Graduate Student with 0 years of experience
So I am a student pursuing a graduate degree (Masters in Finance) at a non-ivy, semi-target school. I'm 23 years old, went straight into my masters degree after finishing undergrad since I was awarded a full scholarship and stipend so financially it made sense. I also had a 5th year remaining of athletic eligibility which I wanted to pursue. Never had an opportunity to have an internship up to this point as I didn't have the time as a student athlete and I was always taking at least 4 classes over the summer to gradute on time (transfered twice, coaching issues). Not making an excuse just giving some context.
I'll be graduating in May and I'm having a very hard time with job prospects. I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place since academically, I have an advanced degree which disqualifies me for many job programs that want undergrads, while I'm under qualified for other jobs because of my lack of experience. I want to go the sales and trading route, but I'm finding it difficult to get my foot in the door anywhere. I've been extremely flexible in terms of location and it isn't helping. At this point I'm just looking for some help in terms of what I should do. Any input would be appreciated.
For further info, I was a Finance & Econ double major in undergrad with a statistics minor (3.8 Cumulative GPA) GRE (323 - 165 math, 158 verbal, 5.0 writing), All-conference and All-East Division 1 athlete, tutor in undergrad, and a research assistant for professors in grad school. I can't get around what it is that is hurting my applications with firms. It's not in interviewing issue either since I'm not even getting that far along the hiring process.
How much networking are you doing before you blindly submit a form application to a job opening?
Graduate degree with zero years work experience, without context, is a big red flag. But your athletic background explains away those concerns, imo. If you're just shooting off applications, you're going to get filtered out because your profile doesn't fit the typical mold. But if you can get an informational interview with someone, outside the normal process, you'll get an opportunity to tell your story and gain an ally who can walk your application past the filters.
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