I'm rethinking my career trajectory and could really use some inputs on what my best career fit may be.
Education: Engineering
Experience: Sell-side ER, corporate finance
Things I hate: Sell-side ER, corporate finance
Things I like: Strategizing, being a jack-of-all-trades, finding and exploiting inefficiencies (minimize effort, maximize gain), discovering possibilities, making money
Potential target job #1: Equity investing
I have been planning on getting into an investing role for the last 7 years, but in reality, I don't know how to find a great fit. I've had some killer ideas, but I couldn't find anyone who would listen (I did pitch one idea to a major activist fund that bought the stock, but no offer came about). I believe the main reason that no one listened is that I sometimes have a very different way of looking at stocks - one helpful alum told me my pitch was like trying to teach him a new way to paint when he already knew how to paint and he liked his way. Naturally, this is also why my ideas worked out so well.
Now, I worry that unless I find a fund that really understands and appreciates the way I work, I'll be miserable. I've done side work for an asset manager who really liked my first pitch and bought the stock, and now she is hiring. However, she always tells me how hard they work, and all my successes come from taking a "smarter" approach - finding opportunities where the stars are aligned, so to speak. I'm worried that if I get the job that I won't be able to excel unless I can focus on outlier opportunities for which I have high conviciton (maybe 5-10 per year) .
Potential target job #2: Corporate strategy
Strategy/business development is the best part of my current job. I like to look at the bigger puzzle and understand what something is and where it is going. This is like investing except being able to have a tangible impact. However, I don't have much experience to get a position where I can actually make an impact. And both from my current position and my time in ER, I know that the wrong leadership can render the best talent impotent.
Outside of these two, I have no clue what to do. Recently I've been feeling like I want to build a business, maybe working for a holding company sort of like BRKA or LUK, but it seems like that's even less likely as a target. Any advice?
