How to find what career path you like and if you're good at it.
As all of you know Finance is has such a wide variety of roles which are extremely diverse in their day to day functions. Someone could be rubbish at AM but be awesome at Consulting.
I'm in my freshman year at university and not sure what I want to do in finance, pretty normal for my age but its hard to motivate myself even more as many of you know having an end goal career wise really gives you a pick up in motivation and drive. Having certainty about what you want to do long term wise does good for your mental health as well. Its not fun thinking one minute I want to go into IB and then PE and then the next thinking about doing management consulting. I hate being that guy who is light weight with what he wants to do career wise. When I was 16-17 I wanted to go into HF, then it slowly turned into IB/PE but now I don't know anymore.
My question to WSO is how do you figure out what you're good at and what you like?
Bump, also interested
Just talked about this with a younger friend who's still in college so it's fresh on my mind:
Most people don't find their one true calling. My PMs are in their 50s and still tell me if they were fully honest they don't know if they made the right decision doing the whole HF thing. Younger students and fresh graduates can put on a front and talk with bravado about how they want to do this and that but I question how much of that is parroting what everyone else is doing. Don't get caught up thinking you need to have your life plan locked in at 18.
Part of growing up is making decisions without absolute color. You never completely know if you're going to like or even be good at something, but you need to pick one and spend enough time with it to the point where you can make an informed decision (don't quit right away). This applies to everything - your job, the school you go to, the friends you hang out with, people you date, city you live in, etc. Choose one that makes sense for you and see where it goes.
Finally, things aren't always good or bad. The idea that there's this dream job/SO/friend circle/apartment that will make your life magical is toxic and unrealistic. Recognize the grass is always greener, everything has its pros and cons. At the end of the day (or your life) your job is just a job, friends come and go, material things lose their luster and nothing really fills a deeper need for honesty/peace/good relationship with your family/whatever you need at heart unless you recognize your true desires and spend time and effort cultivating that.
In all reality - you're a freshman in college. You don't need to have it 100% on lock what you want to do. What you should be doing is spending your time reading about the positions your interested in. Read job descriptions, read relevant books, and then start doing tasks in line with the things that you might be interested - IE if you think you want to be a hedge fund manager read some books about famous hedge fund managers and strategies and start trading your own money (paper or real) and track your performance. If you freaking love that - then trading might be great for you... if not - you can move on.
Same thing with banking (which bear in mind - most people who go in at the junior level don't stick around), learn some basic modeling and try to build a quick and dirty operating model and M&A model if you are feeling ambitious. If you like going through this process you might like banking. If you like reading dealbook in the NYT you might like banking... etc etc you see where I'm going with this.
This will help you think through your first step in your career but as lebron said - you don't need to have your life plan locked in.
Finding the Right Career (Originally Posted: 02/03/2014)
Andy note: This comment was originally posted in How Do I Realize What I Really Like and wanted to share this post for current undergrads or professionals struggling to find that right career. Click here to see more top rated comments.
The real world is about learning to compromise between what you WANT to do, and what you NEED to do. And if both are one and the same, consider yourself the luckiest person in the world.
And oftentimes you discover what you want to do when you simply get on with what you need to do.
What you want, what you love, etc. isn't some intellectual, cerebral, or abstract thing where you can just come up with "it" in a vacuum or out of thin air. It comes from experience. You don't know what you will love until you have some experience with it.
Practically speaking, it's trial and error. In your case, find a job that you don't hate, maybe even like - and go from there. Only by DOING something (even if it's simply to pay the bills) will you discover what you really love.
If you know what you love already, that's great, and consider yourself lucky.
If you don't know what you want yet, then don't get too caught up trying to figure that out. For example, you may not hate finance, but you don't really find it fascinating. Suppose you get a job in finance. Take it. You still may not love it, but maybe by doing it, you end up working with a client or deal in an industry that you never knew about or that you never knew you would ever like -- and something you never would've even discovered had you simply just said "what the hell, I'll take this finance job and see where it takes me."
And if you still don't know what you want or love, then don't let that stop you from working a job to pay the bills. There are plenty of people - even very successful people -- whose real passions are outside of their day job, and they have a perfectly happy life - whether that is your spouse and kids, or your car collection, a hobby farm, a side business, or whatever.
Don't believe the bullshit that it's necessary to have a full-time career that you LOVE. If you are in a position to have a career doing what you love, consider it a blessing, and not a necessity for being happy. Of course, you shouldn't take a job that brings you misery, but so long as the job is "okay", bearable, or something you moderately like (but not love), and it pays the bills - that's great! But don't let anyone tell you that you can't be happy if your day job isn't what you love.
Phenomenal post.
This is why I love reading biographies. There are very few successful, happy people that knew what they wanted to do early in their career.
Great Post! Good reminder to keep an open mind that your 'dream job' may not be your 'dream job' for your whole career.
Need Help Figuring Out My Career Path (Originally Posted: 06/08/2013)
Hello Everyone,
I am wondering if the WSO community can help me figure out what kind of career may be a good fit for me potentially because I'm not so sure if I'm that interested in the IB => MBA => PE/HF that everyone here seems to focus on. I enjoy finance and everything, but based on my curriculum, I'm actually not just interested in M&A work for example and I know for sure that I do not at all enjoy trading/investing in securities as a profession (therefore Trading, HF, ER are eliminated).
This might sound strange, but honestly, what I really enjoy is modeling and assessing the financial impacts of decisions that a firm makes, and this goes beyond just the sexy acquisition work that bankers/corporate development people do. For example, in class I actually really enjoyed case studies that involved assessing whether it makes sense for a firm to invest in certain projects (i.e. if I worked for Chevron and understanding whether it makes sense to explore a certain region for oil/nat gas), analyzing capital budgeting decisions (i.e. how would shutting down or expanding capacity at a plant affect the bottom line), and analyzing real options. I really enjoy NPV/IRR analysis, but I am more fond of doing performing this in the context of how it can impact or grow a company as opposed to generating a return as an investor who isn't actively leading a company.
From what I just wrote, it sounds as though consulting would be a good fit, but at the same time, I also need to be realistic. I went to a non-target undergrad, couldn't get a good job and am now a masters of accounting student at what would be considered a semi-target school at the undergrad level. Clearly, getting into MBB is a pipe dream given that they aren't a fan of accountants and my GMAT isn't up to par at the moment, so I'll probably have to try for the corporate dev/MBB jobs after getting my MBA and improving my score.
I was wondering, therefore, if there were any other jobs that are a bit less difficult to obtain that I can aim for that would still match my interests in the mean time. Could areas like FP&A or being a financial analyst within a company be a good fit? Otherwise, would doing audit at a Big 4 potentially lead to what I want later on (my school places very solidly into the Big 4 firms, so I have a good shot at those)?
Thanks!
You're in a decent spot. Go into Big 4 for few years and then lateral to F500. Corp fin has tons of positions where you assess investment decisions and etc. Not saying that it's easy to get those positions, but with Big 4 credentials and some networking, you should be able to get into your desired role.
Hi,
Thanks for the response (and thanks to everyone else as well). I'm glad that I'm not too far off from my goal and that the Big 4 can help me get there. One thing I wanted to ask was what groups within corporate finance do the type of work I mentioned? I've heard that corporate finance can often just be accounting work and involve monthly closes without really doing any NPV/Financial Analysis. Are the jobs I mentioned limited to just the corp dev department, or do they mostly only focus on the big picture/acquisition stuff? I'm just worried that coming from the Big 4, I'd be stuck with compliance/reporting jobs when I want to do the more analysis-oriented work within the firm.
Additionally, I have a question about the Big 4. The school I am at has said that they are a feeder into places like New York, DC, etc. and that kids are able to land jobs in other major cities like SF, Houston, etc. if they have a good reason for applying there, but I was wondering if I could hurt my career by starting off in a smaller, mid-tier city versus going to the NYC, DC, Chicago, Boston, etc. office? My school is the flagship in it's state and therefore, if I applied to the offices in my school's state (one of them is actually has a decent client base and 6+ F500 companies, so it's not some podunk city either) I would be in perfect shape almost to land a job while going for a bigger office would be riskier. Would going to a smaller city hurt my exit opportunities greatly or does it not really matter once I have Big 4 experience and a client that is a major public company? I'm still leaning towards a megacity just because I feel it'd be more fun when I'm young, but I thought I'd check.
Thanks again!
How about joining the advisory arm at a Big 4? It is more or less consulting too, but given your background, also more realistic than MBB/OW/Booz. Afterwards, if you decide to go the MBA route, you can go into corporate strategy, which sounds very much like what you want.
You're in a good spot. Try to get into Big 4 advisory. From there, you can definitely lateral to your choice.
It's good that you know what you want. Most people on here have no clue. The problem with consulting is that most large, successful firms tend to recruit from IB. I think your best bet is financial analysis or strategy at a F500. There's nothing wrong with either path.
You're probably right that that's the best path, my problem is wondering how to get there and whether or not I can get the work I want from an audit background. So many people here make it seem like I won't be doing anything cool after doing audit, so that's kind of got me worried. It's hard to figure out what is nonsense spouted by college kids and what is real life on this board sometimes.
I hate to bump an old thread, but I have an update on my situation. I'm still interested in the areas I mentioned, but aside from Big 4 audit, I also have an offer with an FLDP at a F150 company. Although the company I have an offer with is not in my favorite industry, it would likely give me some exposure to finance and accounting as I rotate. Would I be better off taking the FLDP or doing Big 4 audit if I want to attain my goals (let's assume, although things will change, that I eventually want to leave the FLDP firm that offered me).
5 years later but your comment resonated with me too much. I enjoy the EXACT same type of work. Currently a fresh analyst in IB and hating it so far. Could you talk about whether you were able to find the role you wanted?
Help me find a career/field that would be a great fit! (Originally Posted: 06/13/2016)
Hi WSO, Thank you in advance for your time and help. I currently own a business in NYC. I am looking for my next career, as I believe that I have reached the peak of what I can do financially as a business owner. I would like to do something challenging in sales, business, consulting, marketing, advertising, psychology, sales training, stocks and day trading, securities or anything similar to these fields. I am very passionate about these topics, so please throw around any ideas! I am trying to start my research about different careers, and I don't even know where to start as I have worked for myself or as an independent for the last 6 years. I am looking for something lucrative (120 000+ a year) within these fields. I will accept something that pays less, if the learning opportunity is great and there is a fast track to promotion, or a learning curve for achieving commissions. I am extremely skilled with anything sales related, so I am fine with a job that has a large percentage in commissions. I would like to stay in NYC. A bit about me:
Degrees: BA with great distinction in psychology and linguistics (3.8-3.9 GPA)
languages spoken: English French experience:
Currently the part owner of a product based franchise in NYC
sales trainer and lead sales person for a small business for 3 years dealing with luxury item sales (300 000+ in sales a year). have experience in ownership and management (2 businesses).
Programs: Wordpress - working knowledge. SEO- working knowledge. photoshop/illustrator - working knowledge and can do basic design. word/excel- excellent.
I am 28/f. I do very well in interviews, and I am not scared to apply for positions I may even get rejected for based on experience. I am outgoing, a very good conversationalist and enjoy working with people. I am very skilled at sales, writing, presenting etc. I easily and quickly learn field specific information. I could easily do and pass an exam like the Series 7 if necessary, please give me your opinion. Academia and research is one of my fortes.
let me know if this is helpful information, or if you could suggest something else, or need clarification. I am also open to doing any certifications if necessary to get the right position. Again, thank you for helping out!
The only thing I am not interested is a job that requires building clients cold. I did that for years.
"Research is one of my fortes" yet wont do the research to find a career that matches your skill set?
I have done and am still doing a lot of research. but studying about a field and hearing what its like from people who are actually in the field are two completely different things... I rather hear about it from people who are in it, what it took to get there and what qualities and traits excel in that environment. Thanks for your input though, very inspiring.
What is asking people in the industry if not a form of research?
The net you're casting is too large, and quite frankly, your post is unlikely to receive any kind of meaningful response. I suggest narrowing your search and reading through M&I.com, then come back when you have more specific questions.
Thank you for your input, I will try that too.
Investment Banking
Need to find cousin a career (Originally Posted: 12/29/2016)
This isn't an IB question, but I figured this was a good place to seek advice since there are a lot of career minded people on here. I have a cousin who had a 2.5 GPA as a bio major from some non-target (not relevant to this problem anyway). He spent 3 years unemployed and now works an administrative job I'm guessing in the neighborhood of 25k. His parents are old and not very involved.
I'm a 1st year at a top 5 MBA. My mom (his aunt) keeps asking me what he should do; to be honest I'm lost. We are in very different boats. She keeps asking me to coach him on the GMAT, I'm not even sure if that's the move. I'm also not fully aware of how capable he is because he doesn't seem like he partied in college.
I know some MBA programs, although non-target, are well suited for particular industries only (ex. supply chain, pharma, etc). Could he potentially get in an entry level position at one of these companies, work up to management then use MBA as a tipping point?
Another idea I had was maybe Carribean med school, although I'm not sure how he'd survive, I think their fail rates are 70+%.
Appreciate everyone who cared to read this!
He doesn't sound very motivated if he's making 25k at an admin job. You can literally make more than that being a terrible car salesman.
Engineering Masters are typically forgiving and work is 40/hr weeks and pay is fairly good. You also don't really need a top school. It's also very easy to be a mediocre engineer and pass under the radar at a big company.
Seems best in this case.
If he was motivated there's a lot more options.
If he's not very motivated (and let's be honest - he isn't), there's honestly not much you can do. Still probably worth it to sit down with him/set up a call with him to hear him out on what he wants out of life and offer any input you might have. You should note there is some chance he might be depressed and need some help there.
As far as career ideas, I've heard that coding bootcamps could be a good option. I don't know too much about them but I had a friend who did some course over a few months and now has a decent paying job at some analytics company, probably making $50-70k I would guess.
Thanks guys, these are helpful suggestions that weren't on my radar. My mom won't rest until she has a suitable plan for him so my priority is to give her one. Motivating him is a whole other psychological beast I'm not sure I understand. I've tried a lot of different approaches and failed: you'll be happier, you'll feel accomplished, you'll get girls.. anything i can think of!
I'm gonna try to talk to him and hear him out and once he's ready, present him with some of these options and any more that may come.
Tell your aunt to stop fucking babying him and to stop harassing you. He can't be helped if he isn't ready to help himself. And if he was ready to help himself, then he would have approached you. Not his mommy.
It's OP's mom who is hassling OP, not OP's aunt.
I know premeds have post-baccalaureate programs designed to get their GPA up. When he becomes more focused it might be worth looking into. even if he doesn't go into medicine it'll bring is undergrad gpa to above a 3 if he tries.
Help me find my career path plz!! (Originally Posted: 02/11/2012)
Hi
I am currently a junior attending semi-target school majoring in Economics, and looking for an internship for this upcoming summer.. Though I did manage to get couple of interviews, I could not get the offer for the SA internship.
So, I really want to ask you guys for an advice.
Where should I look for now? I pretty much applied everything on OCR and could not get an offer.
I know this might sound stupid but I want to get a job in financial industry that would pay be at least 50k-60k with reasonable future upside ,because my parents are having realllyyyy hard time with their business, so I want to support them, or at least not be a burden on them.
Where should I look for? How do I network to land a corporate finance jobs? What options do I have?
I am also thinking about going to graduate program for Accounting, Is this a good option?
Thank you for your opinion
Accounting is a pretty reliable field if you can get a solid GPA but from what I've heard pretty much everyone in audit hates their life. I guess just go on the cold emailing networking route now.
well, if you are considering trading comnmodities, maybe apply for a bitch logistics role at a physical commodities firm
from my experience they are a lot less interested in your gpa as much as passion and willinnessg to put in two years bitch work in logistics -where you have to prove your commmercial acumen-- before going to the trading desk
word of warning though, at my firm, maybe one in five traffic people get given shots at trading after a year or two; its up to you to show that you can spot interesting oppirtunities etc. its not like IBD where after two years you become an associate. its more like, if you show you have the creativity to trade, and the attention to detail to handle traffic, THEN you get an opp at the desk
forgive my spelling, i just came home from a night out
You might as well become a hooker if it's money that you need.
I heard hedge fund managers pay their hookers well. Especially the male ones
Sluts.
Words can hurt. Don't call him a slut.
While I can suggest that he becomes a hooker, I would never call him a hooker.
Trying to Figure Out Where to Take Finance Career (Originally Posted: 12/13/2012)
Hi,
I'm struggling to figure out what direction to take my career and I was wondering if anyone can help me out. Basically, when I was in school, I thought that being an investor/trader and following the markets would be cool, but after taking more classes, I found myself enjoying finance related to capital budgeting and corporate finance more interesting, and I'm no longer interested in pursuing trading, hedge funds, and equity research as a career.
What I see myself doing is merging my interest in capital budgeting and applying it to social issues in order to improve the quality of life for people (I know I sound like a huge idealist and I realize things don't always work that way in real life, but that's my "vision" in simplistic terms). Aside from infrastructure/energy, which are my favorite subjects, I can also see myself doing something related to economic development and trying to figure out the cost/benefit of various policies, but have no idea how to pursue a career in this avenue whatsoever.
If anyone has any advice for me on what career I'm looking for (I honestly couldn't come up with a job title or companies/gov organizations that deal with what I'm talking about) or what it even sounds like I'm interested in and how to break in, I'd really appreciate it.
Thanks!
Corporate finance role at a non-profit?
New Monkey - Trying to figure out what I want to do with my career (Originally Posted: 12/16/2013)
Hello,
My name is Trevor, I came to WSO because I am trying to figure out what I want to do with my career, or what I can do to better my career. A mentor mentioned that I should look into some Financial Modeling self taught guides. After doing some research I believe I am interested in The Wall Street Prep guide. I hope to be able to learn many other things through this site and possible find a career path that I would like to pursue. I graduated with a Bachelors in Finance and an MBA.
I currently work for a Mortgage Servicing company where I do financial analysis and reconciliation, which I enjoy but I cannot see myself staying here for longer than a few years as there just isn't much upward mobility that I am interested in.
Anyways, I am excited to see how WSO can improve my knowledge and skillset even further.
Thanks everyone!
welcome!
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