Settling for advising or holding out for something better-please help
Hello all, I've been a lurker on WSO for quite a while and finally have something to post about. First, I'd like to provide some brief background information:
- I'm a senior (undergrad) completing a finance major and computer science minor at a non-target with a 3.97 GPA
- Although it is definitely not a target school, my university has a pretty strong reputation for accounting/finance and is solidly above state schools in my state
- I completed a summer internship at an Israeli startup that makes trading software and another internship for a political party
- I hold leadership roles in two on-campus investment clubs, one of which manages a fairly substantial sum of the schools' endowment
I have been applying to desirable positions through my school's career platform and through LinkedIn. Areas of interest include IB, PE, VC, and asset management.
I had one PE interview which went fairly well in the sense that I understood and was able to competently answer all their questions, however, I didn't even make it to the second round.
I recently had an interview with Ayco for a wealth management analyst role, however, I didn't feel great about it and frankly I'm not especially interested in WM.
Other than that, I had several interviews with a local financial advisory shop that is owned by a very large life insurance firm. They have given me a full-time offer which I must agree to by Thursday (the role would begin when I graduate). Essentially, this is a retail financial planning role which would involve me selling insurance products and some other investment products. The compensation is commission based and therefore somewhat unstable, especially in the beginning. They did clarify in writing that they will not charge me for a cubicle, company computer, etc. like a lot of these firms do, which I appreciate.
This is basically a sales job which is completely outside of my primary areas of interest. Nevertheless, given how barren the responses have been from other firms, I am considering accepting the role just to have a guaranteed position after graduation. My questions are as follows:
- Should I accept it for the safety and try to lateral into something more desirable after proving myself here? Is that even the least bit realistic?
- Assuming I did well at this firm, how would other parts of the finance industry (like IB) perceive that experience?
Any insights you all can provide would be greatly appreciated. Also feel free to DM me.
Before giving any advice I need to ask you this: have you been networking at all? It sounds like you just drop your resume and expect to get interviews that way.
I think you'll hate that job unless you like sales, and it will likely not lead to you transitioning into anything else in finance other than PWM. That is, unless you get a master's degree and rebrand yourself. It's completely unrelated to IB, PE, etc. You won't get any technical skills at all that would transition well to anything since it's a sales job.
Thank you for the response! Your perspective seems fairly accurate and given that I strongly desire some degree of complex analytical work, I think this advisory role is unlikely to satisfy me.
To answer your question, I have networked via school events, extracurriculars, etc. Ultimately, I don't think I've done an adequate job of it, however, I struggle to find opportunities to make meaningful impressions that can be leveraged into interviews. For example, after attending events I always reach out to the speakers via LinkedIn and leave a note offering to provide my resume and help with anything they may need. Additionally, I'm very outgoing and attentive when I attend events, during classes, in clubs, etc. I always give my input, ask questions, and engage in conversation. It just seems like I'm missing the mechanism to translate all of this into interviews/relationships. I don't want that to sound like a coput; I completely recognize that this is my own responsibility to sort out.
Any time. One thing to note about networking is that you're never going to be a "value add" to these people, so you need to approach it differently. You even said "after attending events I always reach out to the speakers via LinkedIn and leave a note offering to provide my resume and help with anything they may need."
What you really need to do is reach out and tell them you're extremely interested in what they talked about, and ask them if they have a quick 15 minutes so you can learn more. You need to build a relationship with these people, but the ball is always in their court and you have nothing to add. Essentially, you need to approach this like you're asking for advice and asking to learn more, because these are the people who are already established and "hold the keys" so-to-speak.
Don't over-intellectualize it. You need to reach out to people, tell them you're interested in their background, and ask if they have any time where you can learn more. Then, you can ask them about their background on a quick call. Make it personable. If you do this, and you come off as well put-together, then you can ask if they know anyone else at their firm who can give you even more insight. Tell them that the conversation was fascinating and that you want to hear additional perspectives on the role/firm.
If you've come off as personable, friendly, humble, and hungry, then they'll pass you along gladly. Then, keep up to date with them every now and then (send emails every few months and give them updates/ask how they're doing in a friendly but professional way). When the time comes for you to submit your job application, reach out to them and thank them for the time they took to tell you about their role. Tell them that you're extremely interested and you just applied, and that you look forward to hopefully interviewing at their firm. Attach your resume, and DON'T ask them to push it for you. If they like you, they'll do it automatically.
I got interviews with 15+ firms this way - by approaching people in a non-threatening, friendly, and humble way. Landed around 10 superdays by crushing the first rounds. After accepting my role, I've had 5+ additional firms reach out saying they want to interview me, which I've had to politely decline since I've already accepted something.
It's not rocket science. You just need to approach these people with more humility, asking for their help. Most people are glad to help, others will be rude. Ignore them + move on. Reach out to EVERYONE that you think you can have a real connection with (played similar sports, grew up/went to college in the same state/town, participated in similar clubs, etc.)
Up to you on whether you should accept the sales role or not. It's hard because we're in a recession and ANY job is better than no job. I'd personally recommend you keep networking, and whether you want to accept + possibly renege later is up to you, but you should definitely start building up your network like I've explained no matter what you choose to do.
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