Management Consultant with no finance experience who passed all 3 levels of the CFA -- What are my options?

I (26F) passed level 3 of the CFA in February 2022 (November 2021 exam). However, since I graduated college in 2018, I've been working at my current company, a boutique consulting firm with a focus on Life Sciences. My work over the past 5 years has been focused on Strategy and Operation. Clients are medical device and pharma companies.

I've always wanted to switch to finance. I don't know which specific sector I want to break into, so I'm seeking advice regarding the following issues:

  • What type of financial career will I have the highest chance of breaking into? I'm obviously hoping for a job with better pay than my current job (currently my total comp is 120k), but I do not mind settling for a job with slightly lower comp provided it has a better pay progression structure.

  • I want to make the switch within the next 6 months, so I want to know what I should do in my spare time now to prepare for recruiting next year (learn financial modeling, learn more about investing, etc.).

My background:

  • I passed 3 levels of the CFA (I have a general interest in investing and took the first level when I was in college, which is why I wanted to finish the other 2 levels even though I was doing consulting after college)

  • Graduated with a decent GPA (3.7+) from a liberal arts college (Math + Econ major)

  • Took 2 financial engineering courses in C++ and Python.

 

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