Trying not to but losing hope in this job market
This is more of a rant if anything so if that's not your thing, feel free to ignore. Otherwise if you can relate, feel free to stay.
I can't express how fed up I am. I'm sure many of you that are in the early stages of their career have been applying to/interviewing for full-time roles or looking to move up in their current positions and still haven't found a good option yet. I'm about ~5 years into my career with both corp fin/investment exp and now at a PE firm doing FP&A (have almost three yrs exp in this role) and I still struggle to believe sometimes how bad its gotten, even outside of the normal competiveness of high finance roles. Like even for run-of-the-mill financial analyst roles, it's stupidly hard. I have been applying to jobs since July (mainly NYC-focused) and out of 100+ applications, I've had about two solid options, with one that went to the final round before they decided that they magically wanted to go with someone more senior midway through the process. I'm not looking for anything insane either, I personally don't care for MF PE or all the other "prestige" roles some of you jerk off to on here.
I have been trying to stay positive because I'm naturally an optimistic person but I genuinely feel like I'm not going to find another role anytime soon. Even for the roles I know unequivocally am qualified for, I'm still getting turned down. I understand a lot of it is due to macro headwinds/current monetary policy/AI having a negative effect on the labor mkt but what is going to give and what will that catalyst be?
The way I look at it, you're either in two camps rn if you're ~26-28 or under: you're trying to find your first role with zero exp (understandable esp coming from undergrad) OR you are already in a solid gig and either looking to lateral/move up and are competing against older applicants OR those applying to roles downstream (IB/PE -> strategic finance/corp dev/etc). Want to go to grad school and escape this? Nope, that route is closed too bc you aren't guaranteed a role after grad and may be out of the labor mkt for who knows how long while competing against the first two groups.
Again, high finance will always be insanely competitive but now there's no real differentiators or guarantee of getting a job, even for the Harvard -> GS -> M7 -> MF PE guys. As a Gen Z male working in finance, it feels like we're getting pressed from all angles and cannot escape from this. For the first time, I have been asking myself if I might have to leave the industry because it feels like there's no respite soon while we are all expected by our boomer overlords to own nothing and be happy with this social contract. Anyone else relate?
Ik how you feel. I applied to 320 SA roles before getting ONE internship (was ghosted by the recruiter for 3 months before I reminded her that I didn’t hear back, then went through 3 more interviews). Thankfully they gave me a return offer but it was actually insane the 2 years before that of networking and applying. Getting a job right out of school is stupidly hard right now for everyone, even targets.
It’s pushing a LOT of people into entrepreneurship and starting their own businesses, which could be an avenue for you if you are interested.
Definitely not your fault, ghost jobs are swarming job sites and make up 50%+ of new job postings.
I felt like you for a LONG time and I would argue a majority of Gen Z feels the same rn. Everything will turn out alright even if you don’t end up in finance (overrated if you ask me)
same, i remember over a year ago when i had to apply to 350 SA roles just to land 1 good offer for 2025 summer, very grateful i got the return too so my senior year atm has been a chill fest - really happy i put in the time and efforts back then so my life would be easier now
The craziest part about how quickly things have shifted is that if you were applying to some of these roles as recently as 2-3 years ago, you were more or less a shoe-in (assuming you had solid exp). Things suck rn but i’m still glad i’m not a recent grad bc that group hasn’t even been given a fair chance to work in the industry.
I’m personally not the entrepreneur type, albeit my parents do have a family business that I’m planning on being more involved with going forward / scaling. At least that way I can get some additional exp learning to run/manage a business and try to build upon what it currently is. Not surprised people are starting their own things, feel like that’s the only way people can even find work rn.
Thanks mate, I hope it will eventually all work out. Also agreed — as much as I like this industry, the hype it gets isn’t fully consistent with reality.
shoo-in
Man I left finance because of this job market - pivoted to another Industry with much better hours and working on my side business with the time I have. Finance is a dying industry
that’s what it feels like right now. even PE MF returns haven’t been insane in recent years / associates are getting screwed out of carry and the partner track entirely. something eventually has to give….
Whole thing is fucked. Strongly agree. Thinking I might put up a recruiter dart board.
At this point i’m right behind you there. It’s never been more over.
what's not fucked nowadays?
1.5 years for me, working for a startup since july. Trying to get back in its incredibly hard. Recruiters gatekeep everything and are super unhelpful. You can DM me if you'd like.
will shoot you a message now
It’s really tough and I’m starting lose hope
No helpful advice but can confirm I’m in the same boat. 4 years of sellside then Buyside combined and need to lateral home for family reasons …. The amount of rejection emails I’ve gotten even for basic ass FP&A has me a little concerned and am also starting to lose hope.
All we can do is take it one day at a time. Best of luck.
Lol tell that to the people in the pe forums that think they have a job after exiting lmfao
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