questions are , am I too old for career change at 37 OR are my academic qualification too old / not so relevant
I'd welcome suggestions on what I should be doing to give myself a reasonable chance of breaking into the industry
Thanks
The CFA thing sounds a little fishy, they don't give it out without 4 years of financial analysis experience, coupled with passing all three levels of the exam. Are you sure you have an actual CFA or did you just pass the levels? (did you even pass the levels?). I am not asking any of this to insult you, just if you have a real CFA (and not some bullshit piece of paper that international schools in some places do give out, again no offense just a statement of fact) then you de facto have experience, combined with an MBA, you should be okay.
Otherwise, I would say the age is an issue but not something a good network can't overcome. That being said, building a network that will allow you to cross over can take time. Are you sure finance is really where you want to be? You refer to a "first love" people don't usually spend so long away from something they love. It is going to be more of a battle explaining this then anything.
In my opening statement I said my CFA is from ICFAI in India.
CFA institute in US had licensed ICFAI to provide CFA in india in 1990s. Later they embroiled into a trademark dispute and sued each other. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chartered_Financial_Analyst#Trademark_disp… Finally CFA institute won. So now in my resume I always mention it is CFA from ICFAI, India. Ofcourse I passed all 3 levels first attempt.
Great. You are ignoring THE KEY PART of the question, "do you have 4 years actual experience in financial analysis?". This is today's standard. I don't care about the dispute and neither does anyone else. The only thing anyone cares about is: "can he do the job?" , "how do I know?", "how does he help me?". Remember diplomas are good, (nobody wants a high school dropout running their trading desk) but experience is best. If you don't have actual experience, try and looking at a finance related position in your current company or one with a similar business model...this way you can leverage your current experience.
In this economy, experienced people are taking pay cuts. Be prepared to take the pay cut for your "first love". Switching at this point will inevitably mean starting at a lower pay grade, if that's not an issue you really shouldn't have much problems.
I am positive that a Worldly street smart high school grad can do extremely well in trading and im sure those who trade in any form would tend to agree...I believe Mr.Jimmy Cayne is a high school grad and look at where he was...among many other examples
For every succesful trader without a college degree, I would bet there are 5 who tried and failed... Not to mention, we're no longer living in a world where you can work your way up from clerk to trader. All the top shops basically require a pedigree these days.
airBUS Pilot aren't you an airline pilot who has never worked in finance? If it was so easy for a "worldly street smart kid" to do so well in trading everyone would be doing it. While it is true that some are successful with just a high school education they are much more of a rarity then you imply. Anyone can get lucky short term and make some money trading but they will have no clue how they did it and will likely be taking risks they don't even understand that would get them fired in the real world. To say that any worldly and street smart kid can be a successful trader long term is ridiculous.
What area of finance do you want to go into? What do you think makes you an attractive candidate? Do you actually have your charter or only have you only passed the tests without the experience?
Hi.. wackerchicago.. I am from india and facing a similar situation .. Did you change your career?
I want to change my carer for that reason i want to go to France for good job but i have not much knowledge that how i can get a Visa for France...
Switching careers in finance after business school (Originally Posted: 07/22/2013)
I recently graduated from a top-3 business school programme in the US and have returned to the UK to find a full-time job. Before business school, I work in derivatives sales (interest rates) and was a VP. I decided to go back to university because I wasn't happy in my job anymore and wanted to take some time to think about what else I could do. I decided that I want to stay in finance, and preferably would like to work for a debt fund. Now that I am back, I am struggling to get a foot in the door and the attention of headhunters. I understand that they don't work for me, and so that they won't give me airtime if I don't fit the exact profile of the mandates they have, but I am getting frustrated and don't exactly know how to go about finding a job or what is realistic in terms of job switch. I am prepared to take a paycut and a demotion, particularly if the role has room for growth. I designed my academic curriculum to help me fill in gaps in my financial skills (so I took a few modeling and valuation classes) and was also involved in relevant extracurriculars. Any advice / success stories would be most welcome.
Do you write a cover letter explaining all this?
Also there should be alumni from your school you can reach out too.
I do, actually. And I have changed my CV so that it isn't as derivatives focused, but it is hard to list achievements in my old position without going into technical details.
Recruiters will try and make your profile fit the bill of the job specs they have in front of them, rather than what they should be doing which is the other way around. It's like they don't hear you when you say 'I would only like to work in team x'. I would call as many as you can and be quite blunt about what you want. If they call you with a 'we think you can only work in derivatives as that's where your experience lies', tell them that you aren't interested.
Networking, especially at your level and given previous posts, seems to be the best option.
If you can't get AM directly, are there any related fields using derivatives that will help you position yourself for fixed income AM? Or is there any way to ask for some temporary work/contracts since that would reduce the risk on the employeers side.
Career change to Finance (Originally Posted: 04/03/2012)
Hi, I'm new to this site so pardon me if I've made any mistakes in posting this topic. So I've been thinking about changing my career to Finance since a long time. I'm trying to get in to a masters program. I graduated with a BSC in Computer Engineering in 2010 with a very shitty GPA(2.0/4.0) and have been working in the IT industry since the past 1 year or so. I gave my GMAT a month back and scored 710/800. What do you guys think? Is there any decent school that might take me in?
For MBA you will need to work for longer. You will also need to score higher than a 710 and have essays that'll make the adcom cry out of their penises. You had a somewhat tougher major but a 2.0 GPA is abysmal for any subject.
For MSF...I know nothing, sorry.
710 is the 92nd percentile (as at end-2009). I'm not saying that it's HBS-calibre but I think most DECENT universities will take that.
I scored 769 (+99th percentile) with a 2.2 in statistics & math and I got 1 target offer (after numerous applications). Though at +$100k, I have no fucking idea why people do MBAs.
You have no idea why people do MBA? Would you have a decent job right now (or at the very least feel like you could get one) if you didn't get into that "target MBA"? Unless you already had a lot going for you, which I doubt.
I wasn't trying to be offensive by the way. Just a disclaimer: I have a hard on for top MBA programs, just not like Brady or anything craZy like that.
Hahaha. Oh yes I've read some crazy posts from Brady.
Info about the various careers in finance (Originally Posted: 02/08/2018)
Hello i am BBA graduate and i specialized in finance. I want to pursue a career in finance and i am currently applying for MBA programs in India. Can anyone please tell me what are the career options in finance and how does one go about selecting the right career path for oneself.
Hi anirudhkothari95, any of these threads helpful:
If we're lucky, maybe I can guilt some users to help you out: m063264 dgreen84 a.manawaty
If those topics were completely useless, don't blame me, blame my programmers...
This guy gets it.![Buy low, sell high](a href="https://media.giphy.com/media/3oEjHFFPj80amL7lKg/giphy.gif">https://media.giphy.com/media/3oEjHFFPj80amL7lKg/giphy.gif</a)
Interested in a career in finance/banking, what do I need to do? (Originally Posted: 12/13/2012)
Hello monkeys, Im a freshman in high school. Over the past year or so I have taken an interest in the world of the Street. Particularly the stock market, my dad lets me run my own portfolio on etrade and I dont think Ive been doing that bad so far. My GPA at the moment is 3.30 hopefully when i take the finals some of the B's go to A's. But my main question would have to be what could I do right now that could give me more knowledge over this, and give me a head start. Both of my parents are business majors, and my dad has taught MBA classes for several years. Im thinking that I could get a few of their textbooks and just read through them. Any help would be appreciated!
Get your high school grades in check and focus on learning about trading in your free time/during the summer. My guess is you want to get into the best school possible and a 3.3 won't cut it at target schools. Other than that make sure to have fun being 15. If you can balance all that you should be fine.
Thanks for the input, and what GPA would be needed to get into a target school?
^^this guy nailed it.
School is your job right now and you're not getting a promotion with grades like that.
Where does your dad teach? Can't you go there for free?
He currently teaches at Butler Community College, and he taught the MBA classes at Newman University.
3.7 GPA or higher, a good SAT/ACT score, extra curricular/sports involvement guarantees entry into many target schools.
It's difficult to recommend schools for you since you're in Kansas, but based off of that GPA, think about UT-Austin, uMich, UVA, IU, and UNC-Chapel Hill just to name a few.
Thanks that helps alot. I do plan on doing track throughout high school. Lets just say all else fails and I would have to consider a school like the ones you listed, would it be pointless to even try to get into finance/banking? Also what degree would be needed to get into something dealing with trading or something along those lines?
What courses should i take for a career in Finance (Originally Posted: 09/10/2006)
Hi, I am a Computer Science major and i am looking to do a custom made minor in anything which will prepare me best for a career in finance after college. I have looked into Economics but its not exactly finance specific, I can take some courses in finance in the management department of my school (which i think will be related to a career in finance)....also please tell me what part of econ (macro or micro) are Ibankers, portfolio managers usually concerned with....I would guess macro but hey i just want expert opinions.
umm also when we talk about making financial models...does that mean that you use System Dynamics to make a financial model???which in turn means that i should look into 1-2 courses in system dynamics??
financial models are pro-forma forecasts of financial statements - they are built using Excel.
You should look into studying in 3 areas:
corporate finance Financial Accounting Macroeconomics (only need to take an introductory course)
corporate finance, Portfolio Analysis, Derivative Securities, Financial Institutions.
oh thanks a lot guys...that really helped...infact thats almost what i was planning to take and make a minor out of it...and i took macroeconomics this term (skippin micro) so i dont think i need to take that one...
looking for a career change in finance (Originally Posted: 10/16/2006)
The main reason I'm applying to B-school is I want to change careers. I'm currently a Web project manager for an events/communications company. I've been out of school for about 8 years (so I'd be an older MBA student). I'm thinking of a career in finance because that's how I see as getting the best bang for the buck from an MBA.
The problem is I don't have any work experience in banking/finance, and know little about I-banking, S&T, M&A, or a bunch of other industry acronyms I don't know about other than from reading WSJ and Fortune.
Can someone please tell me how to approach finding out if a career in finance is for me? I have a friend who is a research analyst and from what he tells me, it sounds pretty interesting. As I do my applications, I would love to find a firm to volunteer/intern/mop the floors with just so I can learn more. Any suggestions? Thanks.
go get your MBA, summer between the years do a summer associate internship at any bank that'll take you.
I know that getting into a top 25 b-school would help, but what about a lower-tiered outfit? How's Fordham, USC Marshall and Baruch? How much would it hurt more if I could only get into lower ranked schools?
You're gonna get killed at the Fordham variety. Some good friends of mine went there and had a hell of a time getting a job. When they finally did, the jobs were not the sort that you seem to be targeting, and were a far cry from i-banking in the pay and longterm career opportunities they offer.
Do your best to get into a top 10-15 school if possible. I was career switcher too but got into a top school and ended up getting hired on at a major investment bank in a great group.
Most executive MBA programs require that you've been out of undergrad for at least 8 years. However, I've known University of Chicago to bend a bit there. They have a fantastic executive MBA program (considered it myself actually) and great for students that want to transition to careers in finance.
As for ways to figure out NOW whether a career in finance is for you... start attending conferences related to IB, PE, Hedge Funds etc. You'll get the chance to expand your professional network, meet new people, make new friends etc. all who will then be able to share with you what they do day-to-day etc.
Also, I don't know what your situation is like at your present position... are you thinking of leaving it in order to intern in finance somewhere? Is that reasonable? If you're willing to do whatever it takes to "explore" finance, including leaving your present position, then one option available to you may be to do some contract or temp work. Not glamorous, but good if you want to see finance environments etc. Also, I have to be honest, not entirely certain of the types of opportunities you'd be able to get thru temp/contract work, but it's something to consider.
Help! Career in Finance! (Originally Posted: 08/16/2010)
how do i herp a derp derp
HR
Send me her resume. Her initiative to let you take charge of her future and desire for good pay without lots of hours is impressive.
Out of respect for you trying to help her out, I'd say look into some sort of finance rotational program at a Fortune 500 co.
LMFAO!!
And your avatar pic goes so well with that.
Enterprise Rent-A-Car, because they got an excellent corporate structure and they give you the tools to be your own boss.
F500 finance. HR or Ops at a bank.
If she wants to put her finance degree to some use then tell her to try retail banking; from my limited experience I can say they have decent hours, minimal travel and usually great rotational training programs as mentioned by someone before me.
Back office, small shop corp fin, some middle office (since I don't know what low hours means) off the top of my head might work.
Career in Finance, insight needed (Originally Posted: 12/15/2012)
Hi, I'm fairly new to the field of finance, however I could be interested in the investment related areas of finance.
My question relates to location. It seems like if I wanted to go into finance then I should look for work in NY, Chicago, LA or big cities in USA. Why is this? I don't necessarily want to live in these locations. I was thinking of either Florida, Hawaii, or southern california. Would I be having more of a difficult time to make the same kind of pay in these locations, or are opportunities limited?
Just looking for some insight.
The reason you need to live in a big city like NY / Chicago / SF is that that is where all the firms are based. There are no finance firms in Hawaii and probably next to none in Florida / South Cali. Some of the larger companies might have regional offices in Miami / San Diego or there are probably some family wealth management offices around, but the true opportunities are in New York, London and Hong Kong.
There are a lot of tradeoffs involved in working within high finance, not being able to live in Hawaii is one of them. I suggest you reconsider which is more important to you as you will not be able to have both.
Also - I moved this thread to the correct forum 'Get A Job'.
LA not considered SoCal these days?
no, you are right, I wanted to mention southern cal excluding LA...I just don't want to live in heavy heavy population where it takes me a half hour because of traffic to go to the grocery store five minutes away.
thank you asatar that was the kind of response I was looking for. I currently am in South Florida, and there is one particular captal management (what is the difference between the various management firms, I see capital management, asset management, wealth management)
this particular capital managment firm seems to be a real powerhouse in the area. How is this firm able to operate which seems so successfully and not be in those major places like sfo/chicago/new york. Just looking into insight as to why the the majority of finance firms choose these particular cities and the necessity of it and this firm that is able to seem to breakaway from the mold and do so well.
not in a big city but on the fringes of locations that house some weatlthy people like jupiter and palm beach.
thinking about a career in finance (Originally Posted: 01/04/2013)
Hi, currently I'm a biochemistry degree program in a csu school, but I'm thinking about moving into finance instead. How much of a setback am I looking at? I know there's the CFA, but what else should I be looking at doing?
Currently I'm a senior do there's no sense in changing my major this late but I'm really interested in getting some experience in the field and moving up to the levels of Asset Management.
I switched from Aerospace to Finance. Lost a year, but I am not miserable anymore.
At this stage, finish your degree. If you have a good GPA (3.3+) study for the GMAT and look into MSF/MiM programs to rebrand yourself.
If you don't mind me asking, what school are you at? (I'm at a CSU school as well)
SF state. I don't have a high overall GPA, so I'll take a few finance classes to show I that I'm capable of it.
Request for advice on starting new career in finance (Originally Posted: 09/15/2013)
Hi everyone, I am about the pursue a new career in finance and would be grateful for any advice that you could give me.
I graduated with an MA in political science from a top university in Canada (with a high GPA) a few years ago and had no real idea about what I wanted to do. I moved to Europe, which is where I am originally from, and worked for one of the largest real estate development companies in Central Europe. At first I did office work but moved my way up to become an analyst/controller. It's been a steep learning curve but I enjoy the challenge. This June I wrote (and passed on the first try) the level I CFA exam.
I am currently 27 so I realise it's not the ideal age to start working for a top-tier company. I am not sure what I would like most, whether it's equity research, investment banking, private banking... I am not bad with maths but it's not my forte. I prefer doing research, working with ideas, concepts. I have a strong international background (lived in many places in Europe and speak a number of languages). Any thoughts... any at all? :)
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