29 year old in Operations trying to break into Finance. Help

Hi, I'm 29 years old working at a tier 1 in New York in Operations. I'm seeking advice on how I should try to transition into working into the Finance department or financial department in another firm. I have a BS in Finance from a non-target, and only held odd jobs for ~5 years out of college. It wasn't until the past couple of years that I started to take my career seriously. I've had a few temp jobs at Financial/Accounting firms including one of the Big 4's but they were all entry-level. I'm currently 7 months into a temp position at the mentioned BB in the Operations department. They currently are not hiring FT in the NY office, but have offered me an FT role on the same team in their Baltimore office. I'm very reluctant to move there but I'm finding that I may have to take it to get a FT role on my resume as I've been told it does not look good to employers to have a resume almost entirely made of temp positions. My heart is set on finance and ideally in SoCal. Since I do not have experience working in Finance, I'd be competing with recent grads who will be more marketable than myself. I intend to take the CFA level 1 this December to gain some leverage. I've also been advised that I should be crunching hard for the next 2 months with recruiting agencies since this is hiring season, and if I don't get hired now, then it will be another year wasted. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.

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Best Response

hi guys, thanks for replying. i have my eyes set on front office roles. equity research is my first pick which is why i'm trying for the CFA. i'm also interested looking into wealth management, as well. in terms of networking, i've made small talk with 1 ED and 2 VPs on my floor, but they are all operations like me. would it be a good idea bring up to them if they have a connect into the finance dept? right now, the first priority for me is gaining a FT role in corp finance, even if it's back office

 

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