Hey there. I've posted before when I was trying to figure out what I was doing with my life, and ways that I could break into finance. Well I graduated from school last May, had terrible, irrelevant internships, and therefore am not working anywhere near the financial industry. I took the only job I could find in the health care industry doing glorified data entry. I gotta pay off my debt somehow...
Anyway, I don't want to be stuck in a position like this, I just can't figure out how to find something else. Can anyone give me some input on things that may help me leverage myself into a career in finance? Obviously I'd love to do IB, but as it stands right now, I have no chance.
I graduated from Rutgers with a BA in Economics. Cum. GPA was 3.5 and major GPA was ~3.75. I maintained around a ~4.0 for the last 2 years, I just had 2 very, very shitty semesters (extenuating circumstances that kind of threw off my college career from then on). My internships are so irrelevant it hurts.
Can anyone offer some advice?
Network.
How many Rutgers alums working at banks in New York have you called / emailed?
We are what we believe we are.
Bulbasaur was my favorite pokemon. Saur. Saur. I hated that Charizard hogged the limelight. Saur. Saur.
I emailed maybe 4 or 5 alums when I was first looking for an internship, but I had a terrible GPA and didn't really even know what banking was at the time, so I really just looked like an idiot. Should I try again? I doubt any of them remember me... I have a very limited number of alums to contact, only what is available to me through the alumni website.
How could you not like Charizard?????
4 or 5 only!?
When I was laid off in 2008, I e-mailed and called literally hundreds of my alumni and networking contacts.
And it still took me 8 months to find a job.
You obviously don't want it bad enough.
lol he ain't that bad, I have a sophomore friend at a non target who has made 0.00 cold calls for an internship this summer.
I have a list of about 10 alumni contacts that I have email addresses for... keep in mind I'm not from a target and we don't send huge numbers into banking. And not everyone who enters banking lists their info in the alumni network. 4 or 5 is the number who actually returned an email and gave me some insight on the job and what not.
I agree. Linkedin is excellent. I'm sure Rutgers has over 10,000 alumni in financial services given the proximity to NY. I am from a non-target and I contacted anyone and everyone who would listen to my spiel. I finally got someone who knew some people. This is a pure numbers game. The person I got mine through was a guy who is the president a of a very small local commercial bank. I had no reason to believe that he had any connection to IB, but I tried anyway. He liked me and sent my resume to every person he knew who was involved in IB with his seal of approval. Do not discount any potential networking opportunity just because they are not an MD @ a BB. If you really want it you will hustle for it. I start my IB SA position this June in Manhattan.
Network with everyone and anyone you can. Be creative, work for it, be bold and have some guts.
Thank you. I really appreciate the advice. So networking is my best bet? Are there any things I can do at this point that will strengthen my resume?
Bump...
Thank you all for the advice. I'll see what kind of hits I can get on LinkedIn right now.
I really appreciate it!
Well I'm really getting no where with LinkedIn. I either can't message people, or I guess coming off like I have aspergers in my e-mails.
I'm really thinking going back for a graduate degree. I read a lot about Ms Finance not really doing much for you. I also thought about possibly even doing a MAcc at a top school because I might be able to move into finance ( a very small number do), but worse comes to worst I could become a CPA... although I really don't want to work in accounting. The stability is a plus and the money is ok, but it's accounting.
Could anyone provide insight on grad school? I know a top MBA would really set me up, but my work experience is bad and not getting any better so that's a real long shot at this point.
Bump...^
man, i can definitely relate to you having a career that is off track. i wouldn't suggest the MAcc though. Do something else. MsF or something in economics,business, etc
Yeah you're right. The MAcc would most likely just leave me miserable in an accounting career. I've thought about a MsF or even MA in Econ, but as it stands right now, I feel I shouldn't take out more student loans. An MBA would still probably be best, but my work experience is like I said not great. I feel like I should just be setting myself up at this point for a decent MBA.
I've thought about just quitting my job and going back to searching full-time for a better job. Obviously not going to do that though.
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