Need a Job - Will take Anything 
(King Kong, 1,726
Points)
on 5/30/11 at 9:04pm
I need a job badly and at this point I'm willing to do just about anything. I've been out of work for a year and I don't know what to do - every single one of my strategies has flopped. So long as it's legal I'm willing to consider just about anything. Otherwise I'm going to try and get a job at McDonalds - I figure it's better than sending out more resumes to black hole career sites. If anyone has any leads let me know.
Do you have any internship
Do you have any internship experience? I know from your previous posts you are interested in trading, etc, but what internship experience do you have? Just curious if I can help or not.
PM me with a quick overview
PM me with a quick overview of your background or post here (two sentences, one education, one work).
Also where are you willing to work, location wise? Depending on your background I think I can at least get someone above and beyond HR to put eyeballs on your resume, the rest will be up to you.
Still not sure if I want to spend the next 30+ years grinding away in corporate finance and the WSO dream chase or look to have enough passive income to live simply and work minimally.
I live in NYC, so I'm looking
I live in NYC, so I'm looking for jobs in that area. I don't have any internships, but I did work at the Federal Reserve in DC for two years. Here's my resume:
http://www.razume.com/documents/20187
Education: University of
Education: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 3.5 GPA triple major in math, stat and econ. 180 hours of coursework (120 is a normal course load). National Foundation Fellowship in game theory as well as a consulting position in the department of statistics.
Federal Reserve: I worked for two years as a research analyst at the Federal Reserve in the Emerging Markets Section of the International Finance division. I put together presentations that my economists wrote that went to the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee). Think writing pitch books for Ben Bernanke and the Board of Governors. I also forecast GDP for Emerging Market economies (specifically the Philippines and Indonesia) as well as maintained and wrote some of the excel structure that kept my sections forecast programs running. Did ad-hoc research during down times with other section economists.
I only read the first section
I only read the first section of the bullet points from your most recent job. You should at least try to keep everything the same tense. There are small errors where you use a past tense verb and a present tense verb in the same bullet, that should be a rather simple fix.
I screen a lot of resumes at work, and something like that really turns interviewers off because it represents lack of attention to detail which is a must for any wall street job, be it GS SSG or State Street back office.
As far as what you can do outside the usual "go network'' or "contact alumni" advice, I can't really help, as I have only worked for one firm since college. Perhaps some of the other apes on this board can provide better advice.
what the fuck. how do you not
what the fuck. how do you not have a job with a 3.5 and a triple major?
"Look, you're my best friend, so don't take this the wrong way. In twenty years, if you're still livin' here, comin' over to my house to watch the Patriots games, still workin' construction, I'll fuckin' kill you. That's not a threat, that's a fact.
I'll see if we have openings
I'll see if we have openings that fit your background in NYC. Feel free to PM me later this week if you don't hear back. I have a mediocre job and am still pursuing IB, but it's finance and it's better than Mickey D's - perhaps it will give you more options.
Still not sure if I want to spend the next 30+ years grinding away in corporate finance and the WSO dream chase or look to have enough passive income to live simply and work minimally.
DAMN sama you're still
DAMN sama you're still looking for a job.
The answer to your question is 1) network 2) get involved 3) beef up your resume 4) repeat -happypantsmcgee
WSO is not your personal search function.
Dude, you do know there are
Dude, you do know there are temp agencies that will put you in JPM mid office, paying like 22.00 an hour.
MSF Website
MACC Website
MSF Twitter
ANT wrote: Dude, you do know
Dude, you do know there are temp agencies that will put you in JPM mid office, paying like 22.00 an hour.
This, I was offered this position with much lower qualifications than you a week before my FT offer elsewhere. I can probably dig up some of the temp agencies that were very good to me when I was in the NY area.
Still not sure if I want to spend the next 30+ years grinding away in corporate finance and the WSO dream chase or look to have enough passive income to live simply and work minimally.
Sure, any help would be
Sure, any help would be appreciated. I know I should have a job, but I'm just terrible at job searching. It's not like I haven't been trying - my last attempt was to essentially email everyone at a hedge fund that I can find. I've got a stack of printouts of every hedge fund analyst and manager sitting on my coffee table.
I've used recruiters before, but never with much success. If anyone knows a recruiter personally or has contact information I'd be much obliged.
wow, Im blown away that
wow, Im blown away that you're not employed.... if I hear of anything I'll let you know.
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Mezz wrote: wow, Im blown
wow, Im blown away that you're not employed.... if I hear of anything I'll let you know.
Thanks. I know everyone probably thinks I'm omitting something or maybe have some serious hidden flaw, but I just think I suck at job hunting. It's sort of like prom all over again, except with people who wear loafers and cufflinks.
Hey monkey, You have a solid
Hey monkey,
You have a solid background and are a smart guy, so I suspect there's lots of stuff you can land. Now, it might not be in finance, but who cares. Get a job that pays okay money, live cheap, and keep trading on the side. It might take years for you to become a successful trader, but maybe that's what you got to do. Get a job at an economic consulting firm, or even a job doing stats/econometrics. A lot of those jobs pay $50K+ in your first year and only require 40 hours a week. You can have plenty of extra time and money to keep trading.
"Many of life's failures are people who didn't realise how close to success they were when they gave up"
~~ Thomas Edison ~~
Wow. sucks man. Sorry.
Wow. sucks man. Sorry. Economy must be pretty bad. That said, you have a solid background. Only thing to say is persevere and keep looking. Same thing happened to a friend of mine, graduated from Oxford with PPE but could not find a job. Worked at a bookstore for two years before he got a break. Works at the IMF now. Keep at it.
Agree with ANT completely. Temp work is your best bet. Something relevant to your skills will surely be found.
DO NOT GO TO MCDONALDS!!!
Agree on the resume as well. Definitely change the tense of your wording (i,e. first two points, note produced and led as you have on the final three bullet points) and probably switch the education and work experience around. Usual method is education first.
Good job on the Fed gig. Kinda what I'm hoping to get into following my masters.
Good luck.
I have been trading on the
I have been trading on the side. Funny story, I've been putting together trading ideas and emailed a "big name" with "I think you should do x because of y" and got a response. Made me feel real good.
My best trade so far is that I got the silver correction right, so that's good too. I'm short Japan, Brazil, and the Yen carry trade at the moment as well as AAPL and CRM. We'll see how things go.
As far as McDonalds, why not? I certainly can't put it on my resume, but some money is better than none. I will be officially one year out of work by June 15 and I'll start going from Starbucks to McDonalds to Subway etc. looking for help wanted signs. At this point, it seems to be my best option.
Monkeysama, I really don't
Monkeysama,
I really don't think that is a good idea. For some reason companies love people that have jobs. To add to that headhunters love people who have jobs and don't want to leave their current jobs. In a way it makes sense, because if you are doing a good job at your current firm you will want to stay there and you are probably an employee that will succeed at other firms.
In the past year I have received 10-12 calls from headhunters, some with great offers. I would look for a job in finance/consulting/anything applicable and use that to work your way up. My friend worked at a F500 operations role and ended up working at HF 3 years later.
theATL wrote: Monkeysama, I
Monkeysama,
I really don't think that is a good idea. For some reason companies love people that have jobs. To add to that headhunters love people who have jobs and don't want to leave their current jobs. In a way it makes sense, because if you are doing a good job at your current firm you will want to stay there and you are probably an employee that will succeed at other firms.
In the past year I have received 10-12 calls from headhunters, some with great offers. I would look for a job in finance/consulting/anything applicable and use that to work your way up. My friend worked at a F500 operations role and ended up working at HF 3 years later.
I know, and I completely agree. I just haven't been able to find anything applicable after searching for jobs for a year. I can't stand not doing anything anymore - I need to work, not because I particularly need the money as I have a little financial stability, but because it's driving me crazy not to. If you know of anyone or anywhere to get a remotely white collar job in anything I'll take it. But I can't sit on my hands anymore I have to be doing something other than fruitlessly sending out emails all day. I'm sick of it.
Damn man, this is nauseating.
Damn man, this is nauseating. Good luck, if I hear of anything, you will be the first to know.
If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses - Henry Ford
what happened to your fed
what happened to your fed job? how did you manage to go an entire year without any work? :S
edit: take "Looking for a job in NYC. Willing to do anything." off of your linkedin dude, does not look good.
^I'm wondering the same...why
^I'm wondering the same...why aren't you still with the fed? I don't know if you are serious with fast food joints or not. but shouldn't you be able to hop back on the the fed or irs pretty easily?
good luck tho
Man monkeysama, I can't
Man monkeysama, I can't believe that your'e still out of work. Best of luck -- you definitely deserve a break.
LLcoolJ wrote: what happened
what happened to your fed job? how did you manage to go an entire year without any work? :S
edit: take "Looking for a job in NYC. Willing to do anything." off of your linkedin dude, does not look good.
My Fed job was a two year term job. Undergrads are cheap and they rotate them out so people don't stay there forever (government jobs can create situations where people will retire at their desks - there were some obvious abuses they were determined not to see repeated). As far as going a year without work, it's been a comedy (or tragedy) of errors. I don't know if I want to go through all of it, but I've had hedge funds want me to tell them what monetary policy was going to be before hand (real classy), boutique IB firms that were writing memos on how Bernanke is crazy and ruining the economy (and use me as some sort of analyst/evidence of the fact), transfer pricing firms that were very shady (I don't want to help companies avoid taxes - it's dirty). I could tell you stories.
Anyway, at this point being out of work for a year has essentially made me unhirable, I'm afraid. This is sort of my last appeal before I go and get any retail job I can find. I don't know what to do other than go into Manhattan and asking door to door if anyone is hiring. It's all I've got left.
editted linkedin like you suggested. Thought someone would take me up on it, guess not.
Also the Fed is sort of, at
Also the Fed is sort of, at least in my section, a job/internship at the undergrad level. If you were there you were there as a two year term contract - undergrads are a dime a dozen when you want to fill a position at a place like that. PhDs were what they were interested in and the screening process was obviously intense.
Stop looking at it that way.
Stop looking at it that way. Spin the hell out of it and use the name to your advantage. Sure IB analysts learn a good amount by doing repetitive work over 2 years, but a lot of people recruit them because of the rigorous nature of the I-banks' recruiting.
Being able to point to everything in your resume and say, "this was the most amazing experience because of x, y, and z" will by far be the most helpful. And don't kid yourself, even though you don't have a job you're definitely still a rockstar. Best of luck man
"So who lost the hundy?" -Tom Montag
"WSO is like the 300 for anti spamage. None shall pass." -happypantsmcgee
Have you considered taking an
Have you considered taking an unpaid internship at a boutique IB/consulting firm (given that you have financial stability)? I just graduated, don't have a job either, and am about to do that (actually in NYC as well). Your story scares the crap out of me honestly. I know the economy is bad, didn't know it was THAT bad.
You definitely have an
You definitely have an impressive resume -- are you willing to relocate? Please PM me, might be able to help.
Are you at least getting
Are you at least getting interviews?
The answer to your question is 1) network 2) get involved 3) beef up your resume 4) repeat -happypantsmcgee
WSO is not your personal search function.
USe LInkedIn! Make a post in
USe LInkedIn! Make a post in one of your groups you a member of and say who you are, what you're interested in and how they can contact you.
Make sure to keep it short and post in several groups to enhance your changes. Good Luck!
hang in there buddy. i job
hang in there buddy. i job hunted for 2yrs before i found my gig. The recession really jacked a lot of good people.
All things are possible with Him i have to deal
If you want to avoid the
If you want to avoid the whole job search, you can quickly and easily get a job at http://www.goworkit.com
Hey dude use a job search
Hey dude use a job search engine site like indeed.com, and just search for "analyst". You can find many jobs betterbthan mcd for sure.
Good luck!
st84at - I've been unemployed
st84at - I've been unemployed a year. If there's a way to apply for a job online I've done it.
Walkerr - I've linked to and sent private messages to tons of people in the financial community on linkedin. No dice. Although I now have a 1000 friends or so which is crazy.
blackfinancier - I've had about 12-15 interviews I think. I've lost count. That includes phone interviews but not necessarily phone discussions. My last set of interviews were 4 2 hour interviews after which they said they didn't want me. My favorite was that the interviewer wanted to know who my 'hero' was as if this were some sort of qualification for a job.
If those JPM BO temp things
If those JPM BO temp things don't pan out, it probably wouldn't be too hard for you to get some kind of SAT or GMAT tutoring gig, which would probably pay way better than McD's and be maybe something you could put on your resume.
Maybe you've mentioned this
Maybe you've mentioned this in a prior post, but have you looked at getting an MSF or master's in economics? It seems like you're very well-qualified, but for lots of government jobs, I'm under the impression they want someone with at least a master's degree.
sofib09 - I'm not willing to
sofib09 - I'm not willing to spend the money on a masters degree until I have a little bit more experience and I see how the education bubble plays out. What's the point in going back to school and going into debt if I come out without a job again? I've seen it happen to lawyers and it could very well happen to MSF, MBA, etc.
Bumping this up until
Bumping this up until monkeysama gets a job.
Monkey, If you have to work
Monkey,
If you have to work at McDonald's, then I guess you have to work at McDonald's. However, I feel like there's plenty of other jobs that pay better and you could land. Temp agencies, data entry, bartending, waiting tables, etc. A step above this is stuff that taps into your technical skills, such as stats/econometrics, programming, market research, actuary, etc. Somewhere in the middle is stuff like working at a non-profit, tutoring, etc.
Lastly, I'm not trying to be a dick, but you should ask yourself how strong your social skills are? I've never met you, so I have no idea. The only thing I know, is that some bright people get held back big time because people don't like them. If it's not your social skills, then how strong are your interview skills? Have you read interview guides and seriously prepped for individual interviews? Anyway, I'm not saying you should answer these questions in this thread, it's just stuff for you to think about. We know it's not your hard/technical skills, which basically leaves two things: 1) bad luck; and 2) bad soft skills.
"Many of life's failures are people who didn't realise how close to success they were when they gave up"
~~ Thomas Edison ~~
unknown4ever - I like your
unknown4ever - I like your style.
econ - It could be my social skills but I don't know how to improve them. Other than trying to eat right, trying my best to be a nice and courteous interviewee. There's really very little for me to do to improve myself there, I can't take a course or get a certificate etc. but I try my best and that's about all I can hope for. As far as other jobs, I just don't know where to start. Bartending might work, but I have absolutely no idea on how to do that. I'll have to think a bit about it.
Have you thought about trying
Have you thought about trying to do a Mock Interview with WSO's service? They're doing that whole 50% off (so it's like $99 or something) and you get access to the Mock Interviews library for a year. Might be worth it to get some feedback from some experts
"So who lost the hundy?" -Tom Montag
"WSO is like the 300 for anti spamage. None shall pass." -happypantsmcgee
monkey, Monkey, i feel you. i
monkey,
Monkey, i feel you. i am in somewhat similar situation. i have my BA in Eco n Bus management, series 7, 55, 63. Been an equity trader the last 9 years. Did very well from 02 to 08, formed my own LLC, mkt crashed in o8, lost everything. Took a year off playing poker. did ok, but hate the life style...back to trading again...have not made anything the last 2 years.. tried online poker, it was showing some good results...then...black friday happened ( us poker players no longer be able to play online...) in fact i still got some money stucked on fulltilt and UB . now, actively looking for job, any jobs..but so far no luck..jobs that called me back were all sales jobs, which i hate..i need a job that pay salary or anything that i can pay my bills...my fiance is about to call off our engagement, if i dont find anything soon. I ahve some good friend that let me manage their tiny little Etrade accounts n if i make moeny i will get a cut from that n i am trying to take the CFA level ( not sure its a good idea, but since i have so much time...). Funny i also m shorting CRM....( this stock is so manipulated) anway, i wish you the best, pls knowing that, we have to keep our head up, and keep trying, be positive. It will come. Good luck to you
Wow dude I was just wondering
Wow dude I was just wondering how you were a few days ago. I know it's easy for us to say but don't give up man, I'll let you know if I have anything here on my end. Good luck.
People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis, you can't trust people Jeremy
best of luck sama--ive seen
best of luck sama--ive seen you looking for a job for far too long at this point. wish i was in any type of position to help out.
keep your head up man.
McDonalds? You have to be
McDonalds? You have to be kidding, with a math/stats/econ triple major from a solid school?
At least just apply to office jobs, clerk somewhere for one of the myriad law, finance, etc firms out there.
jorge/leverage - thanks guys.
jorge/leverage - thanks guys.
Gutshot - ok, sounds like a plan. Know anyone that's hiring? I'll do whatever you've got.
You showed desperation on
You showed desperation on your linkedin, which is something most HR people will look at during initial screening, then you said you have the names of every analyst, manager at certain hedge funds. Imagine you're working at a hedge fund and you get a random email with a resume and find out every person in the office got the same. Would YOU want to hire him?
Oh and your resume boasts
Oh and your resume boasts 1410 on SATs, your GRE, LSAT scores and registered for CFA. Shows you to be an uncommitted directionless person. Firstly, who lists their SAT scores on a resume? Even if you had a perfect 1600. Then you took the exams for grad school and law school without actually going and now plan to take the CFA exam a year in the future.
Aside from inconsistencies in tense, which may be overlooked if you're some quant geek, you need to rethink your resume.
shera - ok...So I'm supposed
shera - ok...So I'm supposed to be aloof on my linkedin? Then you would say no one would hire me because I'm being to picky. I didn't email everyone at every hedge fund right away - I emailed one analyst and one PM every three weeks from each firm. I had a system and was trying to build relationships. I'm glad that you think sans any real input that I'm an "uncommitted and directionless" person. I put my scores on my resume as they are part of my accomplishments and show that I am at least moderately intelligent; enough to pass the exams anyway. Aside from your rambling insults, which may be overlooked as you're a huge douche, you need to rethink your criticisms.
Sama, time to narrow down to
Sama, time to narrow down to the very few u wish to work for and personally call the manager themselves.
And of cos, standard rules apply and pitch your ideas.
All the best!
Wow, this sucks. I was
Wow, this sucks. I was unemployed for about 2 months when my shitty little "I Bank" basically went under. I panicked. I ended up getting a role as an analyst at a F500, which was not what I wanted to do but has turned into a decent career.
Things to think about.
1 - Why are you set on NY? Are you living with your parents or are you there bc of the finance opportunities? I'm not a NY basher, but if you've struck out at the IB's, HFs, etc... maybe it's not the place for you. Plus the UIUC name probably carries more weight in the midwest.
2 - Are you willing to take a ft role at a corporation? If so, it shouldn't be that hard for you, but NY may not be your place. I'll warn you now - many of the roles will be more accounting based (boring) but you can set a great career path for yourself.
If you'd consider Chicago I may be able to help you a little more. I have a few connections in the types of roles you're really looking for, but many more in corporate. I also know a pretty good corporate recruiter out here.