Here's my resume. Have been jobless for 7 months. What am I doing wrong?
Hi WSO! I have just graduated but have been applying for jobs throughout the year (internships and all). My main interests lie in corporate finance/modelling and ideally I'd like to tailor my resume to that (to be honest I’ll be happy with anything that will allow me leverage my experience I’d just prefer technical work). Although I know the market is not in my favour I'd still like to maximise the potential of being seen. Looking to do my CFA in the near term.
Incase you were all wondering my interviews I've had are:
Investment Banking Intern
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There was no interview since I was abroad and the hiring manager seemed not to want to follow up.
Research Analyst
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I was severely under-qualified and was competing with people with 3+ years work experience and a masters degree.
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I don't know how I got past the screening.
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This was for the same company as above.
Investment Banking Graduate
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The CEO tried to tell me that the market risk premium is the difference between a particular asset and the rf rate.
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Honestly, I didn't feel like this interview was real lol.
Big 4 Valuations
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They were looking for people with out-of-school experience of > 1 year (maybe 9 months)
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Also did not know how I got through screening.
Investment Analyst - Private Credit
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Could have provided better responses as to why I wanted to work in the firm. Contacted the hiring manager for advice and I agree with her point. Very unfortunate :(
Stockbroker @ Investment Research Firm
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Going face to face next week.
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Would this even be a career I'm interested in? Could I potentially pivot with a CFA?
Is there something wrong with my resume? Do I need to be more open in which industries I work in? Any advice is welcome. Just feel lost with no direction.
your first job out of school doesn't have to be the last job you ever have, it just has to give you some full time experience. If you can get some learning, connections and experience out of it great. Like the first girl/boy you kiss, you don't have to marry them, but until you kiss someone, you don't know what kissing is like.
You don't have to be an investment banking analyst at GS in NYC your first year out of school. There are millions of jobs in finance, you just need to start working.
The most immediate tips I'd have for you,
1. run some of your resume bullets through chatgpt, let it revise some of those bullets for you
2. market risk premium is the difference in the expected return between a particular asset and the risk free rate, (that bullet sounded argumentative in your post, generally you want to not argue with people that you're trying to get to hire you).
3. start applying to more roles broadly, the job markets not in an amazing spot (at least in the US, not sure about AUS), start looking at Corp Dev, FPA, IR, Sales, etc.
4. start networking more, there's always more people to talk to, even if they say no or don't respond, you can get some amount of satisfaction over sending 10 cold emails.
My first job out of school took me ~45 total interviews across ~18 different companies. (and it wasn't in ER) It takes time and perseverance.
You got this, just don't give up.
Hey! Thanks for your response :) I've sort of come to terms with the fact that it's likely I'll have to take what I'll get. I believe if you work hard and have a particular direction you'll be able to break into a lot of industries but starting in one you're passionate about would be much easier that's all. It might not be completely realistic to think that way so it's more of a personal problem than anything. To respond to some of your points:
1. That's a pretty interesting idea. I just have concerns with ATS and AI similarity reports (I don't even know if that's a thing or whether people care lol).
2. Me and my mates were having a discussion about this but wouldn't the market risk premium be the difference between the expected return of the market and the risk-free rate rather than a particular asset hence the "market" risk premium? Not to be pedantic just genuinely curious. I found the whole interview pretty funny in hindsight and I was not at all argumentative face-to-face at least.
3. I've recently started broadening my search so we will see where that takes me :)
4. This is something I admittedly need to work on or find a way to do without seeming needy.
Thanks again for responding, Back to the drawing board for me!
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