High paying finance jobs for introverts?
Title says is all. I’m a slightly introverted/quiet person when I first meet people, but my sense of humor and personality really opens up once I get to know them more. I should add that I am very capable in public speaking and in effectively communicating with a team if I have to. I just don’t like constantly meeting and networking with new people. I’m wondering if there are any long term finance careers that don’t require you to go out and “get clients” or build relationships. I’m looking for the “lone wolf” type jobs. Any thoughts?
Edit: Based on previous threads, I see that anything quantitative like a quant trader or quant researcher would work. These are on my radar, but I know how difficult they are to land, so I would like to hear some other ideas.
Corporate Finance
This is incorrect if you want to make it up the ladder at all. Entry level, sure. But even then you need some social skills.
Being some sort of technical accounting/finance expert would be great probably for an introvert like a technical accounting expert. Just research new developments from accounting pronouncements etc.
Yeah - it would largely vary by role and company.
Quant
Research could be an area to look into. Work on the soft skills and become familiar with how things work as you look into leveraging the investment research experience to move into something else. Everyone knows research guys know more than the client facing guys anyway.
Going to add that soft skills can be developed too even if you are introverted
Equity Research, pretty high paying depending on the firm
Been at this a long time. I'm in a client facing role but also do a bunch of analytical work (AM). The reason I'm responding to the post is I've seen all types be equally successful, even in a typical "FO" or client facing environment. I vividly recall attending many sales VP meetings hosted by the Head of Sales and the CEO of co X. Brought in all the MDs. The personalities ranged from the quiet intellectual types to the knee slapping / joke telling extroverts (who I thought offered little value other than paying for the next round). However, many examples of both being equally successful. They went about it quite differently. One was all about technical skill and the other about relationships. They couldn't live in each other's world, but did quite well in their own.
My guess is if you do well in building strong relationships over time (vs. walking in and working the room), you'll do just fine in a variety of roles / industries. I would pick something that interests you and just be yourself. From your description, you're not a recluse or total introvert. If it pains you to be in a situation with other humans, that would be different. Doesn't sound like you though. You're more like the extroverted introvert. You just need to dip your toe in the water first. Actually very common with lots of successful business people. It's a self preservation mechanism. Likely won't change but you can certainly do quite well. Just find ways to bring value to the team and you'll be very well respected.
“Extroverted introvert.” Yeah, that does sound like me. Thanks for the response, very helpful.
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