Math Teacher to Finance - Can it be done?
I have a good friend that has been teaching math in a local high school for 6 years. He's a whiz already has his master's degree in mathematics and contributes to text books, etc. He mentioned to me the other day that he might be interested in a career change and heard that Banks, PE, etc hire math guys.
What say you? Does he have a shot? What kind of advice should I give him about Networking/MBA etc??
Search the name "Jeffrey Epstein" in google.
This gentleman taught high school math (and physics) for a few years before doing a complete career change into finance. He started off at Bear Stearns (now part of JP Morgan) before starting his own investment management firm.
This guy was born in a working class neighborhood of Brooklyn. Went to public high school, and than attended a "non-target" college. He actually left college without completing a degree.
In other words, this is a man who had no discernible advantages conferred to him in life, and yet, the guy is a billionaire. A few scandals aside (I won't go into detail since one can easily find this own their own through google), this man has been very successful - especially when you take his background into consideration.
How should your friend proceed? That really depends on what your friend is interested in. You mentioned "banks, PE, etc."
If he is interested in working for an investment bank in a traditional role, it will probably be tough to break in without returning to school. Your friend doesn't necessarily need to pursue an MBA. He could do a terminal masters degree in something like Statistics, Computer Science, etc. Of course, going for an MBA is also an option. In both cases, it is very important to get into a top program (e.g. a program at a school that has OCR (on campus recruiting) and/or good representation on Wall Street.
I don't think PE is a realistic option at this point, since most firms exclusively recruit people with previous banking experience. A former high school math teacher would not be in the running at all.
If it's trading, he might be able to get a job at a proprietary trading firm. There are some firms that will take virtually anyone who puts up a capital contribution. Some of these firms are scams, but there are a few shops that are legitimate (somewhere like T3 comes to mind, I actually have a friend who works there) although it will pretty much be a sink or swim environment. There are also some prop firms that don't require a capital contribution (e.g. Jane Street), but they are extremely competitive -- even with your friend's background in math, the competition would be fierce.
Another alternative is for your friend to embark on the CFA program.
Again, the ultimate path that your friend should take depends on what he is interested in within finance.
Yeah, but we are not in the 70s...
This didn't age well
Teaching >> Finance (Originally Posted: 06/12/2015)
I get the feeling this won't resonate with a lot of users on here, but maybe someone has a similar experience. I majored in history and started looking for a teaching job in 2009. After being a substitute teacher in Philly for a year and a half I ran like hell and immediately regretted my history major after a few months of job searching at the start of the recession. I wanted to go back to school, got a job at a regional non-target school, and started an MBA program in Finance. ROI hopefully will be great since it's free.
Problem is I'm getting some bites on my resume from all over the place, but there seems to be this common tension between experience/degree. I think I don't get the offer because of my lack of experience. I have financial responsibilities for my department, but I don't think anything that would impress most companies around here. But a few interviewers have posed concerns that since I'll have an MBA I won't be around long. One guy interviewing me told me that if I had an MBA I should be "a manager or something", but no one is going to hire me as a finance manager with no corporate finance experience.
I'd really like to get into corporate finance in my area (Philadelphia region), but I seem to be having so little luck, even with entry level positions, I feel I must be doing something wrong. Anyone else tried looking for a job with an MBA in Finance with little relevant experience?
Sorry, but I feel like I'm lost here and others might be too. When did you get the MBA? And did you go through recruiting at your MBA program? Where did you go? (a ranking/tier range would be fine so people can have a general idea). Also, where are you working now and what are you doing there? I would imagine there are some entry level finance jobs that you would be able to get at smaller places . Alot of the posts I see on job websites always say "MBA preferred" even if the job only requires 1 year of experience. I feel that others may be of more help if you give a little more detail.
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