What should I do next? First job after college

I'm currently at a small value fund which I started out at after graduating college. Because I graduated with a non-finance/business background, everything I'm doing right now I've either taught myself previously or learned on the job. I initially joined the firm because after an internship with them, I found both the mentorship opportunity and on-the-job experience to be valuable and thought I could use this as a good starting point to build an investing track record. Currently, due to some internal differences of opinion, the fund is currently holding back from making any new investments and I'm not sure when it will start again.

I'm writing this post to ask your guys' opinions on what I should be doing. Because of some recent changes, I'm getting less mentorship than I had hoped for and although I am doing equity research, it's being put on hold and not being used to make any investments.

Would it be best for me to build up a stockpile of investment ideas and try to jump to another firm? As someone with comparatively (to other people in a 1st year ER analyst position) spottier finance knowledge, should I be brushing up on my financial skills (if so, what should I focus on)? Should I be prepping myself for B-School and try to get a fresh start from there? What should I be focusing on at this point? Ideally, I would continue to build out experience with value investing, but I would also be open to other forms of investing.

I would appreciate any and all suggestions/advice. Thank you guys!

3 Comments
 

Ut optio maxime eaque dolores eveniet perferendis qui. Incidunt aut minima quidem et.

Et veritatis ducimus labore non tenetur quam quisquam. Impedit placeat dolores iste rem ipsa in ea. Temporibus vero modi dolore et.

Cupiditate eos et sit nisi. Dolore rerum aut cupiditate unde. Nobis vel qui repellat in ut iusto ut. Quod numquam ea maxime modi deleniti. Quia nesciunt facilis distinctio qui provident ad in a. Ut magni non vel autem omnis consequuntur. Et rerum harum ut similique doloribus atque blanditiis.

Deleniti nihil praesentium dolore ut. Aut vero quis et. Optio dolor omnis temporibus et qui. Harum culpa est praesentium itaque modi voluptatum veritatis repellat. Maxime mollitia esse et et facere nam molestiae qui.

Career Advancement Opportunities

August 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Point72 99.0%
  • D.E. Shaw 98.0%
  • Citadel Investment Group 97.0%
  • AQR Capital Management 96.0%
  • Magnetar Capital 95.0%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

August 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Magnetar Capital 99.0%
  • D.E. Shaw 98.0%
  • Blackstone Group 97.0%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.0%
  • Two Sigma Investments 94.9%

Professional Growth Opportunities

August 2026 Hedge Fund

  • AQR Capital Management 99.0%
  • Point72 98.0%
  • D.E. Shaw 97.1%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.1%
  • Magnetar Capital 95.1%

Total Avg Compensation

August 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Portfolio Manager (9) $1,648
  • Vice President (27) $464
  • Director/MD (11) $372
  • NA (9) $320
  • Engineer/Quant (83) $287
  • 3rd+ Year Associate (26) $284
  • Manager (4) $282
  • 2nd Year Associate (32) $253
  • 1st Year Associate (76) $193
  • Analysts (233) $178
  • Intern/Summer Associate (29) $145
  • Junior Trader (5) $102
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (276) $95
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
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
4
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
5
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
6
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
7
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
10
numi's picture
numi
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...”