Wealth Management Trainee

I applied for this position through my schools career website. I went to a small private school so I was very excited to see this type of job posting. The application process was very simple possibly due to the fact that it was done through my school. I only needed to submit my resume. There was not even an option to submit a cover letter. Within 2-3 days I got a phone call from one of the associates at the firm. He said that he had reviewed my resume and that he was impressed and wanted me to interview. On the phone he continued to describe the firm and what exactly I would be doing as a Wealth Management Trainee. He went through the typical "tell me about yourself" and "why do you want to work here" type of questions. He then invited me to interview in their NYC office.

It was a nice office in a nice building near midtown very close to Madison square park. When I got there I first spoke with another associate at the firm. He interviewed me for around 15 minutes. Again very basic stuff, mostly asking questions about my resume. I then was moved into another office and interviewed with one of the 2 senior partners. Asked me basically the same questions that I was asked on the phone and with the associate beforehand. No technicals or similar questions were ever asked. I was told that I would be contacted in a few days with their thoughts. When I was contacted I declined the offer.

My advice to anyone seeking out this position is to know what you are getting yourself into. The office consisted of 3 large long tables with about 15-20 people sitting at each of them. Most people had a computer and phone in front of them. The position required 10+ hours a day of cold calling. If you were lucky enough to get an interested person on the phone you were told to transfer them to upper management so that they could close. Essentially you were a screener given a list of potential clients to call. I was told by the senior partner that the turnover rate at the office was incredibly high. I forgot the exact number but it was something close to 90-93% of people left within the first 3 months. Incredibly low salary for the first two years of $1200 a month. Pretty tough to live on in/around Manhattan. Possibly a good opportunity for a student still in college that doesn't have to worry yet about paying bills and such.