New to WSO- from New England area

Hello, I am new to WSO and just getting started with my search for a career in finance. I graduated from a target school in 2012 and spent the past two years working in a rotational program. It wasn't the best fit, and I am looking for a more fast-paced career in finance. It has been great reading all the posts so far.

I am looking at a few PWM companies (I read the posts on the subject from a couple months ago) and was wondering if anyone had any advice on which ones to aim for- is it best to go to the big names first, or can you work your way to these from a more regional PWM company.

Thank you!

 

hey man welcome aboard, not sure if I put this in my posts explicitly, but the best fit for you will depend on what role you're looking for. are you trying to be an analyst, assistant, or broker? I'm assuming either analyst or broker, and if it's the former, it will depend on the firm as for what's available, not many "analyst" spots available in PWM aside from maybe middle office at a RIA or in PB, in which case you'd have to go through normal recruiting channels.

if you want to be a broker, make sure you go into it with your eyes wide open. if you're going it alone, a smaller firm will probably be more forgiving if you can't raise assets super fast, but if you get the opportunity to join a team with their full support at one of the bigger firms, do that, the resources are fantastic.

 

Thanks! This is very helpful.

Any tips/advice on the probability of breaking into other types of companies in financial services? I want to apply to PE, IB, hedge funds, but I don't know how likely they are to accept an application from someone with no finance experience. Does anyone know of anyone getting into a finance company with no background, no MBA, 2-3 years after graduation?

Thanks!

 
Best Response

you'd probably get into the pool with all of the other incoming analysts who just graduated, and you may be better off with smaller shops that have less structured recruiting. I'd also narrow it down. IB & hedge fund are very very very different. learn more about these and see if you want to do buy side or sell side first, and why. then which part. HF and PE are both buyside, but those are very different, and very different from Asset Management at a mutual fund. IB and ER are both sell side but are very different from one another.

bottom line is you will have to network to get in, but you do not face an impossible task, just a very difficult one. judging by this post and your OP, you need to figure out what you want before you go start applying. best way to do this is as follows:

  1. research online, use this forum and anything you can get your hands on
  2. informational interviews
  3. soul search

godspeed

 

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