Experienced Seekers - Where to look?

Network Headhunters efinancialcareers

in that order is where you find the buyside jobs. Take alumni of your school / your first job out for drinks during the week and voila you get interviews. Never thought it was that easy but it works. Headhunters is also a great route, just make sure you interview well with them and get them to like you.

SumZero HFObserver OneWire

Headhunters can be a great route, but probably a dead end for experience hires on the outside of Buyside looking to get in. They're a great resource for young IB analysts or those with a top-notch resume, but have little incentive to try and help you get in.

They get hired to show HFs top candidates and have a long list of go-to candidates(top ugrad, top 1st job, MBA, HF experience) who get shown all their openings.

I'd be interested in advice on this topic as well. I've got a couple years experience as a credit analyst and am having a hard time getting myself into the top job openings. Found a great one at a great firm, but over 600 people applied. Even having a senior person handing in your resume can only help so much when 600 people are competing for the position.

There can't be any fewer than 500 people applying to each position that I'm interested in. On the bright side... from my own experience in looking at going through resumes

This is something I am also interested in, I spent two years in retail banking but now I'm a FA at a BB and I can't stand cold calling (should have done better research). The main problem I encounter is I don't have a finance background (international relations BA and MA) so basically the main skills I have are sales (did I mention how much I hate sales?).

I've been using a bunch of resources to varying degrees of success. LinkedIn has a decent jobs site, and if you follow companies/industries you're interested in, you'll get relevant suggested content on your homepage. I got an interview this way. I also check Simply Hired and Monster, but so does everybody else.

I've also been in contact with headhunters, but I'm getting the feeling that it's in their interest to get you to accept a lower position so that when they market you to their client, you'll greatly exceed the job requirements, and the HH gets the comission. They win, you lose. (I have an MBA, 10 years of engineering experience, 3 years of finance, and last week a HH told me that I shouldn't expect any more than 65K. This is fairly typical of my dealings with them). If you have extremely specialized skills, then they can be useful, but that goes without saying--if you are a specialist, you're in demand somewhere...)

What that leaves you with is networking. I think there's an advantage once you're already working. You can attend industry specific events (WSO Happy Hours, university lectures, and other industry-specific events) as more of an equal rather than a college student looking to break in. I've found that this changes the dynamic of the conversation in a positive way. I got my current job as a direct result of speaking to a panelist of a conference I attended, and the same thing happened to a friend as a different conference we attended.