Failed 86 and 87, got Fired, Need Direction

Was given a 90 day window to pass 7, 63, 86, and 87, failed the 86 and 87, was fired shortly thereafter. A number of other associates were given 180 days to pass the 4 exams, so I am pretty fucking pissed. It is a hard sell to prospective employers, either in ER or on the transaction side. So, I need advice for how to proceed in terms of finding another job.

 

If you are starting out, it probably is not a big deal. I am surprised to hear that they were so adamant about the 90 day deadline. Most, if not all, analysts or MDs will recognize that you're working 15-16 hours a day, learning a new industry, getting up to speed with their models and coverage, and give you a more lenient 5-6 months, which it sounds like they did for the other associates. So, it begs the question of whether that is the real reason they fired you, or the front they used to protect themselves. Maybe your performance was not up to their expectations, or t was a bad fit, etc., or any combination of reasons. Regardless, once again, I do not think it is that big of a deal, if you were a strong enough candidate to get an ER job in the first place, you should be able to get another one soon enough. Although, I would be curious to hear others' take on the situation.

 

I appreciate the responses thus far. I have been networking pretty intensely, have yet to get much traction. I will give a bit of my background to provide some insight and hopefully get better calibrated direction.

I went to a top tier non-ivy, graduated with a 3.5, finance focus. Had a research internship at a small hedge fund while in undergrad. Obviously worked sell-side research post grad at a kind of shitty middle market bank, from which I was fired for not passing the exams. Have not sat for the CFA at all, and do not have spare cash to sit for level 1 in June or December even. Is ER unattainable at this point? Do I need to notch some other arbitrary accomplishments to prove I am the real deal, e.g. CFA, experience in PWM, etc.? I feel like my education and experience thus far is competitive enough, just not sure how to sell the fact that I got fired for not meeting my former bank's expectations for the FINRA certifications.

 
I feel like my education and experience thus far is competitive enough

What experience would that be? An internship at a small hedge fund and getting fired from a middle market bank after less than three months? You seem to overestimate your worth.

The FINRA exams are pretty easy so you probably should have focused on passing those. As another poster said, there is probably more to the story than that. The industry is going through a downturn so perhaps the bank needed to downsize, or maybe you just weren't a good fit.

As to how to move forward, I would sign up for the June CFA exam and continue networking. Every CFA society chapter has scholarships, so money should not be an excuse. Passing the first CFA exam would provide some evidence that you are serious about the industry.

 

Why did you fail both of those? My guess is that since you failed two exams they decided to cut you off and were within their contractual rights to do so if you were out of your 90 day window. I'm guessing that those who were given longer either did not fail a test or failed one at most. Maybe you should have taken longer to study if you knew that they were not holding people to the 90 days (assuming they passed when they did take the exams).

 
Best Response

Once again, thanks for the responses. I have withheld some information regarding my background to preserve anonymity, but all things considered, I have 2.5 years of directly applicable finance experience. As a recent graduate, I feel this is competitive for entry level roles. And really, the bottom line is, I am more than capable of adding value in an Associate role, and prospective employers are/have been able to glean that from my resume or whatever conversations we have had. I guess their issue is a question of my commitment to the job, considering that, as a number of posters have suggested, the FINRA exams are not particularly challenging. Easiness notwithstanding, I have gotten a number of responses, this thread included, that the 90 day deadline is a bit tight. So, in addition to my questionable commitment to the job, recruiters are then forced to raise a number of other questions, like my ability to fit into the banking culture or whatever. I don't know what assumptions employers would make at that point. So, I guess that is my first question. What do prospective employers think of my situation?

And to shed some brighter light on why I failed, I took this job in a shitty, terrible city, which was highly discouraging, particularly given that all of my friends and family live in/took jobs in better cities far away from this fucking hell hole. I started this job almost immediately after graduating, while I was in the recruitment process for much better jobs in better locations. I was pressured to do this because I was extremely low on money and my parents refused to help out. I guess the last nail in the coffin was that the people I worked for were some of the lowest quality people I have ever met. I have spent my entire life avoiding losers like them, and I ended up working for some. They were smart enough at their jobs, but entirely lacking in emotional intelligence, awareness of the world beyond finance, and awareness of the world beyond their shitty, podunk town. I was 7th in a long line of previous hires that had also been fired shortly into their tenures for various reasons, mostly due to what I imagine was a decay in morale due to the toxicity of the Analyst and MD. I will give you a specific example, one day, my MD forced me to go to lunch with her. Like she made me feel like I would lose my job if I denied her invitation. So, she took me to Chik-fil-A, her choice of which is telling enough of the kind of person she is, and proceeded to ask me a number of prying personal questions, to which I gave very vague responses. I have no problem being social, but I am not forthcoming with personal information, particularly with a predatory, creeper like her. After her onslaught of invasive questions, she proceeded to tell me how she had moved to a new school in fifth grade and all of her classmates hated her. They surrounded her at recess and made fun of her the whole time, which apparently was very traumatic, although I suspect well-deserved, and she was home schooled until college. Then, her first semester, freshmen year, she got pregnant by some black dude and had a mulatto bastard child. That was just one example of their lack of professionalism and Asperger's like social adeptness. I just basically lost my edge. My plan, from day one, was to pass the exams and get a better job, but I was working my ass for these people, and I used my free time to recoup whatever sense of self I felt I had lost by being in their presence all day and night instead of studying. So, I obviously cannot share this side of the story with prospective employers, and while I appreciate the encouragement to pursue the CFA, I do not have the spare cash, and scholarships are awarded in the December preceding the applicable year's exam offerings. So, until June 2017, I cannot take the CFA. I have diversified my job search and am close to taking a job considerably below my pay grade, but I guess I just want to know if I should hold out hope for an ER job that I believe is better aligned with my education/experience and interests.

 

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