Advice - Undergrad one year

I have been out of undergrad one year. I graduated from a decent school (non-target but with target business school) in Economics and Applied Statistics. My GPA was a 3.1 rounded. I have completed 4 courses in a MSF program at an unheard of business college. My graduate GPA is a 3.85. I took the classes mostly to get myself over the HR hurdles for commercial banks (finance and accounting coursework). I have taken Financial Statement Analysis, Financial Accounting, Financial Management and a Quantitative Management course.

I have been working ~ 1 year in an investment brokerage. I started off imaging documents, but moved up to some compliance work, and now am working with a broker. I do mostly cold-calling, still a little document imaging, and help him populate some spread sheets as he goes after corporate 401k plans. There is very little analytical rigor. I have talked to the CEO of the brokerage (which also owns an investment bank), and have asked him for help transitioning. He said he would make a phone call for me, I plan on following up in few days. I am going to talk to a family connection in Equity Research, and see what he thinks about what I should do, but I wanted to get some of your advice about potential directions I could go. Where should I be looking?

Obviously, from reading past posts, I know that networking is going to be my best bet. I get that, and will be working to build my network starting with this man. I just want to have realistic expectations when I talk to him. If you could give me one piece of advice, what would it be (do not tell me to kill myself). If you need more information, ask and I will provide it if I think I can. Thanks in advance for your help.

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Meet with successful people and ask them to tell you their story. Listen closely and ask intelligent questions. At some point they will start asking you about your background and goals. Be honest with them about both.

Eventually you will find people whose stories resonate with you, and you will find that your story will resonate with some of them. People move mountains for those who remind them of themselves. Just make sure you do not let these people down.

 
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